Alex Zanardi doesn’t do anything slowly. Thursday, he came into the press room at Daytona International Speedway riding an electric scooter. The former CART and F1 driver, who lost both legs in an on-track accident in 2001, zipped through the crowd of reporters at breakneck speed expertly navigating the twists and turns as though he was already racing in the Rolex 24. He stopped on a dime at his appointed spot on stage with a smile on his face, ready to take questions.
“It’s fantastic to be around here finally,” he said. “It’s what I’ve been thinking of the last few months not just the last few weeks.”
After his accident Zanardi went on to become a four-time Paralympian gold medalist in cycling, winning two medals each in the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games. And this weekend he’ll be competing with BMW in the GTLM class of the IMSA Rolex 24. Since testing here earlier in the month, Zanardi has been quite the story. He did a media tour in New York and has a crowd surrounding him in the garage.
This weekend however the talking will be over, and it will be time to race.
“As far as talking I’m a pretty competitive dude,” Zanardi said chuckling. “It’s left to be seen whether I can be competitive behind the wheel, but I think I am; I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
This weekend’s Rolex will be the first for Zanardi. And he has his expectations.
“I think we are potentially aiming for a podium finish, it’s as simple as (that),” he said. Then smiled. “Then again this is only a plan and we’ll find out how good our plan is as the race develops.”
There is one thing that seems to worry the otherwise seemingly unflappable racer.
“Personally, if I have to be honest with you, I just want to make sure that my contribution is a positive one; not cost my team any time, any unexpected–let’s say—obstacles,” he said. “It’s not that easy you know because I haven’t been in the car a long time; many of the things I will have to deal with through the course of the race will be completely new for me so I can only count on the fact that, I think, I’m a fast learner. Most of the things you have to do you know are just common sense. You just have to follow your instincts to a certain degree. We’ll see.”
Inside the car, Zanardi said that adapting to racing with only his hands hasn’t been all that hard. He ‘laughed as he said that it’s harder dealing with his wife sometimes than driving.
“In reality it’s all pretty natural right now,” he said. “It’s not perfect.
“Perfect would be to go back to the way I was driving prior to September 15, 2001, but I didn’t take good care of my equipment,” he added laughing.
“You can’t (go) back in time so that’s the situation. You either take what you have, or the best you can have or decide to do something different. For me it’s because I enjoy what I do. I know it’s not easy but actually with all the work we’ve done it’s much better than you can imagine.”
“I receive a lot of positive comments (from) people saying ‘wow look what he’s doing, it’s amazing’” he added. “In reality, it’s not; it’s technically possible. Of course, it would be better if you had your hands doing less stuff than I have to, but it’s pretty natural right now.”
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