Race Car Driver John Andretti Dies After Cancer Battle

(photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

Race car driver John Andretti has died after a battle with cancer, his team said in a tweet Thursday.

The 56-year-old native of Bethlehem, Penn., had disclosed in April 2017 that he was battling colon cancer. He was deemed free of cancer later in 2017, but relapsed in May 2018. He went through chemotherapy in January 2019, but the cancer again relapsed in March.

While battling cancer, he started the hashtag #CheckIt4Andretti to encourage people to get colonoscopies to prevent and detect colon cancer.

Andretti was in 12 Indianapolis 500 races through 2011 and 15 Daytona 500 events through 2010.

The team tweet said, “John was a loving husband and father, a devoted son and a trusted cousin. He was a philanthropist, an advocate for the sport, a dedicated teammate, a driven competitor and most importantly a dear friend.

“Through Race4Riley, John spent decades dedicating his time and fundraising attention to Riley Hospital for Children. When first diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017, John vowed to fight back and use his voice to help spread the word of prevention and early detection. He fought hard and stole back days the disease vowed to take away. He helped countless others under proper screening, and in doing so, saved lives.

“We will forever carry with us John’s genuine spirit of helping others first and himself second. Our prayers today are with Nancy, Jarrett, Olivia and Amelia, with our entire family, and with fan worldwide. We urge all our followers to, please, #CheckIt4Andretti.”