Dec 4, 2006

Miracle on Wheels

Get back up on the horse. That's what they advise you to do when you fall off the horse. But for champion race driver Alex Zanardi the analogy is, at the same time, apt and not nearly far-reaching enough. Five years ago, Zanardi, a two-time Champ Car title holder, lost both his legs and very nearly his life in a horrible accident. Now he has not only returned from that ordeal, but he racing again. And there is even a chance that he will resume racing in the highest level of the sport -- Formula One.

Zanardi came close to death after crashing at a reported 200 miles per hour in a Champ Car race staged in the German Lausitzring.  But where others might have wallowed in self-pity after losing their legs, Zanardi worked hard to get himself fit to drive a racecar again. And, amazingly, when he did get the chance with the BMW team in the World Touring Car Championship, it was obvious he had not lost his touch.  He won two races in the series prompting BMW-Sauber to give him a four-lap test in a highly modified 2006 model F1 car.

The test was an emotional experience for the driver who jumped from F1 rides with Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams to Champ Car before his grievous injury.  In all he competed in 41 F1 races, and, remarkably, his best finish was only a sixth place at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. Reflecting on his Formula One career, Zanardi doesn't take the usual out of blaming his relative lack of success on poor cars and ill-prepared teams.  Instead, he says he could have pushed himself harder. But after jumping to Champ Car, perhaps stung by the demotion, he got serious about winning races and for two years was the dominant driver on the circuit.  And then came the tragic crash in the ill-conceived race in Germany.

Even if he never drives in another F1 race -- and odds are he won't -- his short test was a triumph of spirit.