This Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001 file photo shows Italian driver Alex Zanardi sitting in his car as it breaks up around him after a crash with Canadian driver Alex Tagliani during the CART car race at the Eurospeedway Lausitz in Klettwitz, eastern Germany. But Alex Zanardi just can’t stop racing and now the former Formula One driver will be vying for a Paralympic medal Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, in the paracycling event, a handcycle powered by the arms, at England’s Brands Hatch race track, where he once raced cars. It’s really a miracle, when you realize the 45-year-old almost died in this horrific accident in Germany, “For a brief moment I found myself thinking of all the things I’ve done,” Zanardi said recently on his Twitter feed “I’m a lucky boy!” (AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz, File)DANICA KIRKA
LONDON (AP) – Alex Zanardi just can’t stop racing.
The former Formula One driver is vying for a Paralympic medal Wednesday in paracycling – a hand cycle powered by the arms – at the Brands Hatch race track, where he once raced cars. It’s really incredible, when you realize the 45-year-old almost died in a horrific accident in a 2001 CART race in Germany.
“For a brief moment I found myself thinking of all the things I’ve done,” Zanardi said on his Twitter feed before leaving for the London Paralympics. “I’m a lucky boy!”
His journey to the Paralympics began at the American Memorial 500 on Sept. 15, 2001, at the Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany – the only American-based series to go forward on the weekend after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.