Alex Tagliani Earns PEAK Performance Pole Award for Twin Texas 275s

(Alex Tagliani earned his second-straight PEAK Performance Pole Award Friday for the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas. He was also P1 for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 last month. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Alex Tagliani had a two-lap average speed of 215.186 mph on the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone Twin 275s on June 11.

It's the second consecutive pole for Tagliani, driving the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. He started from the point in the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 on May 29 in the first oval race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season.

Reigning series champion Dario Franchitti (214.801) will start second for the second consecutive year.

Will Power, who started from the pole in each of the four road/street courses, will start third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car. He'll be joined in Row 2 by Takuma Sato, driver of the No. 5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car who starts a career-high fourth on an oval. He was the final qualifier (214.470).

"It was a good run out there Verizon car," Power said. "I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I'm definitely ready to race."

DAY 1 NOTEBOOK:

The IZOD IndyCar Series will compete in the Firestone Twin 275s, a doubleheader of 114-lap races at 7:45 p.m. (CT) Saturday. The second race will follow approximately an hour after the first race concludes.

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This is the 22^nd IZOD IndyCar Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. Ryan Briscoe won the race in 2010. Gil de Ferran holds the single-lap qualifying record with a lap of 23.5031 seconds, 222.864 mph set in October 2003. Scott Dixon holds the four-lap qualifying record of 214.878 mph set in 2009. Past winners Ryan Briscoe (2010), Scott Dixon (2008), Helio Castroneves (2009, 2006 and Oct. 2004) and Tony Kanaan (June 2004) are entered in the event.

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Live timing and scoring reports from the Firestone Twin 275s are available on the Internet at www.indycar.com. The live timing and scoring module provides statistical information, including track segment speeds, lap information and much more.

Feature stories, reports, driver quotes and notes, and photos will be posted on the site each day. More detailed information, including media advisories and VNF coordinates, is available at media.indycar.com.

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Drivers will have 12 total pushes of the Honda overtake assist - an ECU software alteration employed by Honda Performance Development - each lasting 20 seconds during both Firestone Twin 275s. It is activated by the driver via a button on the steering wheel and provides an extra 200 RPM (about 10 horsepower) to the Honda Indy V-8 engine. Parameters are updated before each race weekend to meet the circuit layout.

There is a 10-second recovery period between pushes. One overtake assist push is available for the final practice session on tonight.

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Each entry for the Firestone Twin 275s receives nine sets (36 total) of Firestone Firehawks for the race weekend. It is the same formula used last year at Kentucky, Chicagoland and Homestead. It is also scheduled to be run in 2011 at Kentucky and Las Vegas.

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Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Ana Beatriz will have Matt Curry as her engineer and Larry Curry as her strategist for the remainder of the season. Teammate Justin Wilson will have Yves Touron as his engineer and Dennis Reinbold as his strategist for the No. 22 car.

Matt Curry was the engineer on Wilson's car and Yves Touron was Paul Tracy's engineer for the Indianapolis 500 and on the No. 24 car last season.

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Indy 500 champion Wheldon is presenter at CMT Music Awards: Dan Wheldon might not be as well known in Nashville as Kenny Chesney or Trace Adkins, but the Indianapolis 500 champion shared the stage with the country music stars June 8 during the CMT Music Awards in Nashville.

Wheldon joined Gary Busey and John Rich (of Big and Rich) to present the Best Duo Video Award to Sugarland for "Stuck Like Glue."

Wheldon's Victory Tour, which also has included events in New York, Fort Worth, Texas, and St. Petersburg, Fla., isn't quite complete. A full slate of media interviews and autograph sessions at the Country Music Association Festival was on tap June 9. He'll also introduce Rascal Flatts on stage for a concert at LP Field.

Bryan Herta Autosport team's entry in the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 was partly sponsored by Curb Records (one of the world's leading independent music companies, featuring country artists such as Clay Walker and Hank Williams Jr.) and and Big Machine Label Group (the label home of Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts, among others).

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Kanaan slides in dirt for charity: Tony Kanaan had a better handle June 8 on the GEICO-sponsored Late Model car prepared for the all-star Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway in Ohio than last year.

Still, more practice laps would be in order for the 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion to contend. For the second consecutive year, Kanaan competed in the charity team event on the dirt oval.

