 The Newsroom Protect and Telecom Professionals and JSA radio, the Boys Protect and Telecom on iHeart radio. I'm Jamie Tumato-Cutayo. Welcome to the New Jersey Fiber Exchange and JFX Launch. Very exciting day here. And we are here at the VIPs of our industry, sitting down next to this amazing resource and with none other than the driving legend, Mr. Mario Andretti. The Chief Operating Officer of Tata Communications, Fiber Exchange. These are our video screens on each side. Those knowledgeable in the sport rank him among the greatest racing drivers of all time. People who never follow racing easily recognize his name. He is synonymous with auto racing and with driving fast. Excuse me, sir. Who do you think you are, Mario Andretti? From racetrack to Madison Avenue. Not in Indy cars. From the pits to Hollywood, Mario Andretti is part of American culture. He became a household name by winning races in the 1960s, winning many races. But creating a legend takes more than merely being victorious. The Andretti legend was created by how he won, and because he won in so many different types of cars. Other drivers have won more races in their particular specialties, but when one looks at total victories in all major forms of automobile racing, Mario Andretti stands alone. The Mario Andretti story is an American story. For seven years after the end of World War II, Mario and his family were forced to live in a refugee camp. They finally left their native Italy for America in 1955, when Mario was 15 years old and settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The family had $125 in cash and didn't speak English. There happened to be a primitive dirt track in Nazareth, and very soon Mario and his twin brother Aldo were building and racing their own stock car. Mario was immediately successful, and after his apprenticeship on the dirt track ovals of the Northeast, he drove his first Indianapolis-type car in 1964. The next year he moved his career into high gear. He finished a strong third in his first Indy 500, scored his first major victory later in the season, and went on to win the year-long national championship for Indy-style cars. A year later, Mario was in victory circle eight times and easily won his second national championship. In the next two years, Andretti went from being known in American racing circles as an excellent Indy car driver to being known internationally as an exceptional Indy car, stock car, sports car, and Formula One car driver. In 1967, he entered the Daytona 500 and shocked the stock car racing establishment by stealing their most prestigious race. A month and a half later, he co-dropped to victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring Sports Car Race, one of the most important road races in the world. Then at the end of 1968, another chapter opened for Mario. He entered the United States Grand Prix, and although it was the first time he'd ever raced a Formula One Grand Prix car, and the first time he had ever seen the Watkins Glen Road Circuit, he qualified on pole position. It was a staggering achievement. In 1969, he won the Indy 500, and he won it in style. A practice crash had destroyed his car and could easily have killed him. Undaunted, he drove a year-old backup car to victory. Then two years later, he won his first Formula One Grand Prix race. He'd been racing at the top levels of the sport for only seven years, and yet he had now won in every type of car. And whenever Mario Andretti stepped into a car, he meant to win. He drove flat out, and his love and passion for driving was evident for all to see. Andretti was known for his style as much as his success. Then in 1978, he capped his career with the most prestigious championship in racing. After winning six Formula One Grand Prix races, Mario had become the world driving champion, only the second American to do so. His passion for the sport still burned, and he kept on winning. In 1984, at 44 years of age, and driving against competitors 15 and 20 years he's junior, he won his fourth champ car title. And yet he continued, and continued to win. His last race victory came in 1993 at an almost impossible to believe 53 years of age. It wasn't until the next year, when he was 54, that Mario Andretti decided it was time to give up racing full-time. Assessing his legacy is easy. He drove the careers of three men. He drove the passion and joy that few have ever even. And he won in every type of race car, and on every kind of race track. That was the legend of Mario Andretti. You've clearly driven from engine cars and sprint cars. What was your favorite car to drive, and your most memorable career highlight? I must have turned this thing off. Thank you. That's a very good question, and it's a complex question, because I was so fortunate to be there for a long time. I've done a lot of boards in my career. So it's hard to find the favorite car to drive. But when it comes to the sport, the sport that obviously was my profession in motor racing, I can tell you that every car I want to race with fell in love with. That particular day was my favorite car. So when I look back, and look at my victory, that's really how it comes to my heart. Second part of your question is career highlights. I must tell you, here again, I was very fortunate. But there's always something that's very special, and I was born and raised in it. And the background that the family did not include motor racing or anything, any such thing. But as a young man, I fell in love with the sport. And in 1954, 14 years of age, when I saw the biggest race at that time, which was the Italian round three, the Monza. And that's when the ball was cast. That's when I said, God, if you could ever restore something on me, you could be a racing car driver. And that's where I reached the World Championship in 1978. Obviously, it's, you know, you talk about living the dream. That was it. So you can see it, I think, blessed and very fortunate. And so when you were 14, that was the moment when you first considered that this racing, racing is your career path, it's your dream. When did you know you would really sell out the sport? Well, first of all, yeah, starting an age 14, I felt that I never had a plan B. So obviously, that's what I worked