Return To CART and Lausitzring Crash
In the 2000 season Zanardi was not signed for a team, but was interested in a CART comeback. He tested for Mo Nunn and opted to sign to the team for 2001, however he was not successful for the most part.
In his most competitive race of 2001, he suffered a violent accident at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz on September 15. Zanardi started from the back of the grid and was gaining ground on his rivals. The crash occurred while Zanardi was leading the race in the closing laps. After a late pit stop, Zanardi was attempting to merge back onto the track when he accelerated abruptly and spun into the path of Patrick Carpentier. Carpentier was able to avoid him, but Alex Tagliani, who was just behind Carpentier at the time, could not and Zanardi's car was impacted from the side, behind the front wheel, severing the nose of the car. Zanardi lost both legs (one at and one above the knee) in the impact and nearly three-quarters of his blood volume, though rapid medical intervention saved his life. Further portions of his legs were amputated during three hours of surgery to clean and facilitate closing the wounds. This was the end of his open-wheel racing career.
Read more about this topic: Alex Zanardi
Famous quotes containing the words return to, return, cart and/or crash:
“Yet I shall never return to the past, that attic.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Then came the Lord Chamberlain with his white staff,
And all the people began to laugh;
And then the Queen began to speak,
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“When the boat comes to the bridge, it will go through; when the cart gets to the mountains, there will be a way to get over them.”
—Chinese proverb.
“You crash over the trees,
you crack the live branch.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)