"Last year everything was new, and I learned a little bit more this year," said Kanaan, who will return to his more familiar No. 82 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car this week for the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway. "We did much better as far a lap times and starting position. Last year, we finished the race. This year, we had a little bit of a problem. It's so much fun, and I have to thank Tony (Stewart) and the Eldora staff so much for inviting me again.

"I became a big fan of dirt racing last year. It was my first time in the car. This year was my second time in the car, so I've already talked with the guys on the team about testing over the winter. Hopefully, I'll get a little bit better before next year."

There was an individual race winner (Clint Bowyer, who led all 30 laps in the feature), but there was also a race within the race, with the field divided into four teams, each representing a children's hospital:

Team Dallas: Kanaan, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers, Ambrose, Almirola and Yeley.

Team Levine: Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Bill Elliott, David Reutimann, Austin Dillon, Ray Evernham and Cruz Pedregon.

Team Atlanta: Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Bowyer, Ken Schrader, David Gilliland, Leffler and Ron Capps.

Team St. Louis: Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Justin Allgaier, Kenny Wallace, Ron Hornaday and Ricky Carmichael.

"Anything that involves charity and race cars I'll be in it," Kanaan said.

PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:
• This is Alex Tagliani's second pole of 2011 and the seventh pole of his Indy car career. He also won the pole for the 100^th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 in May.
• This is Sam Schmidt Motorsports' third pole position in the IZOD IndyCar Series and its first pole at Texas Motor Speedway. Its previous best start was 15^th in June 2002 with Richie Hearn.
• Dario Franchitti qualified second, his second front row start of 2011 and his fourth front row start at Texas.
• Will Power qualified third. He has qualified in the top five in every race this season
• Takuma Sato qualified fourth, his best starting position of 2011 and his best qualifying position on an oval.
• Ed Carpenter qualified fifth, his best qualifying position at Texas.
• Wade Cunningham qualified eighth for his IZOD IndyCar Series debut.

PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Schmidt Pelfrey Racing, PEAK Pole Award winner): "I told Will (Power) I was coming for him." (About winning back-to-back poles) "That means tomorrow night I'll draw the pole (for Race #2) ,right? It's a tribute to how much effort and how much love the guys put in the car. I watched them work the last two weeks and they worked harder than when they brought the car to Indianapolis. That's what a team does. We're going to continue to work hard and bring fast cars to the track. Being fast on an oval is great, but I won't be happy until I can stick it to Will (Power) and the Penske cars on a road course that's my next goal."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske, qualified third): "It was a good run out there in the Verizon car. I was flat and on the white line for both laps. We have some work to do tonight in practice to find a good race trim, but we should be good. We get two shots at it tomorrow and I'm definitely ready to race."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 KV Racing Technology - Lotus, qualified fourth):"It was fantastic, very exciting.  The car was balanced and really felt good.  After morning practice we were confident that we could have a good qualifying and after watching TK's (Tony Kanaan's) run I was even more confident.  Now we really need to concentrate on getting a good car for the race which is a very different car from qualifying." 

ED CARPENTER (No. 67 Dollar General Sarah Fisher Racing, qualified fifth): "It's been a good day for the Dollar General team. I feel good about our car. We seem to have good speed. I wasn't sure where we were going to end up, but it seems like everyone ran quicker during qualifying than we did in practice. I'm happy with our qualifying effort, but I always want to be faster. Either way we have a good starting spot for tomorrow night, and I think we have something for them."

TONY KANAAN (No. 82 GEICO - KV Racing Technology - Lotus, qualified sixth): "Good qualifying run, I think that the GEICO-KVRT-Lotus guys did a great job. I mean, qualifying doesn't matter a lot here, but it's definitely nice to back at the front again. Now we've gotta work for the race. Race one is going to be very interesting, and race two we really don't know what to expect. Overall, two cars in the top six and I'm sitting a lot better than I have in the past…now we've got to move forward."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified seventh):  "Our two qualifying laps were a bit faster than I expected. It should be exciting tomorrow and the two twin races should be exciting to watch. You always have to make quick decisions here and it should be a great show for everyone tuning in."