toward. You know, trying to get involved in the sport. It started somehow. And then I did. Age 19 is 1959, is when I started my first season in the sport. And it was a very special beginning with my two brother, Aldo. We had one race car, two race drivers, and we were winning the races. And it started about two or four years later. When we started, I moved out on the ramps and started racing, competing against, you know, some of the best in the business. That's when I felt, you know, I think this may work for me after all, because you have to be realistic. And you have to measure up to the competition that has been there, you know, the high pounds at the moment. And that's when, that's what gives you hope, that's what gives you motivation. And that's what, you know, I have a youngster in any field of sports or competitive field. We always imagine yourself in this competition. But when you feel that, oh, I'm winning here and there. And the encouragement is, I think I can do this. I think I can make a living in this. And what did you do? Today, you're the only one of two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sports Car Championship, and NASCAR. You won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, still the only American to do so. Four IndyCar titles and many, many more. We're talking over 109 career wins on major circuits. Oh, I think it's a lot of pride. And I mean, ultimately, you know, a lot of time and effort in what you're doing, passion, your work. So what's the reward? You know, the ultimate reward is to be able to excel at any given day, being the guy, the person who kind of does the best. And the thing is that, that sort of, I would say that excitement is what drives you to repeat it again. Once you experience being at the top, you want to keep it there. You know, and that's your motivation, because nothing else comes close to it. So, again, that's, and I think just the love and passion for my work was no problem for me to stay motivated. And I look forward to going to work. And I look around for my friends. And many of my friends look forward to going to work. And unfortunately, not everybody does, but the ones who do probably do very well at their job. And these words are so true for our industry. We're surrounded by a lot of hard workers here who really enjoy what they do for sure. So they're speaking to our hearts. With your IndyCar win in April 1993, you became the first driver to win IndyCar races across four different decades. And the first took in all the wheel races of any kind in five decades. What's your advice for Korean longevity? And in particular, maintaining your legendary brand throughout the years? Well, here again, you know, a lot of the passion and the promise to come from within. My advice is if you act, especially in your own life, you know, just pursue it no matter what. And you'll be surprised. I mean, the odds of mine really becoming the race driver of what I'm still claiming about as a teenager was so, I mean, almost impossible. But I mean, I even had an issue with the problem of my own father, which did not understand the sport. You know, he knew all the talent teams, you know. So I didn't have his blessing. In fact, the first season, 1959, my brother now, our night, had to race without knowledge. You know, the only defense he had was that his language barrier, you know. So as far as the price is, if you really believe in yourself, believe in something, you know, just don't be discouraged. There's always going to be, you know, some issues and runs on the road and all that sort of thing. But ultimately, if you believe in runs and achievement, you will. Believe in just the way it is. And there's no written formula to take you there except just your own desire. How come so many people talk about your talk? It's an industry thing. So, um, even though you're talking now post career, we have our viewers now, Valley of Celebrity Apprentice, a few seasons back. Giving Donald Trump points of pride through New York City. You guys have to check this video out on YouTube if you haven't seen it. What was it like to meet the now Republican presidential candidate? And is he the same man off camera as he was on? Yeah. Now, that's another question. Obviously, what we were filming this week is the best event of the season. It was fun. It was fun because, you know, I took him around to see the race car. And he was so worried about his hair. And I assured him that I would mess it up. You know, so I tried to film it very fast. You know, to keep that intact. And so we were looking at, you know, all of it. And I thought that after the primary season, it was such a good ride. He would nominate me as the VP. You know, but out in here, the name works for me. And I'm kind of glad in a sense. But here we are. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what to say. People have been in interesting situations to watch. You know, this road to me to the right house again. Sure, for sure. Well, this is a good thing. I would not fail that he was in the car if I would have messed up her hair or not. Well, talking speed and drivers and rides of our lives. Gil, you built this amazing building from the ground up. And it's true. And it's true in Drady's style. In record time, under one year, this building has brought it to the ground up. In time, time, cable ending season. Right at the door. So what was your long process with the idea of driving where you were at? Well, it's an interesting ride. You know, we started this process about two years ago. And it was John Hedek and I who started talking about this and now, of course, to what the partnership could look like in terms of building a tier three site at a cable landing station. And that's just building cable landing station campus. We talked about it for a good few, six runs and worked with Mark since he was here also, he was here to be aware. Everyone agreed to make sense of the building. And last October, he programmed. So today, September, he built this building a lot of months. At the work pointy, like any sport you have in the team behind you that supports you, and I've got Frank Perugia, who was a designer for the site, inspiration to us all, worked to help us out. Felix Seda, who helped him as