Great post. I remember watching that pass at the Corkscrew and I could not believe what I was seeing and that he made it stick and went on to win that race goes to show how good of a driver he was.

Thank you, Aitch. And I must admit, I am a little jealous. Having seen replays of The Pass, it is something I wish I had seen live, to have captured the emotion of it as well.

Unbelieveable post Ollie- I had no idea about this story before reading this, much like your piece on Elio a few weeks ago.

Thanks. Zanardi is quite a character and fitted perfectly with my recent long posts. He seems to have a personality that shines. It’s just such a crying shame we didn’t get to see it in Formula One as much as American’s got to see it in CART.

I think the Memorial 500 was the first motor sporting event after 9/11, and the race was on/off for a couple of days. But the show must go on, as they say (I’m sure Churchill had a better quote for these kind of scenarios, but it escapes me right now).

What happened though was wildly shocking. The first Formula One Grand Prix after the events in New York City and Lausitz was in Italy, and I remember the drivers being completely lost for words. So much happened to the world and motor sport in such a short time frame.

One odd tidbit from my end is that during this last summer, during the ongoing revamp of my house, I found the sport section from a local newspaper from just a few days after 9/11. I checked it for any motorsports news and found a blip noting that this CART race in Germany was going to be run on schedule- I had no clue that something of this magnitude would happen there.

It’s stuff like this that keeps me coming back to your site.

Many thanks, donwatters. It’s comments like yours and all the others above that keep me writing!

I remember the awards ceremony where I think he presented an award to Michael Schumacher and no-one knoew he was going to stand. The whole place was on its feet cheering.

The man is very determined, but in a very light-hearted way. It’s an unusual mix – most people who have the never give up attitude tend to be, in my experience anyway, very focused to the point where the outside world doesn’t come into their sights. Alex seems to use the energy from those around him to add to his own and help him even further.

Great post. Thanks!

Brilliant post, nice job.

Fantastic post Ollie; keep up the great work.

Thanks everybody.

[I] remember his famous donuts he did after winning

Another of Zanardi’s trademarks. A driver who was genuinely happy after winning and not afraid of showing it.

I had the opportunity to see him drive in CART a number of times in the US and Canada and always remember his famous donuts he did after winning which he did.

Glad you posted this story.

I remember the awards ceremony where I think he presented an award to Michael Schumacher and no-one knoew he was going to stand. The whole place was on its feet cheering.

I read a thing by a Lotus engineer about Zanardi’s ability to diagnose a problem. I am not sure if it was after the SPa accident but he had suffered some problem with the active suspension. After he returned to the pits he explained what he felt and they said they would look into it. He phoned the team a couple of days later and told them that he had thought through what he felt in the car and he was sure the problem was caused by a particular valve failing under particular conditions. He was basically told that he was the driver and the clever people would solve the technical problems. When they eventually followed the line he had suggested he was absolutely right about the part that was failing and the failure mechanism. A very underrated drive.

I found this interview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJ4Dwt1h2c&feature=related

It’s very interesting and very funny – I reccomend you check it out!

Great interview. I like the line (which went something like): ‘A bit of Alex went one way, another bit another way. But that got me my ticket to be on my second Letterman Show!’

Edit: Just corrected an error in paragraph two. The BMW-Sauber Zanardi drove was a 2005 model, the C24. Not as I originally had from a previous edit of the article, an F1.07. I had corrected the bottom, but not the top.

I found this interview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJ4Dwt1h2c&feature=related

It’s very interesting and very funny – I reccomend you check it out!

Have you read his autobiography?

’tis on order. I was hoping to get (and read) it before posting this, but I spent yesterday morning in the garage waiting for my MOT to be done, and decided to capitalise on the free WiFi and type the post up.