Post by Henrik on May 12, 2003 6:27:21 GMT -5
This weekend at Lausitzring, Alex Zanardi showed yet again what an amazing person he is. After losing his two legs here in 2001, almost losing his life, he wanted to finish the last 13 laps from that race in 2001. He did so in style! Check the following article, and just imagine that he has not been in a race car since a year and a half, and drove using only his hands in a specially developed car, and produced a time that would have put him 5th on the starting grid.....
Alex, you bring tears to my eyes!!!!
From German 500 winner Sebastien Bourdais on down to last place finisher Patrick Lemarie, the nineteen drivers who took part in today’s Champ Car race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz completed 2582 laps, for a total of 5164 miles. And yet, as enthusiastically as the crowd received Bourdais and fellow podium finishers Mario Dominguez and Michel Jourdain, Jr., it is no stretch to say the emotional highlight of the weekend was reserved for a fellow who drove just 13 laps on Sunday; just 26 miles.
That fellow is, of course, Alex Zanardi. The indomitable Italian returned to EuroSpeedway Lausitz this weekend with a mission in mind: to complete the 13 laps, the 26 miles he failed to complete in the inaugural Champ Car race in Germany back in 2001 thanks to the terrible crash that ended his racing career and so nearly took his life.
Zanardi had made trial run here on Friday, driving the hand-operated Ford-Reynard around the speedway for some 40 laps just to make sure there would be no glitches today. At that, he was warmly, no, passionately received by the 10,000 or so fans on hand for the pre-race weekend activities.
But that was just a warm-up to today’s emotional reception, one that featured hundreds of hand-held air horns greeting his every lap, a human wave that followed him around the grandstands that surround the 2 mile speedway and, finally, a thundering ovation when he climbed out of the race car on pit lane. About the only thing missing was a series of Zanardi doughnuts.
“It was just fantastic,” said Zanardi later. “Obviously this is something that I’ve been doing all my racing career. In the past year and a half, I never even got close to drive a proper racing car. So just for this reason it was great again to feel the speed, to feel the downforce. Most of all, what made it particularly enjoyable was the love of all the people in the Champ Car community, in particular the drivers, and certainly the fans. It was just awesome.”
In typical Zanardi fashion, he did not just putter around for show. No. Each of his 13 laps was faster than the one before, and he finished up with a lap at 37.487s, a lap that would have been good enough for fifth on the grid . . .
“It was a very good day,” he said. “I think actually the car, the other night when we did the first few laps, was slightly faster. There is a problem with the electronic throttle which we have installed, which tends to make a lot of spikes in the boost because it operates directly the ninth butterfly.
“The other night I was getting a little more boost than I was allowed. So initially they say ‘Yeah, that’s okay. We’ll leave it like that. For Alex, we’ll do it.’
“Then, when they saw I could go pretty well, they said ‘No, we don’t want him to go too fast,” so they re-adjusted.”
So the car was 100% legal, right?
“I don’t know what kind of answer I can give you because even if I say yes (the car was entirely legal), you still will have your opinion. My car did not go through technical inspection, so we could have done anything we wanted. I’m very proud of the job I did. Let’s put it that way. Then is up to you to think what you want.”
No matter the fine points, perhaps the most impressive part of Zanardi’s performance (apart from the fact, of course, that he is driving at all) is that his laps were incredibly consistent, as the following chart shows:
Lap 1: 40.546
Lap 2: 38.918
Lap 3: 38.381
Lap 4: 38.096
Lap 5: 37.661
Lap 6: 37.533
Lap 7: 37.532
Lap 8: 37.539
Lap 9: 37.509
Lap 10: 37.504
Lap 11: 37.507
Lap 12: 37.495
Lap 13: 37.487
“It was flat out,” he said. “Wide open. I can’t say pedal to the metal, because I didn’t have a pedal. I just had a little knob, but that was all I had in the car.
“I was really surprised how rapidly it came back to me. I was really surprised. You know, I can only say that. It felt like I was doing the same thing the day before and the day before. I didn’t feel like I was out of the car for one and a half years. Especially if you consider that in this one and a half years, all I’ve been doing, I’ve been adjusting prosthetic legs, spending time with my son and the fastest thing I’ve driven is my road car. So it was nice. It was a very pleasant surprise for me too. Yeah, that was pretty consistent.”
