Why enigmatic Marco Andretti will be missed

Last Friday, Marco Andretti announced he is withdrawing from fulltime IndyCar racing. David Malsher-Lopez explains how this third-gen racer was a puzzle in the car, but a straight shooter off-track.

It’s been many years since I took hand-written notes during a motorsport press conference; I prefer eye contact with the speaker and therefore rely on a trusty voice recorder to catch all the words. But ‘all the words’ is precisely the downside of recording devices.

If the acoustics of the room allows me to keep the gadget in hand it can of course be paused whenever a media member decides to ask the subject about his kids or diet or social media antics, etc. But if mine is among the cluster of devices several feet away on the desk in front of the interviewee, then come transcribing time, I’m plowing through everything to rediscover nuggets of information and insight while reliving the experience of a driver and audience being whipped up into a coma by prattle and platitudes.

Source: Read Full Article