INDIANAPOLIS -- From the anchors on ESPN's SportsCenter to some diehard gearheads to the man on the street, there seemed to be one universal question making the rounds after Mario Andretti broke the Indianapolis Motor Speedway altitude record Wednesday afternoon.

"What is a 63-year-old man doing in an Indy car?"

The only thing more inconceivable to the American public than Andretti surviving one of the wildest accidents in IMS history with only a scrape on his chin was the fact he was actually back in an Indy car.

A multi-millionaire whose racing resume is the most impressive in all of motorsports history back behind the wheel of a 230 mph missile because he missed the limelight?

"No, anybody who knows dad understands why," said Michael Andretti, who asked his old man to test as an insurance policy in case Tony Kanaan hasn't recovered from his injuries in time to qualify for the May 25 race.

"He agreed to do it because he wanted to and because he knew he could handle it."

Covering Mario's talents for 33 years, being fortunate enough to ride in a two-seat Indy car with him around Laguna Seca in 1999 and knowing how much he misses competition, I'm fully aware that nobody has ever had more passion for driving a race car.

Some of us kidded him at Long Beach earlier this month that he'd better get his helmet ready because Michael might be calling.

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

Of course when he admitted Tuesday he was being fitted in Kanaan's car, it extracted two immediate emotions. Anticipation to see this Indy legend back at speed and trepidation that maybe this was too crazy, even for Mario.

Well, until he ran over a piece of debris from Kenny Brack's crash with two minutes left in a test session and sailed through the air like a 1,500-pound frisbee, Andretti was in the process of showing everyone he's a very special 63-year-old grandfather.

Despite not being in an Indy car with any serious aggression since retiring following 1994 and having no previous experience in an Indy Racing League car, the 1969 Indy 500 winner had meticulously worked his way up to 226 mph in less than 50 hot laps.

For the record, 231 mph won the pole here in 2002.

"Pretty damn impressive," said Dario Franchitti, another member of Andretti-Green Racing's walking wounded, out until July with a broken back.

Naturally, the critics said he didn't react in time, the yellow light was on for so many seconds, he couldn't see.

"That's so much BS," Michael Andretti said. "He was only a half a straightaway behind Kenny and if he'd have been a straightaway behind we would have had a chance to warn him.

"He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Thirty minutes after stepping out of the wreckage in Turn 2, Mario was chatting with the media, vowing to come back in May if Michael needed him and thanking the Man Upstairs for protecting him again.

But one of the first things he said to his son?

"He said he was really sorry about the car but, boy, that last change we made really worked," Michael said with a laugh.

From my perspective, other than Mario dodging a bullet, the best thing about this experience was the affect it had on this famous family.

While open wheel racing has been the biggest loser in this ugly, eight-year Civil War between IRL and CART, it's also divided the Andretti house in Nazareth, Pa. Mario, whose criticism of Tony George's all-oval series and support of CART has never wavered, became openly disgusted when Michael announced he was taking his new team to the IRL this season.

Even though this is Michael's final fling (he retires following Indy next month), Mario did not show up to watch in any of the three IRL races he's already run in 2003.

But everything was back to normal Wednesday at the Speedway. Instead of Mario leaning into the cockpit to ask Michael how the car felt, the roles were reversed. Still, you couldn't help but notice how happy father and son were.

"He told me last night that I had made him feel like he was 30 years old and he just couldn't thank me enough," Michael said. "That made it all worthwhile for me and it had just been a perfect day.

"Until the very end."

Mario said Thursday that maybe "somebody was trying to tell me something" and it's highly unlikely he'll be back in a car when IMS opens May 4.

And that's fine by all of us. Living legend has a nice ring to it.