A man of deep passion and emotion, Zanardi is also a pragmatist. As such, he admitted to having conflicting feelings of sorts when his run came to an end.
“I was kind of disappointed that that was over,” he says. “But nevertheless, I have great memories from racing. I’ve enjoyed beautiful satisfactions. And certainly from a sporting point of view, this was not the highlight of my life. I had races that for me personally were by far more important than these 13 laps.
“This was something that was very symbolic, if you like, very emotional for the people that saw me taken away (from EuroSpeedway in 2001) from the helicopter, leaving a big trace of blood, and then when I come back here and I drive the same speed I was driving last time I was here. So certainly this is surprising. It looks like a miracle. But for me, that I’ve lived through day to day, it’s not a miracle.”
When he’s not piloting a Ford-Reynard around EuroSpeedway Lausitz at upwards of 200 mph average speed, Zanardi continues working on his rehabilitation and spending time with his wife Daniela and son Niccolo. Too, he is involved in the administration of the Alex Zanardi Foundation, which he set up to manage the donations and money that so unexpectedly came flowing his way in the wake of his accident in September, 2001.
Last year, Zanardi used a portion of that money to finance the final phase of construction for a school for poor children in Madagascar.
“You guys were nice enough to make a substantial donation to my foundation,” he said. “Pioneer (sponsor of his car back in 2001) as well as some other sponsors. I really appreciate that. That was also one of the motivating factors for me to say ‘Yeah, okay. I’m really determined that I want to do this 13 laps. I want to finish this race.”
And as remarkable - miraculous even - a fellow as he may be, even Alex Zanardi can not predict what the future holds for him.
“God knows what’s next,” he said. “But for sure this is my answer also to the fans that wanted to know what I haven’t come back to racing. Is it because it’s impossible or is it because I don’t want to come back or is it probably simply because I’m really scared about what happened in my accident?
“Well the answer is simply because life goes on, and I’m just in the process of moving on to other things. But at least I think now they know what that if I really want it, I could do it again. Maybe not at this level, but at other levels. I think eventually I will be driving again, maybe in a race, but always (to) be for my own, just for fun, never just a profession any more.”
And if there were ever any doubts, today once again proved that whatever Alex Zanardi does in the future, he will do it with passion, determination and, inevitably, success.
That fellow is, of course, Alex Zanardi. The indomitable Italian returned to EuroSpeedway Lausitz this weekend with a mission in mind: to complete the 13 laps, the 26 miles he failed to complete in the inaugural Champ Car race in Germany back in 2001 thanks to the terrible crash that ended his racing career and so nearly took his life.
Zanardi had made trial run here on Friday, driving the hand-operated Ford-Reynard around the speedway for some 40 laps just to make sure there would be no glitches today. At that, he was warmly, no, passionately received by the 10,000 or so fans on hand for the pre-race weekend activities.
But that was just a warm-up to today’s emotional reception, one that featured hundreds of hand-held air horns greeting his every lap, a human wave that followed him around the grandstands that surround the 2 mile speedway and, finally, a thundering ovation when he climbed out of the race car on pit lane. About the only thing missing was a series of Zanardi doughnuts.
“It was just fantastic,” said Zanardi later. “Obviously this is something that I’ve been doing all my racing career. In the past year and a half, I never even got close to drive a proper racing car. So just for this reason it was great again to feel the speed, to feel the downforce. Most of all, what made it particularly enjoyable was the love of all the people in the Champ Car community, in particular the drivers, and certainly the fans. It was just awesome.”
In typical Zanardi fashion, he did not just putter around for show. No. Each of his 13 laps was faster than the one before, and he finished up with a lap at 37.487s, a lap that would have been good enough for fifth on the grid . . .
“It was a very good day,” he said. “I think actually the car, the other night when we did the first few laps, was slightly faster. There is a problem with the electronic throttle which we have installed, which tends to make a lot of spikes in the boost because it operates directly the ninth butterfly.
