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The newest exhibit at World of Speed Motorsports Museum honors the most successful American race car driver of all time: Mario Andretti. "Mario Andretti is a household name because he won at every race he entered in," says David Pearson, the executive director of World of Speed. "He was a champion across all different disciplines of motorsports." I...

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In the 50-something years I have been chronicling the pursuits of three generations of Andretti race car drivers, I think I had only four meaningful conversations with Dee Ann Andretti. That wasn’t because my readers and I wouldn’t have benefited from what she had to say. Dee Ann Andretti, who died Monday at the age of 75, was always friendly when...

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Mario Andretti hasn’t raced full-time in IndyCar in 24 years, but if anyone ever asks the racing legend how he’s enjoying retirement, he’ll quickly correct them. “I’m not retired,” he told USA TODAY Sports on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway while promoting Firestone. “I’m only retired from one phase.” Andretti is an active ambassador for moto...

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The sport of motor racing is a dangerous one, and as a result, the number of folks who are still around to share stories about the golden era of motor racing is few and far between. Mario Andretti is one of them, and at 78 years of age, his memory is sharper and livelier than that of most of us younger folks. The Italian-American racing driver has...

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Raffaello "Ralph" DePalma (born in Italy in 1883 in Troia, Puglia) arrived in Brooklyn together with his parents in 1891. The very young Pugliese American began to work as apprentice in a food shop, delivering by bicycle home deliveries. Then the first money arrived, together with dreams and a used bike powered by motor, and then the first races an...

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In one of the most storied and beloved championship sports cities in America, an ostentatious statue of New York Yankee legendary center fielder Joe DiMaggio stands in the middle of Taylor Street in Chicago. That's because across the street from the massive sculpture of the Yankee Clipper is home to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame...

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Carol Faenzi is a board member of the Italian Heritage Society of Indiana and also the author of "The Stonecutter's Aria", a book that tells stories about Italian emigration to the US. She's the perfect person, a kind and proud Italian American who lives in Indiana, to talk about Italy in the "Hoosier State". We thank her and welcome her on We the...

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