well. Greg Gretel, where the Seda's family and us worked with his title behind. But the issue behind this building was a combination of me and Linderia. I sold Linderia in 2008, and I retired. I retired, I played golf, I worked with my family, I traveled. But it was a void of marketplace. They wanted to do something else. We always wanted to have something to go back to, and this building for me represents a legacy. We thought that we were going to have a lot of family for whatever. And something that goes back to our industry that allows people to move things they can't do before this building was built. And Mary, for your benefit, we're sitting in a facility where people travel across the ocean. Our community is open to people when they're stationed and stored, and people's live in the UK. We've got a cable company here from Brazil. This is the first and last stop, the fastest way to get done in Brazil happens in here. And we're here in a room full of friends, and all are really in the same way. And like you and Gracie, we all work together. We cooperate, we compete, but at the end of the day, we have food, drink, we celebrate, and we chat through these conferences. Deals are getting done. So what are the interconnection possibilities here? So as I said before, being in a cable-landed station is really the most robust part of the network that exists. You connect to back-hop providers like Altea, Stale, Water Tower, Wing Street. We all have products that's here. And they can bring you directly if you want to go anywhere else. So the simplest forms. Traditionally, New York City was a point of failure in how we could meet with other countries. We've not been in New York City but putting this building here, and having a place in these networks to now directly go and connect financial centers, connect immediate centers in Aspera. It's the most important location it's in our facility to do all that you've got. Location, location, location. Is that what they say? Particularly to real estate. Also, speed of networks. This is when it becomes critical. So tell us, Gail, what makes this location critical to subsequent activity and speed? Well, again, adding a part of electronic communications in the facility built in Aspera allows us to rapidly keep their deals. So truly a connection point to other big banks to a lot of these products as well. You know, we don't want to sell this building ever to one tenant. We're not in the sense of a big deal that we lose the whole way. And I wanted to also say to the college we have the mayor of Wall here to read coffee back there. I wanted to make sure everyone realized it was here. I want to thank Wall Township for their support in letting us build this building in the right way for the case. Lots of great folks in this room is wanting to make sure I got it. And the job for Tata Communications. As we know, Tata is a brand known for fastest and secure global communications. And as noted by Gail, your cable literally comes ashore just steps away. Which makes this location on the Jersey Shore critical for speed. And with the NJFX's added marketplace, businesses and networks can come in and connect to a global fiber network and quickly be taken anywhere around the world. So John, tell us more about your network, reach and your speed. Sure. Tata Communications has two cables to learn next door, right? Your cable service provider has a whole year to bring around the world. Literally on Tata's cables we can start here in Wall Township in Jersey send us out of light and have it come here and hit the Go Through Japan hit our US West Coast sites and end up back here if we wanted to do so. One second. It's great to have this tier 3 facility right next to the cable management station because I did go forward. This is going to be more of the model you're going to see around. As networks grow in capillarity and reach is really important as enterprises move more applications, dating, storage into the town they really want to be able to reach data needs and having a tier 3 facility right next to that set of cognitive solutions is really a first to the market that I think is really going to see legs and it's really going to influence how things are built in the future as well. For sure. Absolutely. And how do you see the NJFX in the room and data center to tier 3 networks adding this extra layer of speed and capabilities? For you. A lot of what I've been talking about in NJFX is not just a pure data center building basically a platform where you can know that which cognitive solutions whether you're trying to reach something that has to be in the US for the four or five companies so I think having a rich quality data set getting a set of providers over here that offer many different applications needs and services and making this location more valuable for enterprises and consumers is really going to create that platform and that community that people are going to want to have space power and services out of here. And they're doing it in high school in the old school, right? No positive energies to be given? We are. So our model really is the original NJFX model. We don't charge very easy cross teams. Why? I love all the guys in this room. All the guys in here are trying to get deals done. I don't want to get in the middle of their deal chatting back and getting something done. When the bottom line is we as a real estate place should not be in communication business. What we want to do is support our customers. Sparkle, Tata, Level 3, and Winstree. When the deal gets done why surprise the company with very few? It's a surprise batch. So for particular business we should do some real estate playing all the time for space power and all the time. I have one last question and this will be for online panelists but if there's a question out there in the audience feel free to raise your hands and we'll come to hear from you guys. So my question again for you is for you to put all this launching you dream in in your own way made a career in getting from point A to point B with unbelievable speed and you're trusting brands as such. John, good to start with you. Looking at your professional growth over the years. Were there any hurdles along the way that you had to overcome and important