HappyDude's Inspirational People - Alex Zanardi

By Simon Wright - Human Interest Piece

FOR many, they will have never heard of the name Alex Zanardi.  However, he is one of the most inspirational people I know and is a perfect example of battling back from shocking luck and still being determined to succeed at the top level.  Zanardi, 44, switched sports last summer from motorsport to hand biking, which is a form of Paralympics cycling.  He aims to win gold for Italy at next summer’s Paralympics in London.  If he does achieve this incredible feat, it will complete a remarkable and brilliant story.

     It was ten years ago this month that Zanardi suffered his shocking moment of grave misfortune.  Four days after the terrorist attacks in the United States, Zanardi was competing for Mo Nunn Racing in the ‘American Memorial’ event on the Lausitzring circuit in Germany; CART’s first European event for years.  In 2001, he had struggled for consistent form, but came through from 21^st on the grid to lead the race, setting fastest lap in the process.  After a late fuel stop, the former double CART champion spun on the pitlane exit and back onto the racetrack.  He was narrowly avoided by Patrick Carpentier, but Alex Tagliani wasn’t so lucky.  The impact was absolutely horrific, with Zanardi’s car ripped apart.  In the incident, he tragically lost both his legs; one above and one below his knees.  Tagliani luckily only suffered back pain in the crash.  For a while, it looked like Alex had lost his life, but rapid medical intervention from the Champ Car doctors and Zanardi’s ability to fight on saw him survive one of the worst crashes ever in the history of open-wheel racing.

UNSUCCESSFUL: Zanardi's 1999 season with Williams was a disaster

    Before Lausitzring 2001, Zanardi had achieved immense success in the US Champ Car series.  He raced for Chip Ganassi between 1996-1998, winning the ‘rookie of the year’ award in 1996 and two titles in 1997 and 1998.  His Formula One career was sadly less successful.  He raced for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams over two different stints, but only ever scored one championship point for sixth place in the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix.  After his first stint in CART, Zanardi went back to F1 with a high reputation, but he had a nightmare 1999 season with Williams.  Seventh place at Monza was his best finish, with 11 retirements from 16 events.  No points against Ralf Schumacher’s 35 saw Sir Frank Williams terminate Zanardi’s contract in preference to 20-year old British sensation Jenson Button.

    Following a determined rehabilitation programme, Zanardi felt he wasn’t finished with racing after the accident and had unfinished business to conquer.  Two years after his crash, he returned to Germany to compete the final 13 laps he was unable to do in 2001.  Had he raced in the 03 event, he would have qualified a staggering fifth on the grid!  A year later, Alex returned to motorsport full-time, by competing in a hand-controlled BMW touring car in the European Touring Car championship.  In 2005, he won a reverse grid event in France in a series that had now been renamed as the World Touring Car championship.  Always a popular figure in any motorsport paddock, he went onto win events in Istanbul in 2006 and back-to-back triumphs in Brno, Czech Republic in 2008 and 2009.  At the end of the 2009 season, having proved his point and showed triumph over adversity, Zanardi decided to retire from all forms of motorsport.

CHALLENGE: Zanardi is one of those people who loves a challenge

    In between his racing, Zanardi did compete in the handcycle division at the New York marathon in 2007, finishing a stunning fourth, having only trained briefly for the event.  He has since turned this into a new sport, rather than an excessive hobby.  In the last two years, Zanardi has won the Venice and Rome City marathons in the wheelchair category and is now aiming high at competing for Italy at next summer’s Paralympics in London.

     Alex Zanardi is one of the most inspirational people I have ever heard of.  His desire and willingness to not let a crushing incident like he suffered on that overcast, German afternoon in September 2001 deserves full recognition.  I am inspired by his story, and I really hope he gets to achieve his new goal of competing at the Paralympics next summer.  This is the ultimate story of bravery and courage against total adversity.  

9/11: My memories

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

I WENT to bed on Monday September 10 2001 in a normal world.  Not much was happening in the world to be honest, certainly nothing out of the ordinary.  24 hours later and everything had changed.  The world would never be the same again.  We had to face with a new threat in our lives, terrorism.  By the end of September 11, 2001 – thousands of innocent lives had been taken in one of the biggest mass murders ever known to man.  As it was broadcast live all over the world on television, it had a massive impact which affected all of us.  Now, a decade on from that dark day, I want to share my memories of that day and how I dealt with witnessing on television such an appalling loss of life.

