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Massimiliano Papis Born (1969-10-03) October 3, 1969 (age 42) Como, Italy Achievements 2004 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Co-Champion NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career 35 race(s) run over 3 year(s) Best finish 43rd - 2009, 2011 First race 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma) Last race 2010 Carfax 400 (Michigan) Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0 NASCAR Nationwide Series career 10 race(s) run over 6 year(s) Car no., team No. 33 (Richard Childress Racing) 2011 position 123rd Best finish 74th - 2008 First race 2006 Zippo 200 (Watkins Glen) Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career 44 race(s) run over 4 year(s) 2011 position 18th Best finish 18th – 2011 First race 2008 Chevy Silverado 350K (Texas) Last race 2011 Ford 200 (Homestead) Wins Top tens Poles 0 4 0 Statistics current as of January 26, 2012.

Formula One World Championship career Nationality Italian Active years 1995 Teams Footwork Races 7 Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1995 British Grand Prix Last race 1995 European Grand Prix

Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born October 3, 1969 in Como, Italy)^[1] is a racing driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the son-in-law of Emerson Fittipaldi. His son's godfather is fellow Italian Alex Zanardi. He currently drives the #9 Geico Toyota Tundra for Germain Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Formula One[link]

Papis made his Formula One debut for Footwork at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

After a spell as the Lotus team's test driver in 1994, Papis replaced Gianni Morbidelli in the Footwork team for seven races in the middle of the 1995 Formula One season, as he brought valuable sponsorship to the cash-strapped outfit. Despite being a race-winner in Formula 3000, he often struggled with the unfamiliar car, and was occasionally outpaced by his much-maligned team-mate, Taki Inoue. He also proved to be an unlucky driver, suffering a spectacular puncture and suspension failure on his début race at Silverstone due to clipping the pit lane wall after a tire change, being left on the grid at Hockenheim due to a transmission failure, and spinning on dust and oil kicked up by David Coulthard at the Ascari Chicane on the first lap of the Italian GP, causing a pile-up and a restart. However, he only missed out on a point in the restarted race when he was overtaken by Jean-Christophe Bouillon's Sauber on the last lap. When Morbidelli returned, Papis was out of a drive and headed to America for 1996.

Champ Car[link]

He moved to CART Champ Car racing in 1996 as a replacement for Jeff Krosnoff who was killed in the previous race in Toronto. In 1999 he joined the more competitive Rahal team, almost winning the US 500 before running out of fuel, and finishing 5th in the series. He broke his duck by winning the 2000 season-opener, but failed to finish in the championship top 10. In 2001 he won twice and finished 6th overall, but was dropped by the team, mainly due to two collisions with team-mate Kenny Bräck. He started 2002 with the Sigma team before they folded, and did a partial season with PK Racing in 2003, but has mostly concentrated on sportscars since 2001, remarking that "Champ Car needs me more than I need it" as the series struggled to fill its grid for 2003 after many teams defected to the IRL. Papis also raced in the 2002 and 2006 Indianapolis 500 races for Cheever Racing.

NASCAR[link]

2011 Nationwide car at Road America

He made his NASCAR debut in August 2006, competing in the Busch Series race at Watkins Glen International Raceway for McGill Motorsports.^[2] He attempted to qualify for the NEXTEL Cup race but failed to make the race. He is also credited with having helped develop Toyota's Champ Car engine.

In 2007 he drove the #36 car in the NASCAR Busch Series for McGill Motorsports following the release of Tim Sauter from the ride. Papis made his Sprint Cup Series debut at Infineon Raceway in 2008, piloting the #66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet in place of regular driver Scott Riggs. He was also scheduled to drive the #64 car for Rusty Wallace, Inc. on three road course races in the 2008 Nationwide Series. Haas CNC Racing hired Papis to drive the #70 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the course at Watkins Glen in the Sprint Cup Series in August 2008. He was announced as the driver of the #13 Geico Toyota in 18 races in the 2009 Sprint Cup.

