Rookie stumbles, grows up fast in CART

Landon Hall

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 7:54 a.m.

Alex Tagliani got greedy, and he still agonizes over it.

The 27-year-old rookie was zipping around the trapezoid-shaped track in Rio de Janeiro in April, leading by two seconds, a comfortable margin in CART. There were just eight laps to go, and all Tagliani had to do was play it safe.

Then a series of small blunders - the worst a vibration after a botched pit stop - caused him to panic. He took a turn too fast, spun out and finished 13th.

"It was heartbreaking," he said. "But you need to learn from those experiences, and I'm just now more experienced, better in strategy, and I'm just trying to get a lead again and not do the same mistakes."

Another error cost him a chance at victory a month earlier in Homestead, Fla.

Since Rio, his best finish has been sixth.

The lessons have been hard for Tagliani, but he's growing up fast on the circuit, and thinks he's a few breaks away from getting his first CART victory.

He'll have another chance Sunday at the Molson Indy in Toronto.

"He's wicked quick," says Neil Micklewright, as vice president of Player's Forsythe the man in charge of developing drivers for the Montreal-based team. "His dedication and commitment is second to none, and he has his ego in control well enough that he realizes he has an awful lot of stuff to learn."

Tagliani spent four years improving his skills on the Toyota Atlantic circuit, the last three with Player's. He moved up to drive one of Gerald Forsythe's two Champ cars after 24-year-old Greg Moore was killed in the final race last season in Fontana, Calif.

"I don't think there's anybody anywhere who could fill Greg's shoes because he was so accomplished at such a young age," Micklewright said. "But we as a team were left with two choices: fight our way back or give up and go home."

The team has a policy of hiring only Canadian drivers, and the Montreal-born Tagliani seemed a natural choice to join fellow French-Canadian Patrick Carpentier.

The team's driving coach is impressed with Tagliani.

"He has more qualities in the overall package than I've seen in many years," said Richard Spenard, a former Canadian driving great. "He gets into the car; it's like a switch on and off. It's like, boom! There's no in-between with him."

Tagliani is ranked third among the six CART rookies, well behind Kenny Brack and Oriol Servia in the standings.

Early in the season, Tagliani - with his thin beard and boyish good looks - seemed ready to break through to stardom.

Tagliani was leading his first race, in Homestead, when a miscommunication with his pit crew resulted in a penalty.

He was coming out of the pits, asking if it was legal to pass the pace car. The crew thought he was in a zone where the move would have been permitted, but he wasn't. After the penalty, Tagliani finished 13th.

Three weeks later, in Long Beach, Calif., Tagliani took fourth but was on track for a second-place finish until Helio Castroneves and Paul Tracy beat him out of the pits.

Two weeks later came his first pole and the spin in Brazil.

"When I saw it, I was like, 'Is this a nightmare or what?"' Spenard said. "All weekend, he was perfect, and eight laps before the end we know we're going to win, and this is happening?

"It's very disappointing, because it's rare that you have an occasion like this. These are the opportunities that hurt. I don't think he realized at the time, that it may not be so easy in the future. And now he's starting to realize it."

Tagliani calls his misfortunes "mistakes by experience," and says he's still learning. But he knows his quota of rookie errors is filling up fast.

"I hope sometimes the luck will turn around and we'll have luck during the race and we'll be able to put up a win," he said. "The competition in the series is at a level that's incredible.

"You cannot do any mistakes. It makes your life harder."

On the net:

Tagliani: http://www.forsytheracing.com