Alex Zanardi won back-to-back races in Brno, the Czech Republic this past weekend’s FIA World Touring Car Championship. Along with co-driver Sergio Hernández this makes it four wins out of the last six races in Brno for Roberto Ravaglia’s racing team and it was Zanardi’s fourth WTCC win
So what, a racer won a race, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that Alex Zanardi has artificial legs, and for all intents and purposes, he should have died eight years ago.
Zanardi is the guy in the middle of this photo. They guy with two different colored shoes and the two canes. He has to use those two canes to aid himself in walking around, but apparently doesn’t use them in the car. He’s a former CART double champion, and an all around nice guy. He also invented the post race doughnut/burnout thing that everybody seems to do these days.
He was born in Bologna Italy, and, like all Italians, dreamed of glory in Formula One competition. He did stints with various lower ranking teams, but never had much luck – unless you count walking away from a super-heavy crash in his Lotus at Eau Rouge in Spa Belgium after one of the heaviest crashes I’ve ever seen.
His career seemed pretty much over until he suddenly popped up racing for Chip Ganassi in the CART series. He took to it like a duck to water, and was clearly the guy to beat the two seasons he was champion (in 1997 & 1998). Hearing his heavily accented voice over the radio gleefully saying, “Time to make zee doughNUTS!!!” was one of the simple pleasures of being a race fan back then.
Things took a frightening and dark turn in September of 2001. While exiting the pits at an oval track race in Germany, Alex got on it a little too hard, spun the car sideways, and stalled it at the pit exit. He was only sitting there for a fraction of a second when Alex Tagliani, and up and coming racer from Quebec T-boned Zanardi’s car at full racing speed.
The accident literally looked like an explosion, with credit card-sized bits of carbon fiber flying like snow. Tag’s car came to rest, heavily damaged but with Tagliani seemingly unscathed, some yards down the track. Zanardi’s car sat largely where it had spun to a stop, only the front half was completely missing. There sat Zanardi, motionless in the now completely open cockpit, his legs missing from mid-thigh down.
The medical personnel got to him in a very short time, although it seemed like months. As luck would have it, the first man to reach Zanardi was Terry Trammel, an orthopedic surgeon that oversaw CART’s emergency teams and the doctor that rebuilt Rick Mears’ legs after his devastating Sanair crash. He said that as he ran towards the car, he slipped and fell on what he first thought was an oil slick, but immediately realized was a literal river of blood.
“I realized I had to get a tourniquet on him fast, but as I tried to tighten the first one onto his left leg, it was like trying to tighten to tighten a tourniquet on Jell-O,” was what Trammel said months after the accident in a Sports Illustrated article.
He was able to get a tourniquet on each leg, high up near Zanardi’s crotch, get him on a stretcher, and back to the waiting medivac chopper waiting in the infield.
As luck would have it (and you wouldn’t think that Zanardi was having a lucky day at the track, but he was), the doctor waiting at the chopper was Steve Olvey, another ortho surgeon and the guy who would succeed Trammel as medical director for CART.
“When I saw Terry come rushing towards me with the gurney, my literal first thought was one of annoyance. ‘What are you bringing me a dead man for?’ I thought to myself. Because what was on that stretcher didn’t look very alive,” he related in the same SI piece.
Barely stabilized and fading fast, Olvey got Zanardi to the regional hospitals ER. He had lost over SEVENTY PERCENT of his body’s blood volume, and pretty much everyone thought it was a matter of time before he died.
Racing, and life for that matter, are funny things. Alex Zanardi lived, although his legs were long gone. His left was severed at mid thigh, and his right just above the knee. Lesser men would have given up on just about everything, including living a normal life, let alone ever racing a car again. If anyone had any thoughts that Mr. Zanardi was one of those guys, they were quickly proven wrong.
First he got back to living life with his wife and young son, totally remodeling their place in Monaco to accommodate his new needs. After months of therapy, he was able to walk on prosthetic legs using a pair of canes. Shortly there after, he took up swimming as a way to stay in shape. And shortly after that, he was able to go racing in cars equipped with hand controls.
He joked, “Now I can tell team owners not to worry about the size of the cockpit. If you need me to be a few inches shorter, I can just get shorter legs made!”
What wasn’t a joke was Alex Zanardi’s love of racing as his desire to not just compete, but win. He found himself a place with a factory backed BMW Touring Car team, and is back in fine form.
Winning a race at an international level is very hard to do. Winning one without legs is a miracle.
