Quotes from Alex Zanardi

The first thought that will go through my mind in the morning when I open my eyes will be very much related to my current dreams, rather than to my past nightmares.

Disabilities are a very relative condition, it is something that defines a situation, but if you can't jump over the problem then you can certainly go around it.

I'm a wild horse, to say the least, and with age, I haven't calmed down completely.

When my son was just a kid, I remember him going for a running race at school and winning and coming to hug me. I realized my heart was absolutely full of joy, there was no space left.

Daytona has some of the greatest fans in the world and many remember me from some of the things I've done in this wonderful country.

When you find yourself in a certain situation you have to identify where you want to go and focus on what you can achieve on that given day.

It's not much different to Formula One where they are improving the cars constantly. The difference is every hand biker needs a different bike depending on their residual ability.

I haven't done any of the things I have done to inspire others, but I am sure that if I am watching my story from the outside I would be joining the club saying, 'Wow, that guy really gets you going.'

When I returned to the Touring Car championship, I got the team to create a special brake pedal that I could use with my prosthetic leg.

I am very proud to become a BMW Brand Ambassador. BMW is like a second family, and over the past years we not only enjoyed great times together at the track, but we have also become close friends.

Of course, when I can get an Indy Car or Champ Car race on television, I never miss the opportunity.

If I ever won the Indy 500, I can tell you that I wouldn't worry about my engine, that's for sure.

Formula One is not sport. Formula One is only intense competition between teams where the competition is really the research, the technology.

It makes me feel great when I'm driving and talking to my wife, and I look in the mirror, and my son is sleeping in the back.

I have always had a very smooth driving style. But when I started competing as a disabled driver, I had to take that even more to the extreme.

You have to let the car do the job and try to trust it, try to understand what you are doing, try to be smooth, and try to be incredibly smart to set the car up, because that is the most important part.

I certainly enjoy quite a few times the taste of the snow as I slam my face a few times in the snow trying to ski and trying impress people.

Your trip in this life is very provisional, but the best thing you can do in your life to live in the right way is to take every day as a great opportunity to do what you can and when you're as lucky as I have been in life in getting so much attention and exposure, you learn that you can move mountains with a very small effort.

As you approach the finish line, you go through a tunnel of people, all of them cheering and encouraging you. Then I heard the speaker say, 'Alessandro Zanardi, you are an Ironman!' It was something phenomenal, something amazing... I got very emotional at that point.

My heart stopped seven times and I had to be resuscitated seven times. It's incredible I'm still here so every day I feel happy to have a second chance but I'm sorry to say I didn't see any tunnel or any light at the end of it.

As a race car driver, I don't think I will drive forever, because it is not so much a question of being competitive, but of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

When you are in your twenties you just think the races are what matter the most. When you are in your forties you really appreciate what you do every day.

Obviously, my wife is very important, very important because in all this time she never watched me with that look that means 'I am sorry,' or that means 'poor you.'

I finally returned to Lausitzring in 2003. The idea was to drive the 13 laps that I had been unable to complete because of the crash. I drove out and it was as if I was in the car the day before the accident.