     Tuesday September 11 2001 started as a bright, sunny day.  Only a week earlier, I had started at Secondary School in Wolverton, Milton Keynes.  Already, I felt I was struggling with the extra demand of lessons and the ridiculous amount of early homework I was getting in the term.  Also, it didn’t help when you had Maths lessons with a guy who couldn’t speak a clear word of English if his life depended on it.  As it turned out, I was in that lesson, totally oblivious to the devastation that was just occurring in America.  Yep, I was doing some silly mathematical equation when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.

     With the homework I had and needed doing, I went home at the 3pm dismissal time and walked home for a busy night in the books.  If I was lucky, I might be able to see Liverpool’s first match back in the UEFA Champions League against Boavista on the doomed ITV Sports Channel, but the work needed doing.  Strangely enough, I decided to do some Religious Studies homework, with the topic being some basic research on the six main religions in the world.  A pretty boring task, but I had to meet the new standards.

     My mum came home from her teaching assistant job at the local First School and she looked concerned and asked me whether I had heard about the plane crash in America?  I looked at her, a bit confused.  I thought back to Concorde crashing in Paris a year earlier and hoped the ‘Supersonic’ jet hadn’t had another major accident.  She turned on the television to BBC News and the pictures remain vivid to me today.  Seeing replays of both towers of the World Trade Centre on fire was a massive shock.  As I tried to understand what had happened through the BBC Breaking News strap, it was clear the Religious Studies homework would not be completed tonight.  I wasn’t going to be in the right frame of mind.  Then, I gasped in horror as I saw replays of people hanging out of windows, trapped in the burning towers, knowing that they were faced with the probability of being burnt to a crisp or jumping to their deaths.  Next, the video of the two towers collapsing was shown to the entire world and I simply could not believe my eyes what I was seeing.  Surely this was no accident!

     That evening, I watched an ITN News special, presented by the legendary Sir Trevor McDonald and I struggled to comprehend the day’s events as it was replayed on the broadcast.  I didn’t feel sick or anything, just generally numb and confused.  How could this happen and more so, who was responsible for this disgusting act?  I must admit, my first thought was Iraq was responsible, but once the Al-Qaeda name was ran around the news, it started to make more sense.  I remember having a 72-minute phone conversation with one of my school friends on the day’s tragic events, but I don’t remember much of that conversation.  By that stage, nothing else mattered to me on that day.  I knew I had witnessed a life-changing moment and it would have a direct impact on everyone’s life, for many, through no fault of their own.

     My brother, and entertainment expert for this website, Jason Wright spoke to me about his memories of the day and the implications of what was to come for the world.  He was ten years old and had just started third year at a middle school around the same area where I was with secondary school.  “I heard nothing about 9/11 until I got home, as mobile phone breaking news was non-existent in this day.  My first emotion was; was it really happening and I felt really scared watching the pictures.  I do remember Kay Burley and Jeremy Thompson presenting Sky News and their voices as the devastating pictures came in said it all really.  As for going to war with Afghanistan, I always felt it was a grave mistake and let the US go in and do the job, without our help.  Finally, my deepest symphonies go out to the families and friends of the bereaved.  I feel justice has been done with the death of Al-Qaeda’s ringleader back in May, but ultimately, it won’t bring back his victims and my thoughts are with you on what is bound to be a poignant day on Sunday.”

     Ultimately, I can only echo those last thoughts of my brother.  It will be a tough day for the families’ victims, but hand-in-hand, the world will stand on Sunday to remember America’s darkest day and remember those innocent lives, so cruelly taken away.

R.I.P to the victims of 9/11 in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh – You will not be forgotten, ten years on.

TV classics (or rejects!) - The Premiership

IN THE summer of 1999, smooth talking Des Lynam made the shock decision to leave the BBC, to take the role as lead football anchor for ITV Sport.  He would front live FA Cup and UEFA Champions League football, alongside shared coverage of major international tournaments.  Just over two years later, he was back in his traditional role of presenting Saturday evening Premier League highlights.  However, ‘The Premiership’ turned into one of the biggest flops in ITV’s distinguished history.

