Hero

Alex Zanardi has been a hero of mine for some time.  A great driver in his Champ car career, I'd followed him since watching him in the early 90s in F3000 battling with Damon Hill et al at the time.  He never seemed to get the right car at the right time in F1 and went back to the USA.  Sadly in one of the most horrific crashes ever in Germany in 2001 he lost both legs, instantly in a crash that frankly was a miracle he survived at all.  He showed incredible spirit returning to race again in a modified touring car even winning World Touring Car races.  That was pretty incredible.

Today he one a paralympic gold medal - at ironically Brands Hatch!  He is simply an inspiration and a man for whom I do not have words to express my admiration - I wish I had just one once of his humility, tenacity and grace.  I don't like the word hero banded about as it often is these days but for Mr Zanardi I will happily use it... he is a true hero!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/disability-sport/19493510

Comments

  1. Rob-bear6 September 2012 at 05:35

    Sounds like a wonderful, positive man. A true hero.

    Thanks for sharing the story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Unbearable Banishment6 September 2012 at 12:34

    When I see stories like this, I always turn to face myself and ask if/how I would rise above such a calamity. You never know what you're made of until you're tested. Before that, it's all bluster and puffery.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JohnJayJay6 September 2012 at 21:09

    I've seen Alex race Champcar's in person many times at Laguna Seca, Long Beach, and Fontana. He was an amazing driver when given competitive equipment (and he had the best in Champcar with Chip Ganassi). I often wondered how much he suffered on his return to F1 with Williams in that he couldn't take Mo Nunn (often considered one of the best race engineers in the business) back to Europe with him. They had amazing chemistry, and I felt Zanardi was a bit lost at sea without him.

    Anyways, I saw the Lausitzring crash on TV when it happened, and I was amazed he wasn't killed. Dr. Steve Olvey, one of the race series traveling physicians, talked about how he slipped in what he thought was oil as he ran to Zanardi's car...but it was Zanardi's blood. He lost 2/3 of his total blood volume. Only Alex's will to live coupled with the immediate and skilled medical attention saved his life. It was absolutely gruesome.

    Glad to see Alex is doing well and still indulging his competitive spirit. A guy like that is impossible to keep off of the track obviously!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Twisted Scottish Bastard7 September 2012 at 08:00

    I was going to make a bitter, twisted and cynical comment, but I just can't.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wil8 September 2012 at 16:37

    I had forgotten all about Alex! I am a big time open wheel fan, no NASCAR for Wil. I had to go back and watch the crash footage again, so tragic. I was watching some other crash video a few weeks back on YouTube and came across some things I had never even heard of, gonna do a post on them soon.

    Great to see Alex prospering, great post Graham!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fantasy Signature Guitar

Image
I got this from IHeartGuitarBlog who got it from the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum Here are a set of questions to answer about your own fantasy signature guitar... Q1: Which company called you? Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Q5: What special piece of “case candy” goes with it as a collector’s item? Right here goes... Q1: Which company called you? Fender Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Strat. Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Ash body, rosewood fingerboard 12" radius, large 70s style headstock but four bolt neck joint. Non trem! Twin humbuckers, with tone and vol each and coil taps on the tone controls. Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Locking machine heads - not really needed but make string chan
Read more

12 String Guitar - Bridge Doctor Installation

Image
Remember my 12 string needing to have it's overbelly reduced?  Well I ordered a Bridge Doctor  from StewMac in the USA which arrived in a couple of weeks. Here is the bridge doctor before installation Here is the action before - about 5mm on the bass side and about 3mm on the treble. The guitar on the workbench Hole drilled - I got a 1/4" brad bit for the outer hole and used a cocktail stick marked at 1/8" as my depth gauge.  You get a little plastic dot you can inlay over the screw once finished - I may do that later when I get happy with it.  Luckily I have a local little hardware shop that stock imperial drills and are cheaper than the big stores... no doubt as the stock has been there 20 years! Set the doctor to the best width - the circular plastic bolt holder has three settings - I used the widest you can see to allow string clearance on the 12 string - on a 6 string the middle would probably be best setting.  The doctor installed - t
Read more

Let's talk plectrums...

... or should that be plectra I'm no good at that kind of English... to boldly go and all that. (If you are not a guitarist here is a health warning about this post, it may lead to you attempting to chew off a limb to retain conscious or keep your sanity...) My history of plectrum use is... Bloody huge triangular Gibson ones, heavy, I used to wear them out so they ended up pretty much circular in a matter of days/weeks. Odd at that time I had a Strat copy and used Gibson Strings and Gibson picks - I even went for Gibson strings with a wound third at one point after reading heavier strings gave a better tone... yes but you can't play the damn thing and could never get the intonation sorted out after an older mentor showed me what that nonsense was all about. For a long time there after I used Fender medium the hard once, often in tortoiseshell as I thought that classy for some bizarre reason. "Hello darling look at my tortoiseshell picks." I never had many girlfriends
Read more