Tagliani steers to safety on and off track
Headliner on Indy undercard recounts near-death scares from allergic reactions
Alex Tagliani, winner of last year’s NASCAR Pinty’s Grand Prix at the Honda Indy Toronto, figured he’d pretty much gotten his food allergy issue under control, only to discover on an Air China flight bound for Beijing that he hadn’t.
Arguably Canada’s best all-around racing driver — a veteran of Indy cars, sports cars and stock cars — Tagliani, who won the pole for last weekend’s Pinty’s race at Circuit ICAR north of Montreal and went on to finish fifth, has nearly died twice because of a severe allergy to peanuts and nut products.
“Only by the grace of God am I still here,” he told the Star this week in an interview. “God and the EpiPen,” which delivers a dose of adrenalin to fight off an allergic reaction.
As well as the Pinty’s stock car series, which will again be the headline event Saturday at this weekend’s 31st annual Honda Indy, Tagliani — who finished third in last season’s points standings — is also racing this season in a new series for Le Mans Prototype sports cars being held in China.
“So, in May, I got on Air China to go to Beijing for a race,” said Tagliani. “I’ve travelled all over the world, so I’m pretty good at travelling with my condition and I usually feel safe. But I quickly realized there was a language barrier and I was afraid the flight crew didn’t understand how severe my reaction could be.”
The racing driver downloaded a translation app and paid an extra $40 to ensure it would work offline.
“I’m typing: ‘I have a severe allergy to nuts, tree nuts and this is a deadly allergy.’ I give it to the attendant and she reads it and now I think I’m safe. An hour later, she brings me a cup of almonds.”
Tagliani, or “Tag” to his fans, only ate white rice, beef and asparagus the rest of the time he was away. “There was a big danger of cross-contamination,” he said. “I didn’t realize there was so much cooking in China using peanut oil.”
Adding that the safest place he felt in China was in the race car, Tagliani told the story this week to publicize the launch of an interactive game at foodallergycanada.ca being supported by EpiPen and his primary sponsor, Lowe’s, which is offering weekly gift certificates for as much as $2,500 as prizes.
Although called a game, the goal is to gather data from people suffering from food allergies in order to help the organization educate, support and advocate on their behalf.
Tagliani admitted to feeling a bit blue this year when he turned on the TV to watch the Indianapolis 500 and it hit home that, for the first time in years, he wasn’t in it. Although a veteran of 20 years of professional motor sport — he’s also raced in the NASCAR Camping World Series for pickup trucks, in addition to his many other on-track activities — he didn’t start racing at Indianapolis until 2009, when he won Rookie of the Year. In 2011, he became the first Canadian to win the pole for the world’s most famous race.
“When the 500 started, I thought, ‘Oh, man, you are missing it,’ but then I saw some crashes and I thought, ‘Oh, man, I’m happy I’m not there.’ I could have gone again, with A.J. Foyt Racing. I had a chance to win twice with that team, but I had bad luck. At some point, you have to say ‘enough.’
“If I make my wife stress because she doesn’t see me for two months and my family life takes a hit because of my need for racing, it’s not fair to them. She’s been there for me when I was young and investing in my career, but not now.”
Asked who will win Saturday, Tagliani says he expects it will be him. “We’re coming in pumped. We’ve shown that we’re competitive week in and week out and that helps build confidence. We had the dominant car last weekend (at ICAR), which is a good sign coming into Toronto.”
Other than him, he says the “usual suspects” will be at or near the front during the 35-lap race (100 kilometres) that is expected to get the green flag at or around 3:45 p.m. following Honda Indy race qualifying.
“(Andrew) Ranger, (Kevin) Lacroix, (Marc-Antoine) Camirand — he’s my teammate — are really strong road racers. They’ve been the main competition at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, at ICAR. I don’t expect them to be running in the back.”
He didn’t mention Cayden Lapcevich, who’s the defending series cham- pion, or Adam Andretti (yes, of that family) or Gary Klutt, who’s always at or near the front. Any of those drivers could contend. And Robin Buck, who’s been racing competitively in formula cars as well as stock cars going back to the 1980s, has also entered a car.
At the end of the day, the competition in the Pinty’s series is fierce.
“Last weekend, in qualifying,” Tagliani said, “you had three-tenths (of a second) separating the top eight guys. That’s incredible. The challenge is high but so is the reward. To win in Toronto, a marquee event, would just be the best.”