Mario Andretti Drives His First Race Car Again

Legendary race driver Mario Andretti, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1969 and is still the only driver to ever win the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship, has been involved with the launch of the Playstation game, Gran Turismo 6. As part of the promotion, the team rebuilds Andretti’s “first love,” his first race car: a 1948 Hudson Hornet.

In this video, the team reveals the car to Andretti for the first time and he walks through it with them, explaining just how accurate the rebuild is. He then takes it for a spin on a dirt oval and recalls where it all began, when he was a young man with big dreams.

Jump to 6:20 in the video to get right to the driving action. And if you want to get behind the wheel of this historically significant vehicle in virtual form, it’ll be available for GT6 players to download on December 19th.