Alex Zanardi, racing icon, Paralympic gold medalist and a testament to courage, has died

The first came in 1997, when he triumphed in five of 16 races, including three in a row at Michigan, Mid-Ohio and Elkhart Lake.

It was during that season, at Long Beach, that Zanardi became the godfather of one of the most famous celebrations in all of sports: the victory donut.

Zanardi never claimed to have invented the practice of delighting crowds with smoke-filled burnouts and sending the car in loops, but he certainly popularized a celebration that lives on to this day.

In 1998, he got a lot more donut practice, as he won seven of 19 races and finished on the podium an extraordinary 15 times in 1998. In the middle of the season, he claimed the checkered flag at four races in a row, winning at Belle Isle, Portland, Cleveland and Toronto. He finished outside of the top 10 only twice that season, running roughshod through an extraordinary field of drivers that included all-time greats Dario Franchitti, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Greg Moore, Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Gil de Ferran and Paul Tracy among them.

“He did whatever it took to get to the front,” team owner Chip Ganassi told Road and Track magazine. “He came back from dead last to win at Cleveland. He did it again at Long Beach. A couple of our sponsors left the track because they thought the race was over, and he came back to win it. From dead (expletive) last.”

During his first three years in the series, Zanardi conquered 15 of 51 races he competed in, an extraordinary win rate of 29.4%. He notched 10 pole positions during that span, along with 28 podium finishes.

"A two-time series champion, 15-time race winner and one of the sport’s most inspiring figures, his legacy on track was matched only by the strength of his character." IndyCar said in a post on X.

After his second title, Zanardi returned to Formula One to race with Winfield Williams. Both his best start (fourth) and finish (seventh) came at Monza. After the season, Zanardi left Williams with his sights set on a CART return. He joined Mo Nunn Racing in 2001.

A year of hard luck looked like it might finally relent during the 15th race of the season, at EuroSpeedway in Germany.

With 13 laps to go, Zanardi pitted from the lead and believed he was about to take home his first win of the season. Instead, tragedy struck.

Upon exiting pit lane, Zanardi lost control of his car, veered across the grass into the path of Alex Tagliani, who was hurtling toward him at 200 mph.

The force of the impact sliced the 34-year-old Zanardi’s car in two with pieces of it flying across the track.

“It looked like a bomb blast, I wasn’t even sure where the crash scene was, and when I got to him, I remember the first thing I said is, ‘Where are his legs?‘” Dr. Terry Trammell, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the series’ safety team, told the Associated Press in 2019. “It was essentially a war injury, one that is not survivable.”

Zanardi went into cardiac arrest in the helicopter ride to Berlin, where doctors performed emergency surgery. He spent days in a medically induced coma. When he woke up, his wife told him what happened.

“I shouldn’t have survived that accident,” Zanardi told the London Telegraph. “I basically survived for about 50 minutes with less than one liter of blood. Science says that’s simply impossible.”

That day, the world would soon learn, was only the first time Zanardi would achieve the impossible.

Years later, Zanardi would confess that following the life-threatening crash, he battled bouts of deep depression. But with the help of his wife, Daniela, and son, Niccolo, he persevered.

Less than two years after his accident, Zanardi found himself once again at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. There, he buckled into a modified Champ Car and completed the final 13 laps of that race he hadn't finished.

According to Motorsport.com, his best lap was turned in 37.487 seconds, which would have placed him fifth on the starting grid for the year's race.

With a return to full-time open-wheel racing out of the question, Zanardi turned to touring cars. In a car that allowed him to use his prosthetic feet, Zanardi finished seventh in his 2004 touring car debut at Monza, Italy.

The following year, he joined what would eventually become the World Touring Car Championship full-time with BMW Team Italy-Spain. He won his first race in 2005 and would go on to win three more before retiring from the sport in 2009. During that time, he also won the 2005 Italian Superturismo championship with eight victories in 12 races.

In 2007, Zanardi took up handcycling and remarkably finished fourth in his first race — the New York City Marathon. He would eventually win that race in 2011 — along with a handful of others — before winning a pair of gold medals and a silver medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Four years later, he won two more golds and silver at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. He owns 10 World Championship gold medals.

Following his racing career, Zanardi also started participating in Ironman competitions, races that include 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and a 26.22 marathon, which Zanardi tackled by using a specially designed racing wheelchair.

In 2018 in Italy, Zanardi set the Ironman world record for a disabled athlete. Last year, he broke his own record by finishing the race in eight hours, 25 minutes and 30 seconds.

“Nothing is impossible for Alex,” fellow open-wheel racer and Ironman competitor Tony Kanaan told IndyCar.com  “He’s the man. He’s my hero.”

In 2019, Zanardi joined BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona. He and his teammates finished ninth in the GTD class.

Zanardi was seriously injured in a handbike accident in 2020, crashing into an oncoming truck during a relay event in Tuscany, suffering serious facial and head trauma, putting him in a medically induced coma.

"Italy loses a great champion and an extraordinary man, capable of turning every challenge of life into a lesson in courage, strength, and dignity," Italian premier Giorgia Meloni said on X. "Alex Zanardi know how to bounce back every time, facing even the toughest challenges with determination, clarity, and a strength of spirit that was truly exceptional. With his sporting achievements, with his example, and with his humanity, he gave all of us much more than a victory: he gave hope, pride and the strength to never give up."

Zanardi is survived by his wife, Daniela, and son, Niccolo.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Alex Zanardi death: F1, IndyCar icon, Paralympic gold medalist has died