WADE CUNNINGHAM (No. 99 Creatherm Sam Schmidt Motorsports, qualified eighth): "For us, it's just about sticking to the basics. An hour of practice before qualifying isn't a lot. I hadn't been to this track since 2005 in (Firestone Indy) Lights, and this is my first weekend in an Indy car. So we were just keeping it simple by doing the basics. We went out and did a lot of race running in the first session with a high down-force package. So, we didn't get to do any practice in a qualifying package." (About his qualifying run): "We bolted new tires on and tried to adjust the balance a little bit. Time is quite tight in the session, so we didn't have time to do everything we wanted. So really for us going into qualifying was like a bit of the unknown. We have a teammate who is on pole, and we knew what they were doing. But again, we didn't want to make any hiccups that would penalize ourselves by making mistakes. We didn't go as far as Alex did in qualifying set-up. So there's a little bit of speed there and, also, I made a little mistake on my gearing entering the green flag which cost us a bit of time as well."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Guidepoint Systems Team Penske, qualified ninth): "The Guidepoint Systems car felt good out there. I think maybe we went a little too long in our gear ratio and that may have cost us a little bit in qualifying. I think we'll be in good shape for the race. We've still got a little work to do in practice tonight to get the car consistent and where we want it for tomorrow."

DANICA PATRICK: (No. 7 Team GoDaddy, qualified 10^th): "I think the GoDaddy.com car had a solid qualifying run. It was faster in qualifying than it did in practice which is great. We went into qualifying hoping for a top-10 start which we accomplished. We did the best we could and the car was comfortable, and I think that is really important at this track since there is so much banking. I think we are in a good position headed into tomorrow's first race."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske): "Our qualifying result was a little frustrating, to be honest. We certainly thought we were capable of getting a top-five starting spot, but we'll keep working and make sure the AAA Insurance car is ready for the twin races tomorrow night. We'll keep our heads up and I know we'll be ready to go and put on a good show for the fans here in Texas."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen): "It was a good qualifying attempt on our first superspeedway. The No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen car was pretty good and the whole Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew did a really good job getting me ready for it.  This is our best starting position so far for the season and that's what we were shooting for. If we had a little more track time, I think we would've been further up the order. The Novo Nordisk team has some more work to do during tonight's practice session. We should be good to go for the Firestone Twin 275s tomorrow night."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 38 Service Central): "It was a pretty frustrating qualifying run for the Service Central team.  I thought we were going to be really good here. The car felt great in qualifying, it's just slow and I don't know the answer to that. It's frustrating but certainly it happens. We're going to keep working on the No. 38 Service Central car and figure out the issue so we're ready to pass some cars tomorrow night."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 Sun Drop/DHL/Snapple): "Of course qualifying is important, but if you have a good race car compared to a car not qualified near the front, you can outdo it within 20 laps here. The trick is getting the race car properly balanced. We'll be working on that tonight. We're trying some pretty radical stuff after Indy, so we'll see how it goes with the DHL/Sun Drop car."

MIKE CONWAY (No. 27 Hire Heroes USA/Dr Pepper/7-Eleven/DHL): "We could have had a little bit more speed for qualifying. But as long as we get a good car for this afternoon's practice, hopefully that will give us a good car for the races tomorrow. I think we'll be in a good position to move up to the top-ten in the first race. It should be an exciting first race for the Hire Heroes car, and it will be interesting to see where we end up on the drawing for the second."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom): "Obviously not the qualifying result we wanted today for the Venom car, but we've always run well in the race here and that's what we're planning to do tomorrow night."

JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing): "We were pretty good. I was trying to get everything I could in the National Guard car because we didn't work too much on the qualifying setup today in practice. But we've got a fast racecar and we're looking alright going into tomorrow. It's going to be a little bit of a different gig running the two shorter races tomorrow, but we'll see what we get when it comes down to race day." (About the knee injury) It's fine. I'm not having any trouble getting in and out of the car, so it's not going to be an issue."

E.J. VISO (No. 59 PDVSA - KV Racing Technology - Lotus, qualified 19^th): "I am not happy with qualifying 19th but to be honest this is one of the tracks where qualifying worries me the least.  In the past, I have started at the back and made my way through the field and this is a pretty fun track to try and do that again.  We will try and stay out of trouble during the race and hopefully we will have a good race tomorrow night."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 2 Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing): "We came here thinking we might be reasonably fast since we were at Indy but then were slower in practice. Then we qualified faster than we thought we were going to be so I'm very happy. The Telemundo car was better in qualifying than in practice which is the same in Indy and we ran well in both qualifying and the race so let's push for that here too. It doesn't really matter too much where you start here because you can win the race from last place but it's better to be up front to avoid some of the things that can happen in the back."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing): "Qualifying went better than expected for the Sprott team. We were a little concerned with our pace in practice and we're not quite sure where the pace came from either. To be honest, we weren't quite geared for the speed we went so there is probably a little bit more in it. At the end of the day, for the Newman/Haas guys to turn the car around after practice and give us a good qualifying car that set a solid qualifying time is great, especially since this place is the least critical for qualifying. The big thing now is to take this next practice and try to get a good race car because we have a very unique event coming up tomorrow and you want to be good over two races."

