A year later, it virtually needed a walker to get to the grid, but with its supposed replacement, the Lotus 76, having proved a disaster, the six-year-old design would have to do. The magnificent Lotus 72, which had won the drivers' title for Jochen Rindt in 1970 and Emerson Fittipaldi in '72, and won the Constructors' Championship in '70, '72 and '73, had required the incockpit acrobatics of Ronnie Peterson to win three races in '74. Now, Lotus too, had been in the doldrums of late. And so VPJ went MIA in Brazil, while Andretti, never one to sit on his thumbs, took up an offer to drive for Lotus as a one-off. Jones was not prepared to be in any racing category just to make up the numbers. Thus the '63 Indy 500 winner entered '76 in a financial quandary, determined not to squander his own money on what, so far, had proved a mid-grid project. Certainly, the results weren't coming swiftly enough for Parnelli to retain his primary sponsor, Viceroy cigarettes. But in the intervening period, the game had moved on considerably, and consequently, the Ferraris and McLarens were out of reach at most races.

And so he persuaded Jones and team co-owner Vel Miletich to enter Formula 1 in The Maurice Phillippe-penned VPJ4 was reasonably quick at times, as it owed much in shape and concept to the Lotus 72 that Phillippe had a considerable hand in designing years earlier. The bank statements looked considerably healthier than the results sheets, and for someone with a racer's soul like Mario, that wasn't enough. The cars were sometimes quick, frequently unreliable, and a victory at Trenton in April '73 was the sole highlight. His big contracts were still in USAC, but having achieved three Indy car titles and the '69 Indy 500, Andretti then went through a relatively barren period with the so-called superteam of Vel's Parnelli Jones from '72-'74.

2 From 1968, when he entered two races for Lotus (setting pole position in the second!) through to the end of 1972, Andretti had entered just 21 World Championship grands prix, winning the '71 South African GP for Ferrari, his first F1 race for Il Cavallino Rampante.

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