Back in the mid-90s a young upcoming racing driver achieved what most of the worlds racing drivers describe as their ultimate goal - he made it to Formula One. As most youngsters of the time, he started in small back-marker teams, the cars of which were neither quick nor competitive, but all the more dangerous, he found himself out of a job at the end of 1995, after a horrific shunt at Spa-Franchorchamps had prematurely ended his season.
Not willing to give up, he went to Americaland and offered his services to one of the biggest teams in Americas premiere open-wheel racing series. In his first year he won several races and ended the championship in 3rd position and with "Rookie of the Year" honours. In the next two years he won the championship in not only dominant fashion, but also with such a flamboyant driving style, that he became a crowd favourite.
Having a score to settle with Formula One, he returned to Europe in 1999 signing with a big team that had won 5 consecutive titles between 1992 and 1997. Unfortunately that very team had lost its prestigious engine contract and with second rate machinery there was nothing to win...
Returning to America in 2000, he struggled to return to old form after the bitter disappointment in 1999. Unwilling to give up, he fought back to old form, which he finally achieved in September 2001.
Just four days after 9/11 the first ever Superspeedway race on European soil took place. Renamed "US Memorial 500", the race saw our hero lead a race for the first time since his return to the series and 13 laps from the finish he came into the pits for a last splash-and-dash, all but certain to be the winner. But fate decided otherwise. Leaving the pits, he came onto fluid that was left on the road by an opponents car and lost control of his 700 bhp missile. Helplessly sliding across the track, his car was T-boned by a competitors car splitting both car and driver in half
(I've been at that race, it was a horrible crash)Being airlifted to Berlin, he had to be CPR'ed seven times and arrived with no more than ONE (!!) litre of blood left. In a dramatic emergency surgery, Doctors managed to save his life, but his legs were gone...
Many a person never found back to life after such a horrible experience. But not our man. Refusing to give up (again), he started staging wheel chair races with fellow patients in the hospital's yard and found a new dream in life - "I want to carry my son on my shoulders again." He did so at the end of the year.
But do not think that this is the end of the story. He still had a few scores to settle. For instance those fateful last 13 laps in that fateful race in Germany, which he didn't get to complete. He did so at the races next holding in 2003. Driving a car adapted to operating the accelerator by hand and using his right prosthesis (and shear force of the hip) to apply brake pressure he finished those 13 laps in a ceremonial running at mindboggling speed. His best lap time would have qualified him in fifth position on the grid!!
Encouraged by that, he looked for support to return to racing. He found it in BMW. With a car similarly modified as the car in 2003, he entered the World Touring Car championship in 2004, finishing his first race in 7th position. He continued making positive news until another fateful day in Germany - Aug. 24th 2005. This being held on a track only 30 miles from my home, I of course saw it live.
Finding himself (unexpectedly) at the business end of the field, he managed to fend off all his rivals in an epic race to score his first win since his horror-shunt in 2001. Whole stands full of grown men (me included) looked like that ->
He won three more races between 2005 and 2009. Still having a score to settle with F1, even though he wasn't allowed to race, BMW allowed him to test for their works F1 team in 2006, where he ran as quick as a certain Sebatian Vettel, who would go on to become F1 World Champion in 2010 and 2011.
An impressive end to an inspiring story, is it not?
Well, no, it isn't
The man has a name. Alessandro Zanardi from Italy and today, at the age of 45, he won the hand bike time-trial gold medal at the London Paralympics