PEAK Performance Front Row, Danica Ready for Indianapolis 500

(The Indianapolis 500 PEAK Performance Front Row. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

The field is set, Carb Day is over, the parade has been held and now all eyes are on the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500, the 95th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Last weekend, Alex Tagliani, Scott Dixon, and Oriol Servia earned their way onto the PEAK Performance Front Row, while PEAK Performance athlete Danica Patrick was center stage for one of the most dramatic Bump Days at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in recent memory. The face of the IZOD IndyCar Series made the field after weather delays and tech issues in P26.

In final practice on Friday, Dixon and Tagliani flip-flopped their positions, with the 2008 event winner leading with a fast lap 225.474 mph and the Canadian-born Tagliani coming in second with a lap of 224.739 mph. With the clock ticking down to the drop of the green flag Sunday, Tagliani reflected on his week.

“Yeah, it was an amazing week that we had last week,” the Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver said. “We're really fortunate that we rolled the car off the trailer fast. The team has done a great job to fine-tune it. Every day we were out there, and we were strong. So it's been a pleasure for me to drive a very competitive car.

“(Friday) it was nice to be back on track. Obviously, we have a very different car that we're going to drive in the race. And I feel the car is very racey. I love it in traffic. It got some consistency out of the car on the older tires. So I don't know. It seems to me to be unreal and too good to be true sometimes. But I want to think that we deserve it. We did everything better than everyone else, and hopefully it will continue.”

Tagliani made no effort to hide his nerves when he talked to the assembled media Friday in regards to his feelings of being P1 when the 95th running of the Indianapolis 500 kicks off. “(I’ll have) a very high heart rate,” he said. “I've been very appreciative of what's happened to me as a driver. But what we don't want to forget is that we have the chance to participate in a historical event. And to just have the chance to qualify in it is already a big thing. Leading the field, I think it's going to be something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

For her part, Patrick said Friday’s practice, while shorter than she would have liked, was a positive session and that her Andretti Autosport team is going to race strong Sunday. “I really feel like the practice hour was good for the GoDaddy car. I wish we could have got some more laps in, but I was happy. I think it was a productive session. I feel confident in myself and the crew to have a strong finish on race day."

The 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 on May 29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where PEAK Performance Pole Award winner Alex Tagliani will lead the field of 33 to the green flag. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at Noon (ET) by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM channel 94 and IndyCar.com. For more information on the event and for tickets, visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Web at IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports Carb Day Report

Sam Schmidt Motorsports drivers Alex Tagliani and Townsend Bell ended up second and 12th, respectively on the speed chart following Friday’s final one-hour practice session for the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500-Mile Race.

Tagliani, driver of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda/Firestone for SSM, posted the second fastest lap of the day around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a time and speed of 40.0464 seconds at 224.739 mph. The Canadian’s quick lap came on the 32nd of his 42 total trips around the 2.5-mile oval.

Bell turned 40 laps in the No. 99 Herbalife24 Dallara/Honda/Firestone for SSM and was the 12th-fastest driver of the day with a lap of 40.2130 seconds at 223.808 mph. The hot lap came on the ninth of his trips around the ‘World Greatest Race Course.’

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap of the day when he toured the famous oval in 39.9159 seconds at 225.474 mph. Tagliani was second followed by Dixon’s teammate, Dario Franchitti, who was third at 40.0609 seconds at 224.658 mph. A.J. Foyt Racing’s Vitor Meira (40.0927 seconds at 224.480 mph) and Bryan Herta Autosport’s Dan Wheldon (40.0999 seconds at 224.439 mph), rounded out the top-five.

The 95th Indianapolis 500 will take place at noon EDT on Sunday, May 29 and will be broadcast live on ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 11 a.m.  

