Tagliani Excited About '500' Opportunity With Foyt
May 21, 2015 | By Phillip B. Wilson, IMS.com Correspondent
Bronte Tagliani likes to remind her husband, Alex, of one reality in racing.
“You have to be in it to win it,” she tells him.
He was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 2009, then won the pole for the prestigious race two years later. He’s proven he can go fast. The challenge is to stay in contention to the end. His best Indy 500 finish was 10th in 2010.
His admiration for the race and appreciation for what it takes over the course of 200 laps has him excited about another opportunity.
“I love this place,” Alex Tagliani said of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I always qualified really well, 2009 was a really special month, 2011 I was on the pole. You put your name on the rookie trophy, then you put your name on the pole trophy. The only thing that’s left is to win it.”
He will make his seventh Indy 500 start Sunday, this time driving for legendary four-time winner A.J. Foyt. Tagliani qualified 22nd in the No. 48 Alfe Heat Treating Special Honda.
“I’m very happy to be here, very tickled about the situation with A.J. Foyt,” he said. “It’s always very, very unique to be in one of the cars in the A.J. Foyt stable. A.J.’s legacy here is very special. When you’re called to be one of his drivers, it’s very unique.”
Tagliani hasn’t raced in the Verizon IndyCar Series since last year’s Indy 500, when he finished 13th for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. A.J. Foyt Racing is his eighth team in a 71-race IndyCar career highlighted by three poles.
“I wanted to be here this year and also next year because that’s the 100th anniversary,” he said. “If I can make the 100th anniversary, that’s good because I won’t be here for the 200th.”
The 41-year-old Canadian feared he would never get the chance to race in an Indy 500 after deciding earlier in his career to compete in CART, what he now calls “a big mistake.”
While he watched the Indy 500 on television, he wouldn’t come to IMS to see it as a spectator. He didn’t want to know what he was missing.
That’s what made his 2009 debut so special. Like so many other drivers who become instantly captivated by the track and the grandeur of the event, his chills began when he drove into the facility to get his first physical.
He remembers thinking, “Whoa, it’s really incredible, the complex, the size of it.”
Tagliani recalls being on the track for the first time.
“The first couple of laps, I’m just looking everywhere,” he said. “I can’t believe how big the track is. I’m looking everywhere.”
Then came Race Day.
“I look to Turn 1 and I see all these people, and the track looks so narrow, it changed, it looked like a tunnel because you’ve got all the grandstands filled. I didn’t expect this. I was really, really overwhelmed by the whole thing.
“It all made sense when I saw it. That’s why I appreciate coming here every year.”
Being on the pole in 2011 put him in position to lead 20 laps, but he crashed out in 28th place after 147 laps. He has a memorable keepsake from the experience.
“I have my helmet from 2011 when I was on the pole,” he said. “It has the Indy 500 logo in the back and it has all the winners of the Indianapolis 500. I had it signed by (race winners) Bobby Unser, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon.”
This year’s helmet is special, too. Alex and Bronte Tagliani became the proud parents of a daughter on April 16, and the name of their first child, Eva-Rose, is on the helmet with roses.
“She came (last week) and loves the black and white colors,” he said. “It makes her very excited.”
So imagine her reaction to a checkered flag. He would also love to win this race for Foyt, who underwent triple-bypass surgery in November and spent his 80th birthday in January in the hospital.
“The only thing that would put the cherry on the sundae and would top it off,” Tagliani said, “would be to win for A.J.”