ALEX TAGLIANI

Photo by Flagworld.com

Date of Birth: 72/10/18

Place of Birth: Lachenaie, QC

Height: 5'8"

Weight: 148 lbs

Position: CART driver

Car Number: 33

Interesting Fact: His favorite meal right before a race is simply rice with tomato sauce.

 What a race car driver eats before a race can make or break his day.

 After all, the last thing he needs is to lose his lunch in his helmet.

 Mike McColl is Alex Tagliani's personal cook, accompanying the driver on the many worldwide stops on the CART circuit.

 "It's been a blast," he says. "All the drivers have personal cooks."

 According to McColl, the Lachenaie, Que., native likes to eat rice with tomato sauce, two hours before a race. Rice is high in carbohydrates and is easily digestible. In the pre-McColl days, it was Minute Rice. Not anymore.

 "I'm a rice connoisseur," McColl says. "Minute Rice has been bleached, boiled, processed. Lots of the natural nutrients are gone. By steaming it, all those nutrients are kept inside."

 After a race, it's pig-out time.

 "I went shopping once to come back and find Alex and his wife raiding the fridge, eating anything, whatever was on the buffet," he says. "They were all over the leftovers."


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