“The other night I was getting a little more boost than I was allowed. So initially they say ‘Yeah, that’s okay. We’ll leave it like that. For Alex, we’ll do it.’
“Then, when they saw I could go pretty well, they said ‘No, we don’t want him to go too fast,” so they re-adjusted.”
So the car was 100% legal, right?
“I don’t know what kind of answer I can give you because even if I say yes (the car was entirely legal), you still will have your opinion. My car did not go through technical inspection, so we could have done anything we wanted. I’m very proud of the job I did. Let’s put it that way. Then is up to you to think what you want.”
No matter the fine points, perhaps the most impressive part of Zanardi’s performance (apart from the fact, of course, that he is driving at all) is that his laps were incredibly consistent, as the following chart shows:
Lap 1: 40.546
Lap 2: 38.918
Lap 3: 38.381
Lap 4: 38.096
Lap 5: 37.661
Lap 6: 37.533
Lap 7: 37.532
Lap 8: 37.539
Lap 9: 37.509
Lap 10: 37.504
Lap 11: 37.507
Lap 12: 37.495
Lap 13: 37.487
“It was flat out,” he said. “Wide open. I can’t say pedal to the metal, because I didn’t have a pedal. I just had a little knob, but that was all I had in the car.
“I was really surprised how rapidly it came back to me. I was really surprised. You know, I can only say that. It felt like I was doing the same thing the day before and the day before. I didn’t feel like I was out of the car for one and a half years. Especially if you consider that in this one and a half years, all I’ve been doing, I’ve been adjusting prosthetic legs, spending time with my son and the fastest thing I’ve driven is my road car. So it was nice. It was a very pleasant surprise for me too. Yeah, that was pretty consistent.”
A man of deep passion and emotion, Zanardi is also a pragmatist. As such, he admitted to having conflicting feelings of sorts when his run came to an end.
“I was kind of disappointed that that was over,” he says. “But nevertheless, I have great memories from racing. I’ve enjoyed beautiful satisfactions. And certainly from a sporting point of view, this was not the highlight of my life. I had races that for me personally were by far more important than these 13 laps.
“This was something that was very symbolic, if you like, very emotional for the people that saw me taken away (from EuroSpeedway in 2001) from the helicopter, leaving a big trace of blood, and then when I come back here and I drive the same speed I was driving last time I was here. So certainly this is surprising. It looks like a miracle. But for me, that I’ve lived through day to day, it’s not a miracle.”
When he’s not piloting a Ford-Reynard around EuroSpeedway Lausitz at upwards of 200 mph average speed, Zanardi continues working on his rehabilitation and spending time with his wife Daniela and son Niccolo. Too, he is involved in the administration of the Alex Zanardi Foundation, which he set up to manage the donations and money that so unexpectedly came flowing his way in the wake of his accident in September, 2001.
Last year, Zanardi used a portion of that money to finance the final phase of construction for a school for poor children in Madagascar.
“You guys were nice enough to make a substantial donation to my foundation,” he said. “Pioneer (sponsor of his car back in 2001) as well as some other sponsors. I really appreciate that. That was also one of the motivating factors for me to say ‘Yeah, okay. I’m really determined that I want to do this 13 laps. I want to finish this race.”
And as remarkable - miraculous even - a fellow as he may be, even Alex Zanardi can not predict what the future holds for him.
“God knows what’s next,” he said. “But for sure this is my answer also to the fans that wanted to know what I haven’t come back to racing. Is it because it’s impossible or is it because I don’t want to come back or is it probably simply because I’m really scared about what happened in my accident?
“Well the answer is simply because life goes on, and I’m just in the process of moving on to other things. But at least I think now they know what that if I really want it, I could do it again. Maybe not at this level, but at other levels. I think eventually I will be driving again, maybe in a race, but always (to) be for my own, just for fun, never just a profession any more.”
And if there were ever any doubts, today once again proved that whatever Alex Zanardi does in the future, he will do it with passion, determination and, inevitably, success.
Alex, you bring tears to my eyes!!!!
Don't Die Before You Live...
I wish I could fly
. So .... you'll still see '69' if you lean forward to read the number on the front of your cart!