The Driver Who Cheated Death, Twice



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This is a story of a driver with incredible grit and determination, who went through massive trials, and tribulations.

A driver who fought fiercely to reach Formula 1, only to be chewed up and spat out. Then, finally became the champion he deserved to be before a life-threatening crash took it all away.

A driver who overcame losing his legs in that crash to get back in a race car once again and who went on to become a six-time Olympic medalist. But then tragedy struck again.

Alessandro Zanardi was born in Bologna – just 20 minutes away from the Imola circuit – in 1966. He was from a normal family – his Dad a plumber, and his Mum a seamstress.

But Alex was not a normal kid, especially when it came to racing and Formula 1. He used to watch all of the races with his father – and eventually, he would get there.

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44 thoughts on “The Driver Who Cheated Death, Twice”

  1. I remember seeing an interview where the interviewer was asking after his crash if he thought how bad his luck was. He responded that he was lucky, that he could afford the best of medical care, the best of prosthetics, and that the other amputees he was recovering with were the truly unfortunate ones. WHat an incredible, humble man.

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  2. Zanardi replaced Christian Fittipaldi, which is brother-in-law of Max Papis, the one who helped Zanardi to start his career, crazy to see how to world is!

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  3. He's an absolute -ing hero! Weirdly, he actually got me a job, because I told his story as my hero in the interview – there was a lot of dust in the room that day, judging by the leaking eyes… He is awesome!

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  4. Who else was here to watch his entire dominating CART career? 👋 Such an incredible driver. 🎯 Watched him race many times during his time in CART. Including a couple of his LBGP wins… aka 🍩 . CART in its own right, was an awesome series. Absolutely beautiful race cars with incredible racing and a slew of amazing drivers. CART was it!

    BTW. To this day, I still only buy Barilla pasta.

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  5. Alex has been my inspiration for years. I was diagnosed with incurable blood cancer 10 years ago. I adopted his undaunted spirit and "never give up attitude" to continue fighting hard. I would love to see Alex back doing what he does, and I hope that happens.

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  6. also in 1994 he was in some races in F1. you could show his great overtake at Laguna Seca. In 2001 I was watching live on tv accident and 15 years later I was at Eurospeedway Lauzitz to visit this place and drive a few laps

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  7. Been there at the Lausitzring as a 10-Year-Old with my Dad and my Uncle. I did not see the crash myself and maybe didnt fully understood at that time, what this crash meant, but i felt very connected to him eversince. Especially seeing him in the WTCC soon after the crashes and later even in GT3s and DTM, i was very happy for him. And then his second passion almost took his life again. I wish him all the best!

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  8. What a wonderful tribute to a truly remarkable racer and human. I was crushed when I heard about the accident with the truck and have been looking for more information about how he's recovering. Thank you for this. If there ever was someone that I would call my hero, Alex Zanardi is that.

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  9. Let's not forget his epic overtake in Laguna Seca in '96.
    I've met him in 08 at the Wtcc in Imola, one of the finest and most precious people in this world. It's so unfair that what has happened all has happened to him

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  10. Im paralyzed from the waist down, from a car accident when i was a toddler, Alex was one of the greatest reasons why i got on the race track. i've done a few track days with NASA in the HPDE class, and had a blast. I want to go back racing but as we all know, racing aint cheap lol. But none the less, Alex has shown me i CAN do it.

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  11. F1 is so often to overshadow just how amazing most of the drivers that go through it are and Zanardi really is one of the more inspirational ones that really doesn't get enough credit. I remember him well and hadn't given it much notice at the time what exactly it was that he had been going through. Great video!

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