By Curt Cavin
curt.cavin@indystar.com
December 11, 2007
Alex Zanardi returns to Indianapolis this week to celebrate the shining moments of his racing career.
While the two-time CART champion never got to compete in the Indianapolis 500 because of the open-wheel split, he said he harbored no ill will or regrets.
“My attitude is to always enjoy what I have and try to evaluate what I have in my hands rather than what either was slapped away or I never got my grip on,” he said in a phone interview earlier this week. “Of course, it would have been fantastic to race at Indy, but I got my chance to get around (the track).
“I paid my dollar and rode the (tour) bus in 1996.”
Zanardi, CART’s champion in 1997 and ’98, has never been one to dwell on his mirrors, part of the reason he won 15 races in a three-year span that earned him a ride with one of the better Formula One teams of the time (Williams). It’s also the reason he didn’t quit living his life in the aftermath of the 2001 accident that by all accounts should have killed him.
Zanardi lost both legs in the Champ Car accident at EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany. But he still has an outlet for his competitive instincts. He finished fourth in the handcycle class of the Nov. 4 New York City Marathon.
Zanardi has used the three-wheeled bike to raise awareness and financial support for children who need prosthetic limbs, making him a hero in Italy, his native country.
Zanardi’s new charity, Bimbi in Gamba, which in Italian means “Kids on Legs,” has already raised more than $150,000. The program is working so efficiently that it has more resources than requests.
Still, Zanardi, 41, won’t slow down in support of the cause. He is in Indianapolis for the first time since his accident to film a documentary highlighting the championship portion of his career. The objective is to enlighten potential donors who are unaware of his racing career.
“(People) need to see the same energy that led me to a successful rehabilitation served me to a good sporting success, too,” he said. “(Europeans) are Formula One maniacs and were not Indy-car enthusiasts at the time. They need to see the magic we were able to produce.”
Some of the people who helped Zanardi produce that magic, including team owner Chip Ganassi and fellow driver Jimmy Vasser, will participate in the project and will gather for the team’s annual Christmas party Friday night.
Ganassi said he’d brag on Zanardi to anyone.
“He’s been even more spectacular off the track, a guy who transcended the sport before it was fashionable,” Ganassi said. “Forget about his personality for a minute; he’s just a good guy, and he’s the kind of story people need to know about Indy-car racing.”
Zanardi is pleased that his life not only has purpose, it has plans. He is signed to return to BMW’s team in the World Touring Car Championship, a series he has competed in the past four seasons in a car with hand controls. He finished 15th in the standings this year.
Zanardi also expects to take Italian officials up on an offer to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. He will use the handcycle.
“(I’m) kind of scratching my head thinking this is kind of funny, but the more I scratch my head the more likely I am to accept that invitation,” he said. “To emerge and to win will take the same effort for a top athlete to win a gold medal in the Olympics. The difference is, you don’t get the same type of exposure.
“Because I’ve had the fortune to get some light on me for a different reason, that would certainly make the entire discipline shine. It’s the curiosity, I guess.”
It’s a role he would embrace.
“Evidently there are a lot of people still interested in me, and I have (a cause) to help,” he said. “It might not take much to convince me to participate.”
Trying the Indy 500 is a different story, however. He appreciates Honda’s standing offer to return in a specially built car, but it’s too much to ask of his wife, Daniela, and their 9-year-old son, Niccolo.
“One thing is racing, one thing is racing on oval (tracks),” he said. “If I was single, this is probably one of the first things that I would consider.”