     There was big surprise when ITV outbid the BBC for Premiership highlights in the summer of 2000.  The three-year contract cost the commercial broadcaster £185million.  The BBC’s MOTD team was left devastated by the news and trundled through the remainder of their Euro 2000 coverage looking depressed and downcast.  In fact, when watching Gary Lineker that summer, it felt like we were about to watch a funeral procession, let alone a major football match!  Always critical of late starts, Des Lynam wanted the new programme to be an early Saturday evening show, rather than the traditional 10.30pm slot, feeling it would appeal to all audiences.  He aimed for 6pm at first, but this idea was scrapped due to Sky’s curfew time lock it had on Premier League rights.  9pm was too late, due to ITV’s compact Saturday evening entertainment line-up, so the decision was taken to screen ‘The Premiership,’ at 7pm every Saturday evening.  It would turn into one of the most horrendous timing misjudgements of all time!

     U2’s Grammy-award winning track ‘Beautiful Day’ was selected as the music theme and although it has no comparison on the Match of the Day theme tune, it was still a brilliant choice of music for football.  Major drinks giant Coca Cola was signed up to sponsor the programme, using ‘Leggsy,’ (its mascot) in some hilarious break bumper parodies.  Alongside lunchtime show On The Ball and the doomed afternoon results show, The Goal Rush – ITV was the new place for Saturday football entertainment.

     On Saturday August 18 2001, ‘The Premiership’ debuted with Middlesbrough v Arsenal, Liverpool v West Ham United and Sunderland v Ipswich Town being chosen as the three featured games.  ITV would send its four main commentators; Clive Tydlesey, Peter Drury, Jon Champion and Guy Mowbray out to featured matches, whilst reporters such as Ned Boulting, Russ Williams and Gabriel Clarke would cover the less featured matches.  Terry Venables and Ally McCoist would be the main pundits alongside Des in the studio, with Robbie Earle and Ron Atkinson also being used on occasion.  ITV decided to pioneer two new technology pieces which failed miserably.  The ProZone programme saw Venables hopelessly being able to keep up with technology and had to rush through key moments of games, struggling to explain what this new data meant.  Also, Andy Townsend, former Chelsea and Aston Villa midfielder would be at a key match from the weekend in a pathetic ‘Tactics Truck!’  If lucky, Andy might be joined by a Premiership player who had nothing else to do on their Saturday evenings to analyse a game in better depth, but this experiment was quickly abandoned.  It worked for Channel 4 with Test Cricket and Channel Five for their live UEFA Europa League coverage, but this format simply didn’t work for highlights.  Townsend’s Tactics Truck was torn to shreds by avid football fans and journalists, calling it “totally inept and excruciatingly painful.”

     Despite getting critical acclaim on the opening weekend from the News of the World, the viewing figures were disappointing.  Only five million watched the opening 7pm show, two million lower than The Weakest Link, which was BBC’s head-to-head competition.  The Daily Mirror was a strong critic of The Premiership’s lack of match action and ITV’s determination to show those annoying commercial breaks whenever they could.  A week later, viewing figures dropped to 3.1million; ITV’s worst Saturday night viewing figures for a decade and although the average slightly picked up, the 7pm experiment was a doomed failure.  Under pressure from the likes of Cilla Black, who was concerned about the later time for her show Blind Date and advertisers, ITV’s controller of sport, now FA chief executive Brian Barwick had little alternative but to shove the show back to a traditional 10.30pm slot from November 2001 onwards. 

    Afterwards, the show never really recovered and in 2003, the BBC won back the highlights rights from the 2004/05 season onwards.  The Goal Rush ended in December 2003, after spectacularly dismal ratings and in May 2004, both On the Ball and ‘The Premiership’ made a quiet and tame exit after three failed seasons.

     You have to give ITV some credit for attempting such a bold move, but this was a gamble that spectacularly backfired.  The Premiership will always be remembered as a ‘Desater!’  

Osama Bin Laden is dead

ONE of the biggest mass murderers in history, Osama Bin Laden is dead.  He was shot dead in the town of Abbottabad, around 50 miles away from the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad in the early hours of this morning.  Bin Laden has finally been captured after a decade of search from US troops.  This followed the event that changed everyone’s lives.

     Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda planned a terrorist attack to such detailed plan that it was going to have deadly results.  On Tuesday September 11, 2001, planes were hijacked and flew into some of America’s landmark buildings in New York.  Both towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed with hundreds trapped inside the burning buildings.  The casualties on this day were horrendous and the War on Terror began.