In his first Cup season with a dedicated ride, Papis recorded a career best 8th place finish at Watkins Glen and 15th starting position at Fontana. He also recorded 12th place finish at Infineon Raceway. After Watkins Glen, the team announced that Papis would be replaced by Casey Mears and would compete in the team's Truck Series entry.

"Mad Max"[link]

Papis earned the nickname "Mad Max" at the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona during his last stint at the end of the race. Although his second-place Ferrari 333SP had been battered due to collisions, some of its bodywork held together by tape, Papis unlapped himself by passing the race leader (the Doyle Racing Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile driven by Wayne Taylor) and proceeded to set some of the fastest laps of the entire race. Taylor was nursing his car around the track due to an overheating problem and otherwise would have been able to cruise to a win, but Papis' pace and the slowing Oldsmobile suggested that Papis could theoretically take the win from him. Papis' speed was achieved at the cost of maximum fuel consumption and although he drove down the pit lane at full speed to re-fuel (pit lane speed limits were imposed the next year), Taylor was still ahead by 64 seconds at the end of the race.

Career results[link]

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

Complete American open wheel results[link]

(key)

CART[link]

IndyCar Series[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2002	Team Cheever	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY 23	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI						43rd	16
	Team Penske															TX2 21
2006	Cheever Racing	HMS	STP	MOT	INDY 14	WGL	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	SNM	CHI						26th	16
2008	Rubicon Race Team	HMS	STP	MOT1	LBH1	KAN	INDY DNQ	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2	NC	-

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Indy 500 results[link]

Complete A1 Grand Prix results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results[link]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1997	LMP	3	Y	Ferrari 333 SP Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12	Moretti Racing Inc.	Gianpiero Moretti Didier Theys	321	6th	3rd
2003	LMP900	11	M	Panoz LMP01 Evo Élan 6L8 6.0L V8	JML Team Panoz	Olivier Beretta Gunnar Jeannette	360	5th	3rd
2004	LMGTS	63	M	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell	334	8th	2nd
2005	LMGT1	63	M	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell	347	6th	2nd
2006	LMGT1	63	M	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell	327	12th	7th
2007	LMGT1	64	M	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	22	DNF	DNF
2008	LMGT1	64	M	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0L V8	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	341	15th	3rd

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Max Papis

• Official website
• Max Papis at Racing Reference

Alex Zanardi In 2007, as a WTCC driver Nationality Italian Born (1966-10-23) October 23, 1966 (age 45) Bologna 2012 World Touring Car Championship Debut season 2005 Current team BMW Team Italy-Spain Car no. 9 Starts 105 Wins 4 Poles 1 Fastest laps 4 Best finish 10th in 2005 Previous series 1992,2005-06 2003-04 1997-98, 2001 1991-94, 99 1996 1989 & 91 1988-90 Italian Superturismo ETCC Champ Car World Series Formula One Indycar Series F3000 International Italian F3 Championship titles 2005 1997-98 1990 Italian Superturismo Champ Car European F3 Cup Born (1966-10-23) 23 October 1966 (age 45) Formula One World Championship career Active years 1991–1994, 1999 Teams Jordan, Minardi, Lotus, Williams Races 44 (41 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 1 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1991 Spanish Grand Prix Last race 1999 Japanese Grand Prix

Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (born October 23, 1966) is an Italian racing driver and paracyclist.

He won two CART championship titles in North America during the late 1990s. He also had a less successful career as a Formula One driver. More recently, he has attracted widespread praise for his return to competition in the aftermath of a crash in 2001 that resulted in the amputation of his legs. He returned to racing less than two years after the accident, competing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship for BMW Team Italy-Spain between 2003 and 2009.

