Bericht
door Dennis Cavallino » 06 sep 2012, 08:50
Supermooie prestatie. Het was een lange, maar best fraaie weg, gek genoeg.
2001: Involved in a huge crash at a Champ Car meeting in Lausitz, Germany. The front nose of his vehicle is severed by Alex Tagliani’s car, virtually cutting off both his legs. He loses three-quarters of his blood and undergoes emergency surgery to save his life.
2003: Competes for the first time since accident at Monza, in a touring car, finishing seventh.
2005: Wins his first world series race since the accident.
2006: Tests a modified BMW F1 car at Valencia, shaving off the bottom of his prosthetic legs to allow him to fit in cockpit. "This is pure joy," he says. "For me, this is a fantastic story, not just as an example to disabled people, but for people who sometimes in life are not stubborn enough to keep going."
2007: Takes up hand cycling, finishing fourth in the handcycle division of New York after only four weeks training.
2009: Retires from WTCC to focus on preparing for the Paralympics.
2011: Qualifies for the London 2012 Games and warms up by winning the New York Marathon at his fourth attempt.
Coulthard omschrijft het mooi:
So much of sport is about luck and Alex never had much of it in Formula One. At Lotus, in his first period in the sport, the car’s unreliability meant a pretty tricky job for him, while Williams terminated his contract after a year when he came back in 1999.
To this day I cannot explain why it didn’t work out for him. It certainly wasn’t his ability behind the wheel because he was a great driver, and one I kept a close eye on as a young karter.
But Alex left his mark on the paddock in other ways. An infectious character and a seriously driven individual, I remember once in practice Budapest when he exited the pits and blocked me for a whole lap. I pulled him aside later and asked him why he’d done it as I had been on a hot lap. He just smiled and said he had had track position. I was p----- off at the time but in hindsight I see it as an example of his single-mindedness. And his charm.
When Alex had his accident at the Lausitzring in 2001 it sent shock waves through the motorsport community. I can vividly remember watching replays of the crash. As always when major accidents like that happen it brought home to all of us drivers the risks involved.
I can remember him getting up on stage at the Autosport Awards at the end of that year, on his prosthetic legs, and the atmosphere was incredible.
It is an overused word but the manner in which he has come back from his accident is nothing short of inspirational. More than just his achievements, which have been considerable — a return to professional motor racing, wins in German touring cars, an F1 test, and now his hand cycling career — it is his attitude to life. His boundless energy.
He sees his disability not as a life-sentence but an opportunity. He says now that the crash was his “ticket” to the Paralympics.
Alex may not have had much fortune in Formula One but he is living proof that you make your own luck in life, through hard work and a positive attitude.
We’ll all be raising a glass to Alex over in Italy. He’s a true hero.