     Bin Laden wasn’t a stranger to the terrorist network.  US embassies had been bombed in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.  However, it was the events of 9/11 that put him into global context as the world’s most wanted man.  Within months, America, with Britain’s help went into Afghanistan and they began air strikes to get their man.  However, George Bush would never seek his prize and it has taken a decade before the news of his demise could be broken this morning by his replacement Barack Obama.

     With backing from the Taliban, Bin Laden set-up training camps and hence, many extremist groups have been created since.  With Bin Laden’s death, it might be a massive setback on Al-Qaeda that their figurehead is no longer around, but the War on Terror will still go on and there is likely to be a backlash on his death from Al-Qaeda.  This morning, Foreign Office leader William Hague has insisted that British embassies across the world review their security policies in a heightened alert of a possible attack.  Currently, Britain, like America – remains at the second highest terrorist threat level possible, not at the critical mark yet.  US officials have said that after being shot in the head, Bin Laden's body was buried at sea, according to Islamic traditions.  Three other men, including one of Bin Laden’s sons were also killed in the mission.  The whole operation took approximately 40 minutes to complete.

     There might be now some justice for the families who have lost their lives in terrorist atrocities; not just those in America, but those killed in Bali (2002), Istanbul (2003), Madrid (2004) and London (2005). 

     There is no doubt that the world is still nowhere near a safe place.  In fact, everyone still has to totally remain vigilant, especially as risks may well rise in the US and the UK in the coming weeks.  However, there can be no doubt that Osama Bin Laden’s death is a historical news moment and the biggest news story of 2011.  The War on Terror goes on and will for generations to come, but this is a victory for the West and in particular for Barack Obama, who now will get high praise for keeping all this quiet and earn a second term in office as American President.  The world’s most wanted-man has finally been taken out of the picture for good and for the families, some form of justice has now been done, even though it won’t bring their loved ones back.

WORLDWIDE REACTION TO BIN LADEN’S DEATH

George W. Bush (Former American President) – “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakeable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”

David Cameron (Prime Minister) – “It is time to thank those who work around the clock to keep us safe from terrorism.  Their work will continue.  I would like to congratulate Barack Obama and those responsible for carrying out this operation.”

Tony Blair (Former Prime Minister) – “This is a huge achievement in the fight against terrorism, but we know the fight against terrorism and the ideology that Bin Laden represents, continues and is as urgent as ever.”

William Hague (Foreign Secretary) – “It is unequivocally a good thing that he is no longer able to pursue terror, murder and mayhem in the world.”

Angela Merkel (German Chancellor) – “Bin Laden was a symbol for the international terror that did not respect life, only killed and only destroyed.  His death is good news.”

F1 classic races - Malaysia

IN A new series, I will be looking back at six classic races every weekend from the country about to stage an event in the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship.  This is my selection, of races in Malaysia between 1999 and 2010.  Enjoy the archive!

1999

WINNER: Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), 2^nd: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 3rd: Mika Hakkinen (McLaren Mercedes)

THE first trip to Sepang was for the penultimate round of the 1999 championship.  Ferrari looked on the ropes after a shambolic performance at the previous event at the Nurburgring, but played their wild card to great effect.  Michael Schumacher made his comeback here after breaking his leg at the British Grand Prix and destroyed the competition in Malaysia.  He took pole position by a full second, and insisted he would help Eddie Irvine’s bid to become Ferrari’s first world champion since 1979.  On raceday, Schumacher pulled over to let Irvine through early on, but David Coulthard bravely found a way past the German’s defences and set after Irvine.  Alternator problems put paid to DC’s hopes and Schumacher spent the rest of the day going as slow as possible to help out Irvine and harm Mika Hakkinen’s hopes of a second consecutive title.  After pitstops, Schumacher was ahead again and once again, did his duty for Irvine to claim the maximum points.  Hakkinen finished an exhausted third, but was champion hours later when both Ferrari’s were thrown out for illegal barge boards.  The Scuderia appealed in Paris and the FIA overturned the decision made by the race stewards in Malaysia to take the title showdown all the way down to Suzuka.  Michael Schumacher was well and truly back! 

2001

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 3rd: David Coulthard (McLaren Mercedes)

SYNCHRONISED: Gravel trips from Ferrari couldn't stop them in 2001

When the results show a Ferrari 1-2, it suggests this was a boring race.  Far from it!  A typical Malaysian monsoon hit the track three laps into the event.  Combined with oil from Olivier Panis BAR Honda engine, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello both skated into the gravel in synchronised style.  After a chaotic pitstop, which saw Barrichello in the pits for over a minute, the Ferrari’s went on intermediate tyres.  It was a masterstroke, which left the rest of the opposition look like complete fools.  Barrichello and Schumacher went from 10^th and 11^th to 1^st and 2^nd in less than ten laps, and the rest they say is history.  David Coulthard was best of the rest.

