Alex Janardi lost two legs in a horrific Indica accident in Germany in 2001.
Competing in Lausitz, Germany’s high-speed Eurospeedway, Janardi was running late when he lost control of his vehicle as he came out of the hole.
Coming to rest in the middle of the track, he could do nothing but hope that other cars traveling at 340 km / h would miss him. The first car driven by Patrick Carpentier did, but Alex Tagliani, right behind Carpentier, could not avoid the injured Janardi.
The injury was horrific, shattering Janardi’s car and leaving the Italian with a life-threatening injury.
Dr. Steve Alve, longtime medical director of the IndyCar series, writes about the accident in his book Quick response.
“I watched TV monitors terribly, for fear of the worst,” Wolve wrote.
“I was convinced that no one could escape this kind of influence.
“(Alex’s) breathing was interrupted and he fainted. Bleeding from both legs. Both femoral arteries, the large ones that carry all the blood to the legs, are severed.
“(We) knew there wasn’t much time left.”
Before the rescue helicopter took him to a hospital in Berlin, Father Phil de Rea, a resident priest in Indica, collected oil from a wrecked car to conduct Janardy’s funeral.
Both legs were amputated in the crash, but seven hours of surgery saved Italy’s life.
“When (wife Daniela) told me I had lost my leg, it seemed trivial – I was happy to be alive,” Janardi wrote in his autobiography. My story.