Alex Zanardi, Angry Customer Feedback & Lessons on Resilience
- Moonlight Mango
- May 4
- 3 min read
May 4th, 2026
I don’t know where to start this, but let me free write until we get to the subject at hand. Alex Zanardi was a hero to many. Beloved for his resilience, his achievements in motorsport and as an Olympian, he was a man that continued to defy odds. Even after tragedy. Over the weekend, we learned of his passing from this world. We just wanted to start this blog by saying, rest in peace, Alex Zanardi.
We met you once in 2019, when my Scuderia Corsa mechanics said “hello” in the morning we passed by each other at the Daytona 24 Hrs on race day morning. You see, I saw your legend at the tail end of your career as you drove for BMW with RLL. I was just happy to share a moment in passing. Cause you truly never know how many of those you will receive.
But in any case, we wanted to talk straight to you, the fans of the SMEL-U-LATR air fresheners. We bring up Zanardi out of respect for the arena we both performed in. His draw and appeal more than speed. Zanardi was more than a race car driver. He performed truth. Vunerability. Resolve with the truth regarding the facts of life. You could see it in his face. His smile were the curtains hiding thousands of painful moments we have no business speaking of, and we shall not. But, there was so much correlation between what we saw in his face then, and where we are now:
This May, we are approaching six months. And in the time since opening the store, there’s been so many updates. So many decisions, so many faces that have come and gone. We’re a virtual store, yes, but we do have a magnificent team who assist with all facets related to the business. But resilience? That’s been the toughest part of this grind. We’re still small, still figuring out how to grow our voice, grow our reach, but become a product you trust. That’s what all this comes down to. Why the Zanardi reference is super valuable. We don’t trust enough in this world, and it’s caused eons of destruction.
Well, regardless of the past, one still desires to earn your trust. Just like Zanardi did after the horrific accident in 2001, four days after 9/11. Zanardi was moments from losing his life, but fought from strengths not many could fathom to earn our trust as the audience, the lovers of a great comeback story.
And guess what: how many people are allowed to “come back” to the sport they love? Or have a successful second act and win four Paralympic gold medals in hand cycling? And even still, after regaining the love of racing fans across the globe, he didn’t stop. No, technically I never got the opportunity to race agains him. But that wasn’t ever on my brain. This guy was a legend when I was a child and when we heard about the accident, we just wanted him to live. That wasn’t ever enough for us as fans. But here I was, eighteen years later, looking the legend in his face as we passed in the morning on the walk to our Daytona garage.
In the six months we’ve sold air fresheners, we’ve realized there are complaints and concerns in scent profile. There are concerns on if our products are organic. There have been questions we should have addressed ages before release. But in truth, like you, we are human.
But we can chat about what these lil moons 🌓 really are 😊 . We are working to build our resilience to criticism!
Cold Hard Criticisms about SMEL-U-LATR car air fresheners:
The scent profile is nice, but people want the scents to last longer.
Will there be other versions of air freshener?
At first, hearing these two judgements on a product this new felt soul crushing. But perspective helped us as a team come together, and find a solution. We’ve heard your feedback. Now allow us to respond with upgrades and modifications to our products.
We wish, like Zanardi, you can see the resilience in this company. The rest of 2026 is dedicated to quality improvement and an air freshener that earns your favor. Our products are organic, similar to our desires to reach to gear heads, passenger princesses and those everywhere that share a love for car culture.
As always, for your support, feedback, hate mail, reshares, reposts, thank you 🙏🏿
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