Alex Tagliani, Driver of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports: 

Overall thoughts on Carb Day and the month? 

“It was an amazing week that we had last week. We’re really fortunate that we rolled the car off the trailer fast. The team has done a great job to fine-tune it. Every day we were out there, and we were strong. So it’s been a pleasure for me to drive a very competitive car. Today it was nice to be back on track. Obviously, we have a very different car that we’re going to drive in the race. And I feel the car is very racey. I love it in traffic. It got some consistency out of the car on the older tires. So I don’t know. It seems to me to be unreal and too good to be true sometimes. But I want to think that we deserve it. We did everything better than everyone else, and hopefully it will continue. All winter long, the team fine-tuned the car. They just put their love into it and brought it back this year. Same car, same aerodynamic package, same track, and the car did better. So Penske and Ganassi have done that 10 years in a row. They have done the particular program that we have done for one race 10 years in row: Have a good car and keep improving it every year. And we’re trying to close the gap in a year and a half. It’s not an easy task.”  

Townsend Bell, Driver of the No. 99 Herbalife24 Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports:

Overall thoughts on final practice?

“The car feels great. We still have a few little adjustments we want to do, but overall it felt really good. We were pretty racy out there. Now we start thinking about how we want to race and see what we learned from that last run and keep an eye on the weather.”  

Rob Edwards, Team Manager of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports:  

Overall thoughts on final practice? 

“I think final practice went very well. We achieved everything on the list that we had to achieve. We had some things that we thought would help us for the race that we didn’t have a chance to try last week with all the track time that was lost to rain. The guys were very efficient in getting through those things this morning. Obviously conditions are going to be very different on race day than they were today, so we’re careful in taking what we learned and applying it to Sunday. Everything we wanted to get through, we got through and we’re happy with the car.”  

Gerald Tyler, Race Strategist of the No. 99 Herbalife24 Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports:

Overall thoughts on final practice? 

“The car ran solid and we had no real issues. We’ll look at the data we collected and just prepare for the race. We have a lot of data to go through to see if we can improve for the race. Basically we’ll just study data between now and the race.”

Alex Tagliani Indianapolis 500 Pre-Race Report

(Indianapolis 500 PEAK Performance Pole Award winner Alex Tagliani. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

On May 29, 2011, during the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, Alex Tagliani will look to join three exclusive clubs. 

First, he’d like to become the 68th driver to win the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and join legends named Foyt, Andretti, Mears and a host of others who have put their names and likenesses on the Borg-Warner Trophy. 

Second, if he could find victory, it would mark the 21st time a driver has won the race from the pole position. With a blistering run of 227.472 mph in the “Fast Nine” Shootout during qualifying last Saturday, Tagliani earned the right to start on the inside of the first row for the world’s biggest race.

Third, with a victory, he would join 1995 winner Jacques Villeneuve as Canadian-born drivers who have tasted the milk at Indianapolis.

All of that is easier said than done, but Tagliani, driver of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, has been fast all month and emerged from darkhorse to one of the favorites in the 200-lap, 500-mile race.

And, if he can pull off the win, he could make a little more “500” history. Not only has car number 77 never won the Indianapolis 500, no car with a number between 70 and 79 has ever been to victory lane in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Perhaps more interesting is that cars carrying single-digit numbers and numbers in the teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s 80s and 90s have all been to victory lane. Only the 70s have been left out.

Tagliani is also looking to become the fifth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 at age 37. He would join Wilbur Shaw (1940), George Robson (1946), Graham Hill (1966) and Dario Franchitti (2010).

Indianapolis makes legends and those who win the “500” are immortalized forever. And Tagliani would love nothing more than to etch his name into one of the most exclusive clubs in the world and be called, “Indianapolis 500 Champion.”

Alex Tagliani, Driver of the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara/Honda/Firestone for Sam Schmidt Motorsports:

You’re a veteran of the sport of Indy-style racing, yet this will only be your third Indy 500. What does the “500” mean to you?

“You know, when you’re a kid and you’re watching the races on TV, it’s pretty easy to see that the Indy 500 has been creating a lot of attention and attraction. So, as a kid, you know it’s the biggest motorsports event in the world. When you finally make it – especially as a young kid driving go-karts – you know the hardest thing is just to make it in the sport. Then, once you make it to the big-time, such as IndyCar, the first thing that enters your mind is, ‘I want to win the Indy 500.’ It has to happen. In my situation, I had joined CART, and then the split happened and we don’t race at Indianapolis, anymore. I had to stay with the opportunity that had presented itself to me, which was racing for Forsythe in CART. I worked so hard to make it, but it almost felt like I was in the right place at the wrong time.”

