FONTANA — Alex Zanardi pulled the chair out for his teammate, Jimmy Vasser, who an hour earlier had won the Marlboro 500. Then, with a flourish worthy of a waiter opening a bottle of the finest champagne, he twisted the cap off the bottle of water at Vasser's place at the interview table.
Then, poker-faced, he sat down.
Charlie Chaplin might have played it a little better. But the little tramp couldn't race a lick.
So if anybody is asking whether CART will miss Zanardi next year when he's off racing in Formula One, the answer can only be a resounding yes.
In his three seasons, Zanardi brought to American racing a fiery determination unseen since the days of A.J. Foyt in his prime. But he brought it wrapped in a sense of humor, sometimes whimsical, sometimes overwhelmingly joyous.
Who, before Zanardi did it first at Long Beach, punctuated his victories by doing doughnuts, like a teenager in his first car? Who turned interview sessions into comedy routines, yet always made his point? Who raced with more passion, more panache, more elan? Who won with more style?
And who, in his last race on our shores--unless F1 comes back our way--went out in the style befitting a two-time champion, finishing third when he had no business finishing in the top 10?
And who would have won if he could have, even if that would have meant depriving Vasser, his friend and teammate, of second place in the season standings? It didn't work out that way but. . . .
"It's a race," he said. "You don't compete to finish second."
No one understood that better than Vasser, who observed, "Alex doesn't have too many friends out there when it's time to win the race. He wants to win the race."
So when it came down to crunch time Sunday, Zanardi wasn't thinking how fortunate he was to be in position to win the race, even after two Keystone Kops pit stops and a stop-and-go penalty for pulling away from one of them with the fuel hose still attached. He wasn't thinking about how nice it would be for the team if Vasser won. He was thinking how spectacular it would be if he won--and Vasser finished second.
To do that, both he and Vasser needed to pass Greg Moore on a restart after a caution period with a lap left.
"Before the restart, Alex pulled up next to me and--I could tell from his gestures and his expressions--said, 'Come on!' " Vasser said.
