bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING  05/15/99

Alex Zanardi, at the Milwaukee Mile, during the 1996 "Miller 200"

Bob Jennings

 Do you think Alex Zanardi misses his Target Chip Ganassi Reynard - Honda, as he stumbles and struggles his way through a disappointing return to Formula One this season?

Zanardi was such a force in CART and he's been such a farce (so far), in F1, that it raises the question, whether he was really that good or else he didn't have much competition in CART. Zanardi is perhaps not good enough to run at the front in Formula One, but he's driving for the Williams team, which is going through a painful transition. A couple seasons ago, they were the best racing organization in the world. Now they're just another racing team. Alex had the best cars, in CART, and he also had Morris Nunn's magic. The fact that Zanardi's successor, on the Ganassi team, Juan Pablo Montoya, is looking more and more like the new force, in CART, with Nunn guiding him, tends to diminish Alex's accomplishments or at least put them in perspective.

At the same time, Zanardi seems like a pretty neat guy and I like his flair. The pass he put on Bryan Herta, in the "Corkscrew," at Laguna Seca, was maybe the best racing pass I've seen. He's also a showman, with his famous donuts, after winning races. Formula One isn't all that terrific, at the moment, and they need more personalities like Alex Zanardi. So, I'm hoping he establishes himself as an F1 contender.