GMP 1:18 Vintage Roll Caged Dirt Champ #2- Andretti-Ltd Ed of 1500

Mario Andretti is regarded by most racing enthusiasts as one of the two best auto racers of the 20th Century and GMP’s 1:18 scale rendition of the car he used to win the 1974 USAC Silver Crown National Dirt Championship is a nice way to remember an important part of this amazingly versatile racer’s career.

Almost everyone who follows racing knows some of Mario’s story: Born in Montona, Italy in 1940, his family migrated to eastern Pennsylvania when his homeland fell behind the Iron Curtain after WWII, began racing in 1959 on a dirt track in Nazareth, PA, won the first race he entered, went on to race Formula 1 for Lotus, Ferrari, and Vel’s-Parnelli Jones, Indy Cars with Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Andy Granatelli, Champ Cars, sports cars, stock cars, Pike’s Peak…...he even tried his hand at drag racing a Ford Mustang. He was the Formula 1 World Champion in 1978, Champ Car National Champion in ’65,‘66, ’69 & ’84, won the Indy 500 in 1969, won the USAC National Dirt Track Championship in ’74, won the Daytona 500 in ’67 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in ’67, ’70 & ’72. The only significant race he hasn’t won is the 24 Hours of LeMans….. and, although he retired in 1994, he still would like to put a win at LeMans on his resume.

Until July 1971, the USAC National Championship was contested on dirt and paved ovals and the Indy 500 was one of those races . This required having two very different cars to run the full championship season. After 1971, however, the dirt races were broken away from the paved races and given their own championship called the USAC National Dirt Track Championship or the Silver Crown National Championship. It was in this dirt series that Mario teamed with Al Unser (Sr.) in 1973 and 1974 to race for Vel’s-Parnelli Jones. Andretti’s and Unser’s cars were powered by the unique Ford DOHC V-8 that was originally developed for racing Indy cars and some sports car venues. In 1973 Al Unser dominated the series and won the National Dirt Track Championship with Mario taking second. But in 1974, Mario reversed their roles and won the National Championship with Unser trailing him in the number two spot.

It is Mario’s Number 2 Viceroy-sponsored 1974 National Dirt Track Championship car that GMP has made in 1:18 scale. This is a beautiful car! The lustrous white paint has red accents with gold and black detailing. The car sits squat and purposeful with the workings of the stout front and rear torsion bar suspensions supporting the weight of the chassis with four shocks forward and two shocks dampening the rear. Mario’s “office” is padded and bolstered to support him against the slamming and pounding experienced while negotiating the rutted one-mile dirt ovals at fairgrounds across the country and GMP has done a masterful job of replicating the look of the rumpled naugahyde upholstery. Mario used a Bell steering wheel with padded hub to negotiate the oval with his front wheels frequently at full opposite-lock! The pedals consisted of a gas pedal and a clutch with the brakes being applied with an externally mounted brake lever. A Jones-Motorola tach sits in the center of the instrument panel with gauges for oil pressure, water temperature & fuel pressure surrounding it. These and his ears told Mario all he needed to know about engine performance.

When you look at the engine, something looks different...at least for this particular engine! On almost every other application of the Ford DOHC V-8, the exhaust ports exit the engine into the valley between the two heads, but for this application, the mechanics reversed the heads from side to side so that the exhaust exits the engine on the outside of the heads much like a traditional V-8. The ignition wires emanate from the magneto mounted to the front of the timing cover and injector stacks protrude from beneath both sides of the engine cover. GMP isn’t able to give us the full racing livery because this car was sponsored by Viceroy cigarettes, but that doesn’t detract from the beauty of this piece and actually makes the car look cleaner with more design purity. And thank heavens, you won’t be able to blame GMP if you or your kids have an insatiable desire to start smoking Viceroys! As usual, Tom Long and his team of craftsmen both in Winder, GA and China have really done a great job bringing us Mario’s 1974 USAC Dirt Champion. The 1:18 scale car has the look and feel of the real thing. The tampo work is first-rate and each tiny contingency decal is clear enough to be easily read with a magnifying glass. The cross-siped rear tires and the deep-grooved fronts are exact representations of the tires they ran in 1974. Besides the regular radiator, this car is also fitted with two small oil coolers mounted on the left side of the car to cool the engine and differential oil. When you take time pouring over this beauty, you can see how simple and purposeful this car was and what a beautiful job GMP has done in bringing it to us.

The car is shipped in a double box arrangement with a two-piece inner foam tray actually supporting the car. This keeps it safe until you’re ready to display it. When the car is shipped they separately package the hood and two side panels in a pocket on the top of the foam. These are fitted into place once you put this beautiful car on display. My guess is that once the side panels are installed, 99% will never be removed again…… I know mine won’t! Having such a significant car from such an important racer gives us a much better understanding of what these guys had to go through to be called Champion……… Mario Andretti was one of the men who truly deserved the title.

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