Mike Stoops (China) sent in this inspirational story about Alex Zanardi. Mike says,"My favorite open-wheel race car driver is the Italian-born Alex Zanardi. A two-time champion in America and experienced Formual 1 driver. In September of 2001 he was leading a race, came in for one final pit stop, left the pits, lost control at low-speed and was t-boned by another car racing at full speed. The crash ripped his legs off and nearly cost him his life. His recovery was miraculous, and he returned to racing sports cars just a few years later driving a specially-equipped car with hand controls while still using one of his new legs for braking. He even won a race. 

In 2007 he took up hand-cycling for exercise and then decided to compete in the New York Marathon. With only four weeks of training, he finished a remarkable fourth. That result whetted his appetite for completion. He entered the 2012 Paralympics and won a gold medal in the men's road time trial H4, a gold in the individual H4 road race, and then a silver medal for Italy.

Sorprendente!"

4 Bonus points to Mike Stoops (China) - This is a really, really cools story! I love that he never gave up!
2 Bonus points to Italy (Amanda Winningham) for being the focus of this inspirational story