Switching sports, Zanardi took up competition in handbiking, a form of paralympic cycling, with the stated goal of representing Italy at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. In September 2011, Zanardi won his first senior international handbiking medal, the silver medal in the H4 (Handbike) category time trial at the UCI World Road Para-Cycling Championships.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Alex Zanardi was born in Bologna, Italy and moved with his family to the village of Castel Maggiore on the outskirts of the city when he was four.^[2] His sister was a promising swimmer until her death in an automobile collision.^[3]

Zanardi began racing karts at the age of 13. In 1988, he joined the Italian Formula 3 series, becoming a championship contender by 1990. In 1991, he moved up to the Formula 3000 series with the Il Barone Rampante team, who were themselves newcomers to the series. Winning on his F3000 debut, he went on to score two more wins that season, en route to second in the championship.

Formula One part one and Spa-Francorchamps crash[link]

By the end of 1991 he had commenced his career in Formula One. Three starts for Jordan were his reward for a strong F3000 campaign.

For 1992 Zanardi had to be content with guest drives for Minardi, replacing the injured Christian Fittipaldi. In the off-season, he tested for Benetton, but contracted with Lotus for 1993. Zanardi compared reasonably to teammate Johnny Herbert and was important in fine-tuning the team's active suspension system, scoring his first ever F1 point at the Brazilian Grand Prix. However, his season ended prematurely after he suffered a terrible crash during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Still injured, Zanardi missed the beginning of the 1994 season, but he returned in the Spanish Grand Prix, replacing Pedro Lamy, who had been hurt in a testing crash. However, that year's Lotus was highly unreliable, and Zanardi failed to score a single point or qualify higher than 13th. When Lotus' F1 effort collapsed at the end of the year, Zanardi spent a brief time in Sports car racing in 1995, his Formula One career seemingly over.

Champ Car[link]

In 1996, Zanardi made the switch to CART, having won a seat at Chip Ganassi Racing. The team's race engineer Mo Nunn advised Chip against signing him, as he believed Italian drivers were too prone to mistakes. Tellingly, Mo later signed Alex for his own team.

He rapidly became one of the series' most popular drivers. He took pole for his second race, although his first win didn't come until mid-season. In total he won three races in his rookie season and five pole positions,^[4] finishing in a tie for second in the championship points (officially scored third as Michael Andretti had won more races) behind team-mate Jimmy Vasser (who did not win after round 6 of the season) and being named Champ Racing Rookie of the Year. He would win the championship for Ganassi in both 1997 and 1998, bringing home twelve victories.

A win came at Laguna Seca for the final race of the 1996 season, where he conducted a highly risky overtaking move at the Corkscrew corner (known to many racing fans as 'The Pass'; the maneuver was banned for future years), on race leader Bryan Herta, having fought his way through the field. After winning a race, Zanardi was fond of spinning his car around in tight circles, leaving circular donut-shaped patterns of tyre rubber on the track; this would eventually become a popular means of celebrating race wins all across America.

Formula One part two[link]

Zanardi driving for Williams at the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix.

Zanardi's CART success caught the eye of Sir Frank Williams, who gave him a three-year contract in 1999. In pre-season testing, he was fast; however, everything went downhill from there. Plagued by numerous reliability issues, Zanardi also made a series of crucial errors, his F1 return in Australia a prime example. He was consistently outpaced by team-mate Ralf Schumacher and rumours spread that he would not last long at Williams. A late season up-turn in speed seemed to signal a breakthrough. At both Spa and Monza he looked competitive, but problems cost him a good result. At Monza he had qualified an impressive fourth and briefly held second, but brake difficulties curtailed his pace and he dropped to seventh. The season ended with Zanardi failing to maintain his Monza form; he was dropped for 2000. Jenson Button replaced him.

CART return and Lausitzring crash[link]

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.

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.^[5] This was the end of his open-wheel racing career.

