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Alex Zanardi faces obstacles if he is to fulfill a quest to race in the Indianapolis 500 next May for the first time.

Passing an IndyCar physical and driver's test or maneuvering a retrofitted race car with hand controls shouldn't be among them, said series race director Beaux Barfield. Zanardi won't be afforded special treatment, Barfield said, and he likely wouldn't need it anyway.

“He would have to pass the same sort of physical and test that any other driver would, and based on what I've seen his physical ability is, it certainly doesn't look like there would be any problems or stumbling blocks. I could confidently say he would likely get his physical passed and get a license,” Barfield told Autoweek. “Some of the modifications to the car, in terms of how he controls the throttle and brake, would obviously have to be dealt with, but there again, I don't necessarily see any of that as something that would keep him from doing what he wants to do, if he so chooses to come this direction.”

Zanardi, a two-time CART champion who lost both legs in a Sept. 15, 2001 Champ Car crash at Lausitz, Germany, has become an international sensation again after winning two individual gold medals and a team silver for Italy last week at the London Paralympics. The gregarious 45-year-old has been a source of amazement and inspiration to friends and onlookers alike, thanks to the zeal and fortitude with which he approached a new, potentially devastating chapter of his life.

Zanardi set the collective hearts of the motorsports community atwitter by quipping that former Ganassi Racing teammate, current IndyCar team owner Jimmy Vasser had tacitly offered to field a car for him at Indianapolis next season if he won gold. Zanardi, who has driven touring cars competitively since his accident, never started the Indianapolis 500 because of the CART-IndyCar split.

Barfield said the design of the current IndyCar race vehicle “takes out several steps of what they had to do to put him in an Indy car the last time,” when a Champ Car machine was rigged with hand controls so he could ceremoniously complete the last 13 laps he missed at Lausitz. He finished those laps at a speed that would have qualified him fifth in the race.

“The reality is, with the new car, the clutch is already on the steering wheel,” Barfield said. “I think there was a cable or a fly-by-wire system where he had literally a little trigger in his right finger to control the throttle (on the Champ Car). I don't remember what the brake situation was on that car, but it obviously worked and was effective.”

Barfield added that Zanardi would have “plenty of time” to complete any pre-Indianapolis vetting if a program was launched by February or March. Barfield said he has not heard if Zanardi or surrogates have inquired about a possible bid, would expect first contact to come through the commercial division.

Vasser, who co-owns KV Racing, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last week, “I said, 'You go win the gold, and we'll talk about the 500. We'll figure it out. We'll get it done.' Vasser added, however, a better fit for Indianapolis would be with Ganassi Racing. The remaining hurdles are emotional, financial and logistical. As Vasser told the Journal-Sentinel, “The biggest hurdle is for Alex to 100 percent decide that he wants to do it. Then the second is obviously to put the funding package in place, the sponsor package. There should be a lot of support for it, I'd imagine.”

If anyone is to rebuff Zanardi and his possible historic bid, it won't be Barfield, he said. He knows better.

“A person like that–and I'd stop short of addressing his physical abilities as any kind of disability–but anybody with any kind of disability like that, with his kind of spirit, if you even imply 'you can't' he's certainly going to figure out a way he can,” he said. “I certainly wouldn't be one to be in the way of that.”