Last Sunday, following their CART race in England, Zanardi's teammate, Tony Kanaan, and old pal, Jimmy Vasser, went to visit their injured friend along with car owner Morris Nunn and his wife, Kathryn.

Even though the two-time CART champion is still in a Berlin intensive care unit after losing both legs in a devastating accident Sept. 15 in Germany, he's obviously retained his marvelous sense of humor.

"We were always talking about a driver's weight and how it might give some guys an advantage," Kanaan said. "Alex looks at me and says: 'Hey man, I'm much lighter now than you are.'

"Jimmy and I just shook our heads and smiled. The old Zanardi was still alive."

The 34-year-old Italian hadn't seen anybody except wife, Daniella, and a few relatives since the accident. But this was his extended family, the ones who maintained a vigil at the Marzahn Hospital the weekend before, coming back to embrace their fallen friend.

"The doctors told us before we went in that if we were going to break down or cry, then we needed to stay away and not see him because we all needed to be strong with him," said Nunn, who engineered Zanardi's back-to-back titles in 1997 and '98 for Target/Ganassi Racing.

"I didn't know if I could handle it, but Alex was happy to see us and he made a couple of little jokes. He has a tremendous spirit."

Nunn said Zanardi was curious about what happened with 12 laps left in the American Memorial at EuroSpeedway.

"He doesn't even remember warm-ups or anything that happened that entire day. He asked if the accident was his fault and we told him he gassed it real hard on the exit of the pits and it got away.

"It was difficult for him to talk because he still had that little tube in his throat but it didn't look like anything was wrong with him. No bruises or anything. He looked good."

Kanaan asked Zanardi how he felt.

"He said he'd had better days, but that he was thankful to be alive and happy he would be able to watch his son (Niccolo) grow up," he said. "I know Alex, and at some point he's going to get mad, but he's in the best shape he can be considering what happened because he's so strong.

"I was thinking about him flying back home to Miami yesterday and I kept asking myself why bad things happen to good people like Zanardi. The only answer I could come up with was that he was the only one strong enough to show us how to live through something like this."

Kathryn Nunn is thankful Daniella Zanardi is equally equipped to handle such a traumatic situation.

"Daniella is so happy he's alive that she can handle anything else. They're Italians and all their family is rallying around them. It's very comforting."

Morris Nunn is an old school racer who has succeeded in everything during his 40-plus years of Formula One, Indy cars and CART. Outwardly a tough guy, he got unusually close to the mercurial Zanardi during their three years together, but drew the line at public shows of affection.

Until last Sunday.

"You know how those Italians are, always kissing people," said Nunn, chuckling about the traditional kiss on each cheek. "Alex had been trying to kiss me for the past five years and I would not let him.