2003

WINNER: Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren Mercedes), 2^nd: Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 3^rd: Fernando Alonso (Renault)

This will go down as the weekend when the young guns truly burst onto the Grand Prix scene.  At 21 years of age, Fernando Alonso took a stunning pole position in his only his second start for Renault, becoming the youngest ever driver to do so in the process.  On Sunday, 23-year old Kimi Raikkonen finally fulfilled his raw talent by recording his first career victory, and left Ron Dennis in tears.  David Coulthard was denied a shot at victory by engine failure, whilst Michael Schumacher made a meal of the first lap and smashed into the side of Jarno Trulli, causing chaos and ending Juan Pablo Montoya’s chances of serious points, as his rear wing was assaulted by Antonio Pizzonia.  Trulli and Schumacher wound up fifth and sixth, behind Barrichello and Alonso, who became the first Spaniard on a Grand Prix podium for the first time since 1956.

2004

WINNER: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2^nd: Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams BMW), 3^rd: Jenson Button (BAR Honda)

Michael Schumacher may have made it two wins from two in 2004, but the day belonged to Jenson Button.  The Brit has suffered rotten luck in Malaysia in the previous two years, having been overtaken by Schumacher on the last lap himself.  This time, he managed a late engine issue to beat Rubens Barrichello across the line and join the elite of stepping onto the podium for the first time.  Juan Pablo Montoya pushed Schumacher all the way, but had to settle for second; unhappy with Barrichello holding him up just after his final stop.  Sadly, Mark Webber couldn’t convert his outstanding front row grid spot for Jaguar.  He had clutch problems at the start, a drive-through for speeding in the pits, a clash with Ralf Schumacher which punctured one of his tyres and eventually, his shambolic race ended in the kitty litter.

2005

WINNER: Fernando Alonso (Renault), 2^nd: Jarno Trulli (Toyota), 3^rd: Nick Heidfeld (Williams BMW)

PACKED: The midfield in 2005 was tough to separate

Two years after he truly made a name for himself in Malaysia, Fernando Alonso began his charge to his first ever championship with a dominant victory in Kuala Lumpur.  He started from the front and led every lap to beat Jarno Trulli, his former team-mate at Renault.  Trulli’s second place finish was Toyota’s first podium in Formula One.  Winner of the opening race Giancarlo Fisichella had a tangle with Australian Mark Webber, which ended both of their races.  This opened the door for Nick Heidfeld to register the final rostrum spot in the sister Williams.  Michael Schumacher was a very distant 7^th, Kimi Raikkonen finished out of the points following a puncture and neither BAR completed three laps, due to engine woes!

2009

WINNER: Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes), 2^nd: Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), 3^rd: Timo Glock (Toyota)

Only half points were awarded in the 2009 race, as fading light and a tropical rainstorm halted the event after just 31 laps.  However, in the racing laps that took place, there was plenty of excitement.  Jenson Button had pole position, but dropped to fourth on the first corner, as Nico Rosberg charged into the lead.  The early exchanges saw Fernando Alonso battle bravely with a Renault that simply wasn’t up to the front running pace.  Despite his best efforts, he dropped from third to seventh in the first ten laps.  Button used the pitstops to leapfrog both Rosberg and Jarno Trulli and began to pull away at the front.  His only main threat came from the other Toyota of Timo Glock.  Glock had put intermediates on when the rain began to fell, and quickly passed a load of cars that had trundled around on the extreme wets.  The German even led the race for a lap, but was passed by Button and Nick Heidfeld, who had deployed a similar tactic to his countryman.  Mark Webber, Rosberg, Trulli, Lewis Hamilton and Rubens Barrichello were involved in a frenzied battle for fourth place, eventually won by Trulli.  The race ended as Sebastian Buemi, Sebastian Vettel and Giancarlo Fisichella all flew into the gravel trap in undriveable conditions.  It was another miserable day for Ferrari, with Felipe Massa out of the points and Kimi Raikkonen put onto wets on a bone dry track!  The Finn eventually retired with a KERS related issue.  Button had set his stall out to dominate the 2009 season, and the early season races were all about him and Brawn GP.