Subsequent life and career[link]

Zanardi was fitted with two prosthetic limbs and began an ambitious rehabilitation program. Dissatisfied with the limitations of legs available commercially, Zanardi designed and built his own bespoke legs, to allow him to compare the weight and stiffness of various feet in order to find the most suitable for racing. In 2002, CART honoured Zanardi by giving him the privilege of waving the checkered flag in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2003, Zanardi was not only back behind the wheel, he was also racing again, with the aid of hand-operated brake and accelerator controls. He completed the final thirteen laps at the race track which had nearly killed him in 2001, and did so at highly competitive speeds approaching 310 km/h (193 mph). In fact, had he been qualifying for the race that weekend, he would have been fifth. It was a fitting testament to his recovery and persuaded him that a race return was something to pursue.

Zanardi driving a BMW 320si WTCC car at Brands Hatch in 2008.

Zanardi competed at Monza, Italy, in his first race since the accident in a touring car modified to allow the use of his prosthetic feet, finishing the race quite impressively in seventh. In 2004, Zanardi returned to racing full-time, driving for Roberto Ravaglia's BMW Team Italy-Spain in the FIA European Touring Car Championship. The season did not see him score many points, but for 2005 matters were much improved, in a series which became the World Touring Car Championship by adding two non-European races. On August 24, 2005, Zanardi won his first world series race since his accident at Lausitzring. He had taken advantage of the championship's reverse grid system, in which by finishing the weekend's first race in 8th, a driver starts the second on pole. Still, Zanardi had held off attacks from several drivers, and duly celebrated his win with a series of trademark "donuts". He then finished the season strongly. He took further wins at Istanbul in 2006 and Brno in 2008 and 2009. At the end of the 2009 season he announced his retirement from the WTCC.^[6]

Zanardi returned to a Formula One car in late November 2006 at a testing session for BMW Sauber in Valencia, Spain. The car had been specially adapted to have hand controls fitted on the steering wheel. After the drive Zanardi told the main problem he was having was using only his right hand to steer through corners, as his left operated the throttle.^[7] Zanardi was quoted as saying, "Of course, I know that I won't get a contract with the Formula One team, however having the chance to drive an F1 racer again is just incredible."^[8][9]

Since 2004, he has had his own range of kart chassis, called the Zanardi, which has been raced in the European KF1 Championship and World Championship as well as in many other racing events worldwide. Dutch driver Nyck de Vries has won the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship in 2010 and 2011 with Zanardi karts.

In 2007 he achieved 4th place in the New York City Marathon in the handcycle division,^[10] after only four weeks of training. He has since taken up handcycling in earnest, and competed at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships in 2009. He stated that he was targeting a place in the Italian team for the 2012 Summer Paralympics.^[11] In 2009 he won the Venice Marathon in the category for the disabled, riding his wheelchair in one hour, thirteen minutes, 56 seconds, and won the Rome City Marathon in 2010, in a time of one hour, fifteen minutes, 53 seconds.^[12] In 2011, at his fourth attempt, Zanardi won the New York City Marathon in his handcycling class.^[13] In March 2012, Zanardi was confirmed as a member of the Italian team for the London Paralympics to be held later in the year.^[14]

Zanardi has been married to Daniela (née Manni) since 1996, and they have a son, Niccolò. He has co-written two books based on his life, Alex Zanardi: My Story (2004) and Alex Zanardi: My Sweetest Victory (2004). Zanardi and his story have been featured on the HBO sports series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Helmet[link]

Zanardi's helmet is silver with a blue shape around the visor. The chin area is grey with a silver grid, a yellow line runs across the back of the helmet near the blue shape of the visor, a red line runs under the top and there is a pineapple on the rear (an allusion to his nickname)

Zanardi Edition NSX[link]

Alex Zanardi Edition Acura NSX, basically a Japanese Honda NSX Type S variant, was introduced in 1999 for the U.S. market to commemorate his two back-to-back championship wins in 1997 and 1998 in the North American CART Champ Car open wheel racing series. Only 51 examples were ever built, and all were painted New Formula Red to reflect the color of the Champ Car he drove to 2 titles for Chip Ganassi Racing. Number 0 was a press car, while number 1 was a gift from Acura/Honda to Zanardi himself. Numbers 2 through 50 were sold to the general public through Acura dealerships across the nation.

Racing record[link]

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)