Can you remember your thoughts the first time you rolled out onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a racecar?

“It was amazing. You’re looking everywhere and, at the same time, you’re finding it hard to believe that you are actually driving on that track. The complex is quite big, so it’s very impressive, the first lap that you do. You just swallow everything. That’s what I did. The track is quite daunting the first couple of laps you do. But that first lap is one of those laps you’ll always remember forever.”

What do you remember about your first Indy 500 race morning?

“When I walked through Gasoline Alley with my mom and dad and I got on the other side in the pit lane and I finally saw the grandstands full, I was like, ‘Holy smoke.’ It was really an eye-opener. You know, you’ve been to races that are very popular and packed, like Long Beach, but there’s nothing like Indy. It’s hard to explain. You know you keep talking about it with your friends and you try to explain it, but you just have to live it to fully understand it. And then, when I finally drove out onto the track for the warm-up laps, I was like, ‘Man, the track got smaller because, all month long, you’re running in front of empty grandstands, so your visibility is wide open. So when everyone is packed in the stands, it feels like the track got narrower because it seems as if you’re driving in a tunnel. It was those two things that shocked me and opened my eyes right away.”

You now live in Indianapolis part of the time. What do you like about the city?

“It’s similar in a way to Montreal, where I’m from. There is the downtown area that is really nice, but there are also a lot of little suburbs with lots of land. It’s fun because you don’t have to go to downtown to live your life. But I also like the people. It’s a city where racing is so important. So, if you’re involved in the sport, you develop friendships very fast and you become part of the city very quickly. That makes you feel like you’re at home. ”

You started the 2010 month of May in a bed at Methodist Hospital. Explain what you were going through.

“For me, being sick in the racecar has become a fear of mine. It has happened once on a street course in Australia. I’m so conscious of it, now, like when you’re traveling and people are coughing and are sick beside you and you’re trying not to breathe and catch anything. Getting sick on a race weekend is just one thing that I never wanted to happen. At Indy last year, for some reason, I just don’t know what happened. I have asthma, but I’ve controlled it really well for the last 15 years. But my problem, when I get a cold or a cough, the normal person will just have a runny nose and some coughing. But for me, obviously, it seems to attack my lungs more easily than others. So, it started like that, just a little cold and some coughing about a week before Opening Day. But all of a sudden, it’s severe bronchitis and I’m having issues getting rid of it. I started coughing worse and worse. I tried everything – taking hot baths, taking zinc and vitamin C and spending time in a sauna to try and kill it, but nothing was working. So, basically, I went to the hospital and they said, ‘You’re staying here. You’re not going anywhere.’ It was some kind of infection that was much stronger than bronchitis. I just got hit hard. And that’s when I started freaking out. I’m in bed at the hospital and they’re telling me I’m not going to get rid of it quickly. So, they start giving me treatments and antibiotics. I was very lucky to get a very good doctor at Methodist Hospital. He took really good care of me and even took me up to the intensive care unit just to try and accelerate the process of healing. They knew I needed to run. So we didn’t run the first day, but I did manage around 17 laps the second day, but I was pretty sick the whole month. I had to buy a breathing machine to help me breath when I was out of the car. When I was in the car with the tight belts and helmet, it was very difficult for me to breath. It was a pain in the butt to be that way, and now I fully understand why I worry about getting sick on a race weekend. No one likes to be sick at all, and I hate it. And the timing last year couldn’t have been any worse.”

How important was it for you to have someone like Allen McDonald, who’s already won this race with Andretti Green?

