DELIVERING IN THE CLUTCH : Zanardi Went From Pizza Man in Rome to One of the Leading Men on CART Circuit and a Favorite in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The common perception--sometimes true--of foreign drivers who come to the United States to race is that they bring gobs of money and buy their rides.

Alex Zanardi, one of a growing number of Formula One refugees racing in the CART series, says it was luck, not money, that brought him from Italy to drive one of Chip Ganassi’s Team Target cars.

“No doubt I rate my ability very highly--all drivers think they are good drivers or they wouldn’t be out there--but I have to say I am one in a million when it comes to luck,” Zanardi, 30, said after arriving from Australia, where he finished fourth Sunday, to drive in this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“I have been really lucky. Two years ago, I was delivering pizzas in Rome. I have no personal sponsor, no family money, yet I am lucky to have had more than one opportunity. I know guys who have raced with me, as good as me, who are sitting home watching races on television.”

Zanardi was doing just that, watching races on Eurosport TV, after his Lotus Formula One team had declared bankruptcy before the 1995 season, too late for him to find another ride.

“I had been racing four years in Formula One, once as a replacement for [world champion] Michael Schumacher, but twice I was with teams in financial trouble. When Lotus folded, I felt my career was not going in the right direction. I decided I needed a change. The options were Formula 3000, the Japanese championship, European touring cars or Indy cars.

“Then I got lucky again. I came over here and was highly recommended, thanks to the Reynard [chassis] people, and was introduced to Chip Ganassi. He offered me a test, and so did [fellow Indy car owner] Cal Wells. I tested Oct. 18, 1995, the first day I was ever in an Indy car. I drove the road course at Homestead [Fla.] and the test went pretty well.

“Ganassi was looking for a second driver to go with Jimmy Vasser. I passed the test, I was available and the next thing I knew I was getting ready for the first race in 1996.”

It didn’t take him long to catch on. In the second race, in Rio de Janeiro, Zanardi qualified on the pole, led the most laps and finished fourth.

At Portland, in the season’s ninth race, he began one of the most remarkable records in Indy car history, starting in the front row for the first of eight consecutive races. And this year he extended the record to 10 by winning the pole for the season opener on an oval at Homestead and on the street course in Australia.

His six consecutive poles are a CART record. Mario Andretti and Danny Sullivan had shared the former record, Andretti with five in a row in 1984, Sullivan matching that in 1988.

“Whatever it is that you do in life, you always want to be the best,” Zanardi said. “I don’t know why I keep winning poles, but it is very satisfying. I am enjoying it.

“Truthfully, though, I don’t really know why I’m suddenly so good. I always thought I was a good qualifier, but not as good as people at this moment think I am. I get the credit, but it comes from hard work of all the team. I like to drive fast. Maybe that is my secret.”

Last year, the 5-foot, 9 1/2-inch Italian proved to be much more than just a good qualifier. He led CART drivers in laps led with 610, almost double Andretti’s second-place 329. He also won three races, at Portland, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca, to earn the $50,000 Jim Trueman rookie-of-the-year award--the fifth international driver in a row to get that honor.

“We had a terrific package last year with Mo Nunn as our engineer, our Reynard chassis, Honda engine and Firestone tires, and we’re all back together this year,” he said. “I can’t wait to get that package out on the Long Beach course.”

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Whatever Zanardi does this year, or in years to come, his career probably will always be defined by “the pass,” a daring corner-cutting move past leader Bryan Herta on the last lap of last year’s final race in the famous Corkscrew section at Laguna Seca that sent him off course, through the dirt, where he barely missed a wall, before careening back onto the track to win the race.

To set the stage: Herta had led 40 laps and appeared on his way to his first Indy car victory in one of Bobby Rahal’s cars. Zanardi had been chasing, but had been unable to muster enough speed to pass.

Zanardi tells what happened next:

“For the last 15 laps, I tried to put as much pressure on Bryan as I could, but he seemed fast enough to hold me back. I kept waiting for him to make a mistake, but he didn’t make one. I thought to myself, ‘Well, if he’s not going to make a mistake, I have to do something quickly if I expect to finish higher in the standings.’ Those 16 points for second place were worthless. I had to be first.

