INDIANAPOLIS -- At 63, Mario Andretti appears fit enough to climb into an Indy car and drive it in Sunday in the 87th Indianapolis 500.

But Andretti retired from this race in 1994 and, with the exception of his return to the cockpit during a test session on April 23 that ended with a spectacular airborne crash, his motorsports interests are in the pit area.

On Thursday, Andretti looked over the 10 race cars that lined the Andretti/Green garages in Gasoline Alley. If things had turned out differently, one of those cars could have been his as he was trying to substitute for the injured Tony Kanaan.

	Mario Andretti looked good in testing before a hard crash at Indy.

"The video had nothing to do with it and I didn't have to announce to the world what I was doing," Andretti said, referring to footage of his crash. "It was all impromptu, and if Tony Kanaan had a setback because of the injury and I would have been needed to step in, I would have been more than ready to do it.

"I needed another compelling reason to do it. It wouldn't have taken too much to convince me, but I needed another one."

Kanaan will start in the middle of the first row Sunday. Andretti will watch his son, Michael, drive in his final race before retiring to concentrate on the ownership of his Indy Racing League IndyCar series team.

But the two Andrettis, father and son, can reflect on that glorious day last month when Mario again got to feel the excitement of driving an Indy car at more than 225 miles an hour.

"It was a great day," Michael Andretti said. "To see that smile on his face, I haven't seen that in such a long time. He felt so good and happy. I looked around and every guy on the crew had that matching smile. They got a chance to work with dad. It was really a positive experience until what happened at the end."

Always proud, Mario came to the United States from Italy in 1955 at the age of 15. He was able to fulfill his dreams and enjoyed one of the greatest racing careers in the 20th century. He remains the only man to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship (1978).

Only A.J. Foyt's record can rival the diversity and success Mario Andretti enjoyed.

After a nine-year absence, that moment of speed rejuvenated Andretti.

"It meant more to me than that, how much I appreciated the opportunity Michael gave to me," Mario said. "He gave me another life, knowing how much I love the driving. And to get into my zone again at this stage in my life was more than a gift. I'm just sorry that it cost a car. At the end of the day, the man upstairs was looking after me, and that's the main thing."

The elder Andretti leaves open the possibility he could compete in a race or two. And he maintains a keen interest in driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"Le Mans to me is like Indy right now, I really enjoy it," Andretti said. "I'm really good at night, I'm very good in the rain. All those things work for me, and if I feel physically the way I feel today, yes, I'd do Le Mans.

"Paul Newman is running at Lime Rock on Monday and I'm 15 years newer than he is. I still have some life in there. If the opportunity presents itself and it's the right one, I have to assess the moment. I can't make long-range plans right now, I have to be realistic."

Mario drove until he was 54; Michael is retiring at 40. Although Mario believes his son has many years of racing left, he accepts his decision to step aside and focus on being a team owner.

Michael Andretti believes he will not repeat his father's return to the cockpit once Sunday's race is over. He's more enthused about the prospects that are ahead as an owner.

"I'm a very different person from dad," Michael Andretti said. "I have other interests. Dad's only interests ever were driving, and he didn't care about anything else. I have other interests that are going to keep my mind busy and keep my competitiveness going.

"I'm going to be a very competitive owner. That's where I'm going to get that release. I don't think I'm going to be like dad in that way."

Ironically, Michael Andretti decided to leave the CART series and join the rival IRL. His father long has been a staunch CART supporter and IRL critic.

"I want him to be successful," Mario Andretti said. "What he does, the direction he goes, that is his business. Whether I agree with it or not, that doesn't matter. He's my son and I want him to be successful. The rest, I have to respect what he wants."

Now that his son is involved in the IRL, Mario Andretti's tone has softened a bit, his words not as harsh as they once were. But his beliefs are strong that two sides working against each other is the major reason open-wheel racing is falling off the sports map in the United States.

"Nobody is winning anything," the elder Andretti said of the costly war between CART and the IRL. "Right now, in my opinion, it should be all together. I keep saying this and I maintain it. Going in two different directions like this, neither organization is winning. Fans are losing and competitors are losing. It's time to create a win-win situation for everyone. That is wishful thinking on my part, but I will never stop wishing."

And how does he propose that those wishes come true?

"By intelligent minds sitting down and creating the mind-set for that to happen," Andretti said. "You have to believe it can be done, and then you can get it done. The leadership of the two organizations aren't thinking that way, and that's the problem at the moment that we have to change."

Mario Andretti remembers when Pole Day at the Indianapolis 500 brought in crowds in excess of 250,000.

"Shocked and sad," he said of his reaction to this year's meager Pole Day crowd. "I'm just saddened. I love and appreciated what this place stood for and all the people that have attended. To me, the qualifying days, those were the real fans. The event, you only have people that go to a race once, like the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby. The real fans were here for qualifying. Somehow, they aren't here anymore, and that's the part that saddens me more than anything else in the world."

Times have changed, the sport has changed and NASCAR is now king in the United States. But Mario Andretti will continue to look over the impressive collection of race cars on the team owned by his son, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree.

Those cars will be driven Sunday by Kanaan, Michael Andretti, Robby Gordon and rookie Dan Wheldon.

"He has cars as far as your eyes can see," Mario Andretti said. "It's amazing what they have done. I'm impressed by the fact he has so many good people assembled here with engineering and great drivers. That's why he's happy. It's a different way of earning a living, but that was his mind-set.

"He's been like that for a while now. I think timing was good for him in every way. He basically seems to be very happy and at peace with his decision. As long as he's happy, I'm happy."

What would make Mario Andretti happiest is to see his son finally win the Indianapolis 500, just about the only race he has not won.

"There are some things we cannot control," Mario said. "The bottom line is he knows he can do it, we knew he can do it. That is all you can go with. He has one more shot at it and if everything lines up for him, he certainly has the ingredients to make it happen. And it will be interesting to see if he gets lucky this time because he certainly has the ability."