“Allen is a guy I would like to have as an engineer until I end my career in open-wheel racing, basically. He’s a great friend. In racing, there’s a lot of emotions, and I’ve said, like not long ago, that we were coming off the wheel because I’m a road-course specialist and I’m not going to be happy until I sit on the pole in a street-course or road-course race. But here? He’s amazing. He has this patience and this plan prior to when we start running the car where, as a driver, it actually relaxes you a lot because you just listen to him, the way he wants to do things. If you’ve seen the statistics last year, we ran probably 89 laps before we started racing. I don’t know how many laps we did before we qualified, but we’re the car that completed the least. He knows this track well. He knows the track with a lot of particularity when it’s windy and with the temperature changes, so I was on track when I needed to be and getting great confidence about the car. And when we started trimming, he’s always telling me what we’re doing and what I should expect, and it allowed me to be pretty good with the tools when I needed to go out there and adjust the car. He plays a big role, and what I like about Allen is also that he allows everybody to have a good spot on the team. Brendon Cleave, he’s an amazing engineer, as well, and he’s acting as a damper and assistant engineer. Robert Gue, Craig Luba and the rest of the guys, they just like working with Allen because Allen gives them a chance to be part of this group and develop the car through the winter. You know, Sam allowed them to pretty much do everything they wanted because he believes in the capabilities they have. So, I think the chemistry is very important. It’s not just a one-man show. It’s a big team effort here.”

It would seem that your team has more rights to gripe than most other teams. Considering the things that have happened, not only with Sam, obviously with his situation in the past, but all the events over the winter for you. Yet, you have a great attitude, and your teammates are always smiling. And here you are now. Is there some special thing you’re doing to try to intentionally stay positive, and has that paid off? Or is it just something that’s part of the people who are part of the effort?

“If you would be able to see us at work during the week, Allen McDonald comes from a pretty big organization. He comes from Andretti Green, and they were running four cars. But he’s really happy. You know, he’s really happy where he is, and I think the respect Rob Edwards has accumulated over the years working for Walker – 16 years with the same team – when he picked up the phone and called the guys, three quarters of the team, all of whom I worked with in the past, it didn’t take long for them to accept. We work together. We fight. We kiss each other. We hug each other. We go for dinner. You know, it’s just like we all know what’s at stake. We want this team to succeed. We don’t put our sweat, our tears, our effort out there just to come here and parade around and just say we’re part of the Indy 500 or compete in IndyCar. This year, it was even more because, for me, when I started, I had this discussion many times – it’s like last year we didn’t have a leader. I accepted to start this team because it was my opportunity to be in the (driver’s) seat. I wanted to be in the seat. But now, we have a leader in Sam (Schmidt), who has shown trust in us very quickly, and that’s why the chemistry just continues. Now, we want to win for our leader because there’s a lot more pride when there’s someone on top who controls us and gives us direction, as opposed to when the driver is in the seat and his partner is in Montreal. It was the wrong, I think, structure-wise. I think there’s more to come from this.”

What are your thoughts on double-file restarts? Is that a concern, or are you just going to race under the rules they give you?

“It’s definitely a worry. In a race like the “500,” double-file restarts can potentially change the outcome of the race, so you have to think about it. I know there is some speculation that we might not do them, or there are going to be some changes. So, until we know for sure, I’m not going to pay too much attention to it. But, obviously, I would prefer the single-file restarts.”

How are you going to approach the one-hour practice session on Friday?

“We’ll just prepare the car the way the engineers want to prepare it for the race and go out there for a couple of runs on full tanks. Evaluate the balance of the car on full tanks. Try a couple of changes to see how the car reacts, and continue to get a good feel for it with the tires cold. Try to follow a couple of cars in traffic. And then park it and be ready to go.”

How hard do you push in Friday’s practice?

“You can push it. You have to be sensible and you have to make sure everything is right. But, most importantly, try and feel the balance and make sure the car is good behind turbulence. And, that’s it.”

What are the emotions going to be like heading out there Sunday morning as the polesitter?

“I don’t know if I can really imagine what it’s going to feel like on Sunday. Now, I think we have a new job to do and the job is to make sure we win that race. At the drop of the green flag, the only thing I’m going to have in mind is running up front, running fast, and trying to be as competitive as we can. What we have accomplished so far is an amazing thing for the whole team, for Bowers & Wilkins, for Sam Schmidt. We’re going to enjoy it until the start of the race and during all of the celebrations prior to the event. We can feel very proud of what we did. Until I jump in the car, we’ll make sure to take some nice souvenir photos at the front of the grid with my mom and dad and my sister and my family and friends. When the green will drop, it will be time to go racing.”

Alex Tagliani Earns the PEAK Performance Pole Award

Check out the handsome gentleman behind Alex about midway through his interview taking pictures. That's a good-looking man...or so his mommy keeps telling him.