"I used to get booed everywhere": When Michael Andretti got real about carrying weight of being Mario Andretti's son in IndyCar

Michael Andretti followed in the footsteps of his father, Mario Andretti, to continue the family's tradition of racing. However, all was not easy for the second-generation driver, who revealed in 2016 that having the Andretti name with him meant that he was booed every race weekend in the 90s.

Mario was born in Italy, but his love for racing began after witnessing former two-time F1 champion Alberto Ascari race in the nation. The family soon moved to the US, where the 85-year-old earned his fame as he began racing in the premier open-wheel racing series in the United States.

There, Mario won four IndyCar championships, and in its European counterpart, he won the elusive F1 world title. With Mario often dominating in the racing landscape, his son was subjected to the same expectations when Michael joined the racing grid.

Owing to the Andretti family dominating the racing spectacle and his rivalries on track, Michael soon became one of the most hated drivers in the paddock, as he said at the 2016 Lunch with Legends, via IndyCar:

"I think my drive was not to fail. It wasn’t about the win. It was, ‘Don’t fail.’ I think that had a lot to do with growing up the son of [Mario Andretti] with all the expectations. It made it not as much fun to race as maybe the other way, but it really worked for me in the way of drive. I would never give up because of that."

"You want to be the guy that’s hated. In the early ‘90s, I was really hated. I used to get booed everywhere."

Michael Andretti did not have the longevity of his father in the IndyCar championship, as he claimed a sole title in 1991 and ended his racing career with 42 wins, 10 wins shy of his father's.

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Michael Andretti once opened up about the dynamic he faced with Mario Andretti in his racing career

Michael Andretti at the Formula E 2024 Portland E-Prix - Source: Getty

Mario Andretti had been the guiding angel to Michael. The four-time IndyCar champion had his hands in landing his son a drive in the initial years of his racing career.

While the 85-year-old had relative control over his son's racing pursuit in the early days, Michael Andretti revealed how his father had never forced him to take up racing as many expected, as he shared in 2015, via Andretti:

"He never pushed me to do it, I asked to do it. But did I feel pressure? Yeah, I did feel the pressure of who I was, what I should be doing."

Meanwhile, Michael is offloaded from his managing duties at the Andretti team after he decided to step back from the outfit's day-to-day operations, to allow Cadillac to get the green light to join the F1 grid and help his father get a home in the F1 landscape.