Mario Andretti in a Ferrari 512S at the 1970 "Sebring 12 Hours" endurance race. This is an original colored pencil drawing from a photograph in the book "Sports Car Racing, In Camera, 1970-79" by Paul Parker. The artwork is on Stonehenge archival paper.
Mario Andretti was paired with the Italian Arturo Merzario in that race. They started in pole position, cruised along in first place for quite a while, but suffered a gearbox failure after 10 hours. Everybody thought that was it for Mario, even Mario itself, but no, as Andretti was asked to finish the race in the Ferrari number 21 driven by Nino Vaccarella and Ignazio Guinti when the lead Siffert/Redman Wyer Porsche 917 had to pitstop due to mechanical problems. The only thing between Andretti and the prize was the Steve McQueen/Peter Revson Porsche 908 spider. Thanks to an incredible finish and Peter Revson's probable state of exhaustion (he did most the driving because McQueen had one foot in a cast), Mario overtook the Porsche 908 and won the race.
The Ferrari 512S had an all-alloy V12 engine of almost five liters (550 hp at 8500 rpm). It was built both as a berlinetta (closed top) and a barchetta (open top spider). It took part in the Manufacturers’ World Championship in 1970 and 1971, mostly battling with the mighty Porsche 917s.
Prints are available at Ferrari 512S Mario Andretti 1970 on fineartamerica.com.
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