Did anyone else catch the Zanardi interview on Wind Tunnel (Speed channel) a couple nights ago?

Some preshow comments from the Speed..

Sick to death of the NBA

 

I'm in the middle of reading My Sweetest Victory. Just finished his '98 CART season and beginning to read about F1. So far...so good. I recommend the book if you really want to know more about the most charismatic and talented CART driver ever. Also, don't miss him on Letterman on December 3rd.

 

I agree.

Mario called him to see how he was doing shortly after the wreck. Alex said, I was just getting ready to call in my order for my legs. How tall should I be this time?

To have sense of humor at a time like that, you have to him.

 

Would have liked to have seen that show. Will definitely pick up a copy of his book, great xmas present. And thanks for the Letterman tip

 

I shudder everytime I think about that accident .

I am a HUGE football fan but I can't agree with you more that some of the players are an embarrassment. The recent NBA fight, the pre-game fight between a couple of Steeler/Browns players - it really turns me off.

I used to be a huge hockey fan - but over the last few years I have become more of an occassional fan - ie whenever I feel like watching a game (most of the time I can't even watch a full game outside of the playoffs).

Most drivers do seem to have a much better attitude - there are exceptions :cough:Eddie Irvine:cough:, but Zanardi is a role model imo.

 

Alex Zanardi is the nicest,sweetest persons I've ever had the previlidge to meet.When he drove for Ganassi during his 1st CART career he and Jimmy Vassar came to Honda in Marysville before the Mid-Ohio CART race and was by far the most fan friendly professional race driver you'll ever meet.

He is the originator of the post race "donut"; that is now as much a part of winning as the spraying of champaign.

He was even so beloved by Honda they named a special NSX after him

 

Alex Zanardi is one of the most incredible people alive. I believe that it was Eddie Cheever that was interviewed after Zanardi's horrific accident who said that he went to visit him in the hospital with a in hopes of lifting Zanardi's spirits after such a grim outcome. He said that Zanardi had them laughing so hard the it was in fact the other way around..... Zanardi lifting their spirits.

One can only hope to aspire to such a degree to epitomize the human spirit as Alex Zanardi does.

P.S. Thanks for the heads up about the Letterman show.

 

It's nice to know that he has touched so many others as much as he has me. I can tell you that when I was laying on a bed some 2-1/2 months ago with a bunch of broken ribs and struggling to crawl to the end of it . . . he was the person that came to mind that made me keep pushing. I could never muster up his humor but I kept telling myself that I'd seen what he accomplished and my issue could not compare.

 

BTW, One of my other hero's is Shirley Muldowney. I had the pleasure of meeting her shortly before her horrific accident in her AA Fueler when she had a left front tire blow out just before the finish line at almost three hundred MPH.

After spending almost eighteen months in the hospital with multiple fractors of both her legs and feet as well as having her left thumb ripped off by the violent movement of the butterfly steering wheel. She got back into a AA Fueler and ran with in a tenth of a second of her previous best time on her first run, after almost two years of not being in "dragster".

I guess that it is story's like this and Alex Zanardi's that makes me a motorsports fan. Not the multi million dollar NBA player that beats up his customer. Or gets paid millions a year and can not make a free throw because he his distracted by fan noise or waving hands in the stands.

IMO, it is one of the reasons that NASCAR keeps growing in popularity. It was nice to see the other drivers (i.e. Jeff Gordon) walking into the winners circle to congratulate Busch on his Championship.

 

My son and I justed watched Zinardi on Letterman. The man is a really something else. I knew of him and his accident in cart but only read about him on my f1 sites. His upbeat disposition and personality is fantastic, I wish we could meet him in person. What a role model. Why is US media so focused on American jacked up sports losers?