First win special for Marco Andretti: Michael Andretti knew his son Marco had inherited the family’s gift for driving at a very early age.

“He was very good at driving golf carts,” said Michael Andretti of one of his son’s first driving experiences. “He had to stand and push the throttle and steer. He couldn’t sit on a chair, on the seat. On his first day of school, we were waiting at the end of our driveway. We had a golf cart there. The school bus comes there, pulls up. He turns around, and he’s gone with the golf cart, crying, saying he’s not going to school. I’m running after him, trying to catch him. He’s driving it so fast. I knew at that point. He was probably five.”

Fourteen years and several powerful racing vehicles later, Marco Andretti joined his famous father and grandfather as a winner of a major open-wheel race.

At 19 years, five months and 14 days, Andretti became the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race, and he accomplished the feat at a pace far quicker than his father or grandfather – Michael Andretti was 23 years, 6 months and 7 days old when won at Long Beach in 1986, while Mario Andretti was 25 years old when he won the Hoosier Grand Prix in 1965.

“I couldn’t be happier because we fulfilled all the goals that we set at the beginning of the year,” said Marco Andretti, who clinched the season-long Bombardier Rookie of the Year Award with the win. “Rookie-of-the-Year at Indy, the series. We got our win, you know. So definitely it’s the best feeling all year for sure.

That the win came at Infineon Raceway was even more special for the third-generation driver. Marco won the Indy Pro Series event at the track in 2005 and posted other top finishes in other developmental series.

“I just have a lot of laps here, which definitely helps,” he said. “I said even before this race that the majority of my success was here. This place has a big lead now.”