:18:02
Along with fellow competitors
Steve McQueen and James Garner.
:18:05
Gave birth to the Baja mystique.
:18:07
And over the years. Everyone
seems to have raced the Baja.
:18:10
But there's one notable exception
who's never managed to make it until now...
:18:14
the greatest race car driver ever.
Mario Andretti.
:18:16
Great opportunity,
:18:17
and so happy that I did it
because I got some taste of it.
:18:21
Sal Fish invited Mario to be
this year's grand marshal.
:18:24
His mere presence can make
grown men act like schoolchildren.
:18:27
Mario Andretti could've been
anywhere in the world,
:18:30
and he was in Ensenada
at the Score Baja 1000.
:18:33
That, to me, I'll never forget that.
It was a highlight of my career.
:18:36
Say the name Andretti, and that's speed,
that's auto racing. That's it.
:18:40
And it's global.
It's a universal word.
:18:42
He's the best.
I love that guy.
:18:45
I gotta get the car heated up and my seat
buffed 'cause Mario's coming.
:18:48
He's gonna sit right there.
:18:49
For Todd. This culminated
years of hero worship.
:18:52
A chance to bond with his idol.
:18:54
Mario's, I think, taken the bait.
:18:57
He's thinking,
"You know, I can do this. "
:19:00
I want you to drive it slowly,
and I'm gonna sit there...
:19:03
Yeah, sure.
:19:04
He took the wheel before
Todd could cry for help.
:19:09
There's a very good reason the name
Andretti is synonymous with speed...
:19:14
Because it's synonymous with speed.
:19:18
Feeling the pre-run truck here,
:19:20
I could see how you could
all of a sudden find yourself in a ditch
:19:23
upside down really easy.
:19:26
All of a sudden he's
pushing the thing pretty hard,
:19:28
we're on the right-hand side,
stuff's going right by me.
:19:32
So I said, "Hey, Mario, you gotta slow down.
I think there's some horses coming up. "
:19:34
There weren't horses coming up,
but anything to get this thing slowed down.
:19:47
What did you think of that?
:19:49
What did you think of that?
I loved it.
:19:51
Todd's hyperventilating had stopped.
:19:54
Unfortunately. So did his truck.
20 miles from civilization.