“I started thinking, putting myself in Bryan’s situation mentally. I knew how it would have felt to me if I was about to win the most important race of my life, much more important than winning in Indy Lights. I knew what was going through his mind, thoughts about how everyone would be reacting, his crew hugging each other in the pits as he took the checkered flag, his sponsors waving happily, even his family and friends cheering on television. Those are just normal thoughts at a moment like that.

“So, the only way to pass him was to surprise him, at a place where he wouldn’t be thinking of me, but of what was about to happen to him. The fourth turn is usually the last place where you can out-brake another car at Laguna Seca. Normally, if you can’t pass there, you wait until the next lap for a chance.

“As soon as we went through Turn 4, I figured he would slow down a little because the road there was sandy and he wouldn’t want to take any chances. He was still a little bit slower than usual going around Turn 5, so I got up a little closer, waiting for him to brake for the [steep downhill] Corkscrew. When he started down, I knew he couldn’t see me so I took my foot out of the brakes and just let my car roll. The reason I went straight is because I knew I had to get completely alongside him before he could commit himself to turn. It had to be a big surprise.

“When we were both committed, I knew I would be in trouble if we made contact, so I couldn’t brake, or try to slow my car. That would have been too risky, I could have lost it right there. So I just let it roll, over the curb, across the corner and back onto the track.

“I had always dreamed, since I was a kid back in Italy, of winning a race in the last corner but I never dreamed I would do it in such spectacular fashion. But it was not a spur-of-the-moment thing, like I have read, it was something I had planned for 15 laps. It was one of the most calculating moves of my career.”

The 20 points Zanardi earned for winning lifted him past Al Unser Jr. into third place--he was the highest finishing rookie--behind teammate Vasser and Michael Andretti in CART’s final standings.

“As a result, I’m here smiling and [Herta] is not smiling as much,” a grinning Zanardi said after the race.

Herta’s reaction: “I’ve never been passed like that. No one has. I was totally surprised by Alex’s move at the Corkscrew.”

Vasser smiles when asked about his teammate’s wild maneuver.

“Don’t let him kid you,” Vasser says, “The truth is he went through the last corner that way because he missed the brake pedal.”

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When Zanardi arrived in the U.S., he was Alessandro, but after joining Ganassi’s team, Chip said his name was too long, that he needed to shorten it.

“I said, ‘Just don’t call me Alex. You can call me whatever else you like, but not Alex because I don’t like it.’ So the following day he sent out press releases, saying that I’d changed my name from Alessandro to Alex.

“Now everybody calls me Alex. I’m getting used to it, but I still don’t like it.”

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One thing he does like is the 1.59-mile Long Beach street course where CART drivers will begin practice Friday for the 105-lap, 166.95-mile main event Sunday.

“Long Beach is quite strange for a street circuit,” Zanardi said. “It is really smooth. Most street courses are bumpy. Long Beach is a little like an oval, with mostly right-hand corners. You need to have a car well balanced because it is challenging technically. On street courses like Toronto and Vancouver, where even if your car is not perfect, you can put together fantastic laps and make up time. You can’t do that at Long Beach where there are no blind corners and no surprises.

“If the car is working well, it’s easy to have a good performance. It is more like an old road-race course. It is in such a beautiful place, you can’t help but like racing here.”

Another place he would like to race, but can’t because of different rules, is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I don’t know how good I would be on the superspeedway at Indianapolis, but I would have loved to race there,” he said. “It is such a part of motor racing history, it is still a dream of mine. It is really sad that such a fantastic race is being destroyed by politics.

“I’m just a little guy from Italy, not taking sides or anything, but I am very sad at what is happening.”

What is happening is that CART, which used to race at Indianapolis, is now outside the sphere of Tony George’s Indy Racing League, which controls the Indy 500 and this year is racing cars with totally different chassis and engines from those used by CART.

Race at a Glance

* WHEN: Sunday

* TV: Ch. 7, 3 p.m. (delayed)

* DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jimmy Vasser