In a specially-equipped Champ Car source: cart.com "Profiles in Courage" is a book written by late U.S. President John F. Kennedy that studied some of the great men of history, but former Champ Car titlewinner Alex Zanardi may spark a need for a rewrite after what he will accomplish prior to the May 11 German 500. The 1997 and '98 CART champion will make an unprecedented return to the cockpit of a 750hp Champ Car less than two years after suffering the traumatic amputation of both legs during an accident at the 2001 Champ Car race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, as he will be driving a specially-prepared race car with hand controls that will allow him to finish the final 13 laps of the race that he did not get to complete in 2001. The car will be fitted with a hand clutch and throttle mechanism that will allow Zanardi to drive the laps around the two-mile superspeedway at speed, making the popular Italian champion the first driver to ever pilot a serious race car by using hand controls. "I am honored to serve as the Grand Marshal for the German 500 and look forward to seeing all of the Champ Car fans again," Zanardi said. "It was always nice to be cheered by the crowd and it will be great to hear those cheers even through a symbolic effort such as this." The idea was developed through the efforts of Champ Car Director of Technology Lee Dykstra and Adam Schaechter, who was a race engineer at Mo Nunn Racing when Zanardi raced with the team in 2001. The Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone machine will be painted to match the #66 car that Zanardi was driving when he suffered his accident on Lap 142 of the 2001 event.
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