lessons for that you can share with us? For any career that could be major this morning, whatever your recognition of success is you have no purpose. I think one of the ones that I will point out today in today's day and age that is a bit more of a requirement like is it continue to struggle with social media and always on non-attunity and as a business you're always presenting new opportunities to investigate potentially built it's a period of things coming out to you all the time. So to me it comes down to how you go about the discipline and the focus on what's truly important to achieve your definition of success you can take that potential for that perseverance to only focus on those and let a lot of that noise and distractions go away. True, true. Larry, there must have been a time during your staggering career that was particularly challenging for instance in 1979 with the new Lotus 8 car was particularly competitive or the 1982 Controversy Prep with Kevin Hogan tell us a little bit about how you overcame your challenge. Well, as you can imagine when you're living in a highly competitive world you're going to have some glitches here and there. As a matter of fact if it was easy obviously it wouldn't be important but the thing is when you get knocked down it's how you get up and brush yourself off and go on and win again it's all about believing in yourself and knowing that it's not going to be better roses per se always but after the hard war the rewards are there that's what keeps you motivated driving on again it's if you're fortunate enough to be there for the wrong tool in our business there could be many interruptions if you're unlucky and you're injured for a long period of time where it was something that was very prominent in all the leg days that I've raised in and I'm just counting my blessings for the fact that I've done a lot of bullets I was able to continue on out of the 19 races in my life I've spent 40 years holding these two races because of injury and that's because I was really in many ways very very lucky and I know that and I'm forever thankful but again as John said there are different ways of measuring success in our business to measure success to some degree there are many trophies you have but it's also with the relationships that you build that last a lifetime because of opportunities to meet people individuals and appreciate cultures around the world it just blows your convention to incredible images so all these things are part of what I feel you can consider success and I think I've been blessed with pretty much all of them I'm still living the dream today you have a question who is the toughest person you ever raced against who is the toughest person you ever raced against there's another question who is the toughest person I ever raced against there weren't too many drivers my career was two weeks it would have been easy but every decade or whatever even has just that new you know like drawn on your side always in almost every decade a certain standard in a certain discipline and again I've had many and I usually this mentioning because I'm always thinking that I'm going to forget come on but the juggist tour it's easier for it but I actually know Michael is a pain in the ass because he was so good so again I look back and I've raced against some of the icons of our sport in the last two years and that's the question with every possible way what question have you seen the film Rush which is the formula one scene of the late 70's and just the exciting time rivalry between Jameson you're in the mix with that what was your take on that what was your take Mario on the film Rush now I'm going to be a silk credit you're going to hear because as you can imagine the film Rush was portrayed in real life of two individuals that were absolute stars at the moment but typical Hollywood sort of going their own ways describing certain situations and it did not really illustrate the facts exactly as you were and some of the critical facts about the New Berkeley when Robert was born about the supposedly the meeting and supposedly I'd taken place among the drivers not to start the race because of the conditions that never happened I was there were a lot of things that were not exactly true to the story runs the casting was a phenomenon about the two characters the rest of the casting was terrible some of the proper language that was used by one particular team owner and manager was never existing that meant it's very polished and very proactive very eloquent and so the movie Rush is now one of my favorites but it did not really I think it was a good story Hollywood's file but as far as even sort of showing what the original one is about it was not really represented in a lot of steps and that's why I didn't get any nominations and it went to never never that's my side of and our last question your turn as we can all see this point in the casting facility so Gil, were there any points throughout this year of building where you had to puster up strength and persevere anyway that's a great question because there were many moments where we were worried about what was going to happen but across the line April 8th, April 9th when we were still paving the road out in front we still had painters sitting here we had a hundred men working in the building of attrition we had HAC units and we said to ourselves when is the date for this party? September 21st months ago and when we did get it committed to all of you we would have Larry went right here thank you again for being with us I promised our partners Tata who came in from the UK to support the event and we had a party that we'd come to we promised our friends we'd play golf in the morning and we had a lot signed up Jim Ortini, Love Corbin all came in put down their suits put on our hats, grabbed paint blushes and we started working my team stopped didn't stop working 12, 14 hours a day for the last three weeks and even three days ago we looked at each other and said are we going to make a mistake and here we are thank you all for being part of this full day for us this was not easy but well worth it we're glad to share this with you thank you each one of you thank you gentlemen thank you for joining us JSA TV at JSA