The Italian, who lost both of his legs in a high-speed crash in 2001, won two gold medals in handcycling at London 2012.

Former team-mate, Jimmy Vasser, now the urrent co-owner of KV Racing Technology, had said before the Games that if Zanardi won a gold medal then he would offer him a drive in the Indy 500.

But what started off as a bit of joke could now turn into reality for the 45-year-old 

"Proving to my friends, family, and the people that I love that they were wrong - that in spite of my age and my lack of experience, I could change sport and achieve something really special - gives me a lot of satisfaction," Zanardi told BBC Radio 5 in an interview.

"But I know that I am also somebody very lucky who does things that seem much bigger than they are in reality.

"I just had the luck to be able to exercise my passion.

"If something comes [along] and it looks to me to be a pure passion, I think in spite of my age I have enough talent to succeed.

"I don't know if Jimmy is going to come back and put pressure on me and [try to] light that fire.

"To do it well - it's not a question of talent, but of preparation.

"I have too much respect for the drivers currently competing in the Indycar [series] to think that I can step in the car and win the most prestigious race in the world."

Jimmy Vasser follows his team mate Alex Zanardi during race action at Laguna Seca in 1998 when they raced together for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing in Cart

Zanardi won two Cart titles in the US before his accident and returned to racing two years after the crash, competing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship for the BMW team from 2003 to 2009.

A return to racing, though, would require major sacrifices on Zanardi and his family.

"It would take a lot of preparation," he admitted.

"Right now my life is in Italy. I don't know if I'm really prepared to move back to the United States, because this is what it would take, at least for a great period of time, in order to prepare things right.

"If I did all of this, I believe that not only do I have enough talent, but actually driving around on an oval would be much easier than doing some of the things I had to do to win a World Touring Car Championship race. "

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