lit a candle 3h agomy dad called me the second he saw it, didn't even say hello, just "Zanardi died." I only knew him from that Laguna Seca pass clip that's been on every racing compilation since I was a kid. didn't realize the guy in the gif had a whole second life after.
Their story
Alessandro Leone "Alex" Zanardi (23 October 1966 to 1 May 2026) was an Italian racing driver and Paralympic handcyclist whose life became one of the great comeback stories in modern sport. A two-time CART champion in the United States, a Formula One driver for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams, and…
Alessandro Leone "Alex" Zanardi (23 October 1966 to 1 May 2026) was an Italian racing driver and Paralympic handcyclist whose life became one of the great comeback stories in modern sport. A two-time CART champion in the United States, a Formula One driver for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams, and later a four-time Paralympic gold medallist, he was admired around the world for the humour and determination with which he answered two life-changing accidents.
Zanardi was born in Bologna, the son of Dino Zanardi, a plumber, and Anna, a shirtmaker. The family moved to the suburb of Castel Maggiore when he was three. His sister Cristina, a promising swimmer, was killed in a car crash in 1979. He started kart racing at 13 with a kart he built from the wheels of a dustbin and pipes from his father's plumbing work. In 1987 he won all five rounds of the CIK-FIA European Championship, then moved through Italian Formula Three, won the FIA European F3 Cup in 1990, and finished runner-up to Christian Fittipaldi in International Formula 3000 in 1991 after winning on his debut.
He made his Formula One debut with Jordan in the last three races of 1991, made guest starts for Minardi in 1992 and joined Lotus for 1993, where he helped develop the team's active suspension and scored his only point of that era with sixth place at the Brazilian Grand Prix. A heavy practice crash at Spa ended his season, and Lotus collapsed after 1994.
In 1995 he went to America with almost no interest from teams until Reynard's Rick Gorne arranged a test with Chip Ganassi Racing. Zanardi signed on 23 October 1995, his 29th birthday, and quickly became one of CART's most popular drivers. As a rookie in 1996 he won three races, took six poles and was named Rookie of the Year. At Laguna Seca he dived past Bryan Herta through the Corkscrew on the final lap, a move fans still call "The Pass". He won the championship in 1997 with five wins and again in 1998 with seven wins and 15 podiums from 19 races. His habit of spinning victory doughnuts earned him the nickname "the Donut King" and helped make the celebration a fixture of American racing. Honda marked his titles with the Alex Zanardi Edition Acura NSX, of which only 51 were built.
A three-year Williams contract brought him back to Formula One in 1999, but a season of mechanical problems and bad luck produced no points, and the team and driver parted at the end of the year. He returned to CART with Mo Nunn Racing in 2001. On 15 September 2001, at the American Memorial at the Lausitzring in Germany, he spun while leaving the pits late in the race and was struck side-on by Alex Tagliani. The impact severed both his legs and he lost nearly three-quarters of his blood volume. Rapid medical care saved his life. He later remembered waking up without legs and choosing to look at the half that was left, not the half that was lost.
What followed made him a global symbol of resilience. He designed his own racing prosthetics, waved the chequered flag in Toronto in 2002 and, in 2003, drove the 13 laps he never completed at the Lausitzring, at a pace that would have put him fifth on the grid. With hand controls he returned to touring cars for BMW, winning four World Touring Car Championship races between 2005 and 2009 and the 2005 Italian Superturismo title. He won the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year in 2005, tested a BMW Sauber Formula One car in 2006, raced a BMW in the Blancpain Sprint Series and the DTM, and drove in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019.
He also took up handcycling. After finishing fourth in the New York City Marathon handcycle division in 2007 on four weeks of training, he won the event in 2011. At the London 2012 Paralympics, at Brands Hatch, he won gold in the H4 road time trial and road race and silver in the team relay. At Rio 2016 he won two more golds and a silver. He collected 12 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championship titles, completed the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in 2014, and set a handcycle Ironman world record in Cervia in 2018. After Rio he founded Obiettivo3, a project to bring disabled people into Paralympic sport, which sent ten athletes to the Paris 2024 Games.
On 19 June 2020, during the Obiettivo Tricolore relay near Pienza in Tuscany, he lost control of his handcycle on a descent and collided with an oncoming truck, suffering severe facial and cranial injuries. He was placed in an induced coma and spent months in intensive care in Siena, then hospital care and rehabilitation including Vicenza and Padua, slowly regaining sight, hearing and speech. He returned home in December 2021, but Italian press reported that he spent his final three years under care at a long-term facility in Padua, close to his family home in Noventa Padovana.
Zanardi died suddenly on the evening of 1 May 2026 in Padua, aged 59. His family said he passed away peacefully, surrounded by the love of his family and friends, and did not give a cause; Italian media reported a sudden fatal illness. President Sergio Mattarella called him an athlete of outstanding qualities, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called him a great champion and an extraordinary man, and the Formula One, IndyCar, IMSA and Paralympic worlds paid tribute. Teams carried "Ciao, Alex" messages at the Miami Grand Prix, and Laguna Seca renamed the Corkscrew the Zanardi Curve. His funeral was held on 5 May 2026 at the Basilica of Santa Giustina in Padua, where his son Niccolò told mourners that you do not need to be Alex Zanardi to have a wonderful life. He was survived by his wife, Daniela Manni, and their son.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (Alex Zanardi); BBC Sport, AP, The Guardian, Al Jazeera (2 May 2026); Corriere del Veneto, Today.it, Corriere Adriatico, L'Espresso (May 2026); Obiettivo3. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“When I woke up without legs, I looked at the half that was left, not the half that was lost.”
On waking after the 2001 Lausitzring crash (Italian original: "Quando mi sono risvegliato senza gambe ho guardato la metà che era rimasta, non la metà che era andata persa")
“Of course, I know that I won't get a contract with the Formula One team, however having the chance to drive an F1 racer again is just incredible.”
After testing a hand-controlled BMW Sauber Formula One car in Valencia, November 2006
“I won medals because I wanted to ride my bicycle.”
Quoted by the Paralympic Games in their tribute, May 2026
“The most difficult moment of my life? When in Berlin they took me off the respirator. The attempt had to be made, but I remember the tears and the effort to beg the doctors to put that tube back in my throat.”
His own X post of 28 April 2020 (translated from Italian), recalling his recovery after the 2001 crash
“Well, I need to order new legs. How tall do you think I should be?”
His joke to Mario Andretti when asking him to write the foreword to his book, as recalled by Andretti on 2 May 2026
“To be pained and totally heartbroken in front of all it's happening in the USA isn't enough. We should speak in support of our brothers.”
Backing Lewis Hamilton on X, 2 June 2020
Photos
3In the Lotus 107 during practice for the 1993 British Grand Prix
Jan 1993 · by People Forever
Alex Zanardi at the New York City Marathon, November 2011
Nov 2011 · by People Forever
Racing at the London 2012 Paralympic Games
Sept 2012 · by People Forever
the Corkscrew pass, still can't believe that move was real and not CGI