Here’s the official BMW press release:
Alessandro Zanardi and Sergio Hernández win for BMW in Brno.
Brno, 21st June 2009. BMW Team Italy-Spain continued its impressive winning streak at the “Automotodrom Brno” today. Alessandro Zanardi (IT) and Sergio Hernández (ES) crossed the line as winners in rounds 11 and 12 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. This makes it four wins out of the last six races in Brno (CZ) for Italian team principal Roberto Ravaglia’s squad. While Zanardi celebrated his fourth WTCC victory, it was first time Hernández had climbed to the top step of the podium.
BMW Team Germany’s Jörg Müller (DE) scored another podium finish by coming second in race one and increased his points’ total to ten by taking seventh in race two. Hernández also scored points in the first race after taking the chequered flag in fifth. Andy Priaulx (GB) from BMW Team UK had to make do with eighth place in round two. His hopes for a big points weekend were destroyed at the start of race one, when BMW Team Germany’s Augusto Farfus (BR) crashed into him after making a mistake. Both drivers left the first 50-kilometre sprint of the day empty-handed.
Due to the early accident Farfus missed the chance to gain further ground on SEAT’s championship leader, Yvan Muller (FR), who finished eighth and second respectively. Farfus now ranks third in the drivers’ classification with 54 points, 12 points behind Muller. Müller improved from sixth to fourth and has 41 points under his belt. Thanks to their victories, Hernández and Zanardi also reduced the gap to the front-runners. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW has 153 points and successfully shortened the gap to SEAT by the results in both races. The two manufacturers are only separated by eight points.
Following the pile-up after the start the way was free for Zanardi, who was third in qualifying behind Farfus and Priaulx. After SEAT’s Gabriele Tarquini (IT) initially took the lead, Zanardi easily overtook his countryman after the end of the safety-car phase on lap four. He quickly opened up a gap and controlled the field from the front.
While Hernández improved from ninth to sixth at the start, eventually finishing fifth, it was Müller who performed the most impressive fight back. He dropped back to 11th in the turmoil at the start, but then fought his way back up lap after lap. On lap ten he passed Tarquini for second, thus collecting his third podium result of the year. Priaulx rejoined the race on lap 8 after extensive repair works on his BMW 320si WTCC and clocked the fastest lap with 2:10.622 minutes.Race two started in a less turbulent fashion. Hernández again started well from fourth on the grid and had passed Muller for second by the end of lap one. Three laps later he also overtook BMW privateer driver Félix Porteiro (ES) and grabbed the lead which he defended to the end to score his maiden win in his 53rd WTCC race.
Zanardi was on the move as well, but then he was put out of the race by Rickard Rydell (SE/SEAT), who came back on the track after having an off. Race two also saw an early end for Farfus following another collision. The Brazilian had improved from 20th to 12th by that time. Müller and Priaulx, who had stormed his way up from 17th, were part of an exciting fight with the SEAT pairing Rydell/Tarquini, ultimately finishing seventh and eighth.
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“It’s always the same in racing: Sometimes the odds are against you, sometimes they play into your hands. Today I benefited from the incident at the start. I managed to escape the pile-up without a scratch and quickly got past Gabriele Tarquini. Then it was all about controlling the race from the front. My car was simply too good to let anyone take this victory away from me. Jörg was a potential threat, but he came from too far behind to launch an attack on me. I’m really happy for Sergio Hernández as well, he really deserves this victory.”Sergio Hernández (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“I’m over the moon after claiming my maiden win for BMW. It’s a perfect day for me and the whole team. This success means a lot to me as it proves that we are working in the right direction. I successfully kept the reigning champion, Yvan Muller, behind me, and withstood the pressure. I’m also happy that I could help BMW to reduce the gap in the Manufacturers’ Championship. Alessandro Zanardi showing me the pit board with ‘P1’ when I crossed the line, makes me proud.”Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
“My car was great today, especially in race one. Following the start I thought this race would be virtually over for me. I couldn’t really see the starting lights and lost several positions. But then it was good fun to work my way up again. We gained some ground in the championship, and that’s what we were here for.”Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
“I take the blame for the accident in race one. I’m really sorry for the other drivers who had to retire due to my mistake. I’m extremely disappointed now.”Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
“This is not outcome of this weekend I had hoped for. Unfortunately I was involved in the first-corner accident in race one. My team did a sensational job in getting my car repaired even before the end of the race. In race two I was running behind Jörg Müller, obviously we had a good fight. But it was difficult to get past. It’s a shame, as we lost some precious points again.”
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