"Was 12 years old, met Mario Andretti": IndyCar legend Chip Ganassi recalls fortuitous moment that foreshadowed his career

Mario Andretti is arguably the greatest racing driver to emerge from America. He has inspired many IndyCar greats to follow in his footsteps, including active six-time champion Scott Dixon, who has broken nearly all of the 85-year-old's records. Chip Ganassi, the man who employs Dixon, recently recalled a fortuitous encounter with Andretti from his childhood.

Ganassi recently sat down for an interview with former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe for his show on IndyCar's YouTube channel, Java with James. In one segment, Hinchcliffe brought up a story from the legendary team owner's childhood.

When Chip Ganassi was five years old, his father, Floyd, brought home an eight-millimeter film of the 1963 Indy 500. Ganassi might've watched the race that Parnelli Jones won nearly "750 times," as he revealed on MAVTV earlier this year.

Hinchcliffe asked Chip Ganassi about the eight ball of life and whether he would've gone to be a NASCAR driver if his dad had brought home a film of the 1963 Daytona 500.

"Yeah, you never know. You look back now and it's an easy connection. But at the time, you're not thinking that at all. I also remember, my mother, on weekends, would take us on these little trips from Pittsburgh, these little driving trips. One time we went to Corning, New York, and we took a side trip over to Watkins Glen. We went to the track and went to the Glenn Motor Inn for lunch, and there were guys in there with driving suits on doing some tire testing. And it was Mario."

"I was 12 years old, met Mario Andretti! You think, 'Did that have something to do with it (Ganassi's path into IndyCar)? Well, that didn't hurt. But to say that you were 12 years old and you were going to the Indy 500, people would think you're crazy. I've just been the luckiest guy on the planet."

As a team owner of Chip Ganassi Racing, Ganassi has won six Indy 500s and 16 IndyCar championships. Though the NASCAR arm of the organization has yet to win a major title, it won the Daytona 500 in 2010 with Jamie McMurray. That year, CGR also won the Indy 500 with the help of Dario Franchitti, making it the only team to win the two crown jewels in the same year.

One of his biggest rivals in IndyCar has been Andretti Global, which was run by Mario Andretti's son, Michael Andretti, until last year. This year, Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood has been the only driver to beat CGR's dominant reigning champion Alex Palou.

Chip Ganassi speaks about having mentors like Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones

IndyCar's safety measures have evolved multifold over the years. Even severe crashes like Colton Herta's car dragging upside down in Indy 500 practice this year couldn't harm the driver. However, Chip Ganassi raced in a time when crash-induced deaths and severe injuries were common at the IMS.

In the same interview, James Hinchcliffe also asked Ganassi a hypothetical question about whether he would've liked to be born in an era like today's, when IndyCar's safety is top-notch. He answered in the negative and also credited mentors like Mario Andretti, who helped him grow and mature.

"I was happy to be born when I was born and I'm happy to be in the era that I was in. I had some great mentors along the way. Like I said, Parnelli Jones and Mario Andretti. I knew the Whittington brothers (Don Whittington and Bill Whittington), Danny Ongais."

In his time, Mario Andretti was also involved in violent crashes. One of the biggest crashes of his career came during an Indy 500 test at the IMS in 2003, where his car "took off like an F-16" and flipped twice during the 50-foot launch before coming to rest on the track.