But on those rare occasions when he isn't buckled into a 750hp turbocharged Champ Car, Tagliani belts himself into one of Ford's fabled Mustangs to get to wherever he may be going. His personal Ford Mustang is a tricked-out road monster that not only gets him through the streets in style, but apparently also serves as a training vehicle as well.

Tagliani traded in his road Mustang for a Grand-Am Cup Mustang two weeks ago at Trois-Rivieres in Ontario, and despite never having raced anything other than an open-wheel car, he put the Blackforest Motorsports Group Ford Mustang FR500C on the outside of the front row.

Partnering with series regular Valerie Limoges, Tagliani rebounded from a questionable ruling on the pace lap to finish 11th in the race. Tagliani took the lead on the first lap, sending the Trois-Rivieres crowd to its collective feet, but the stewards called him to Pit Lane to serve a penalty for contact. The contact occurred on the way to the green flag when the cars tried to line up side-by-side around a tight corner.

"I thought the penalty was severe, because we only made light contact, and it happened because he crowded me on the last corner before the start and I had nowhere to go," said Tagliani.

The penalty dropped the Blackforest car back to 18th, but Tagliani fought all the way back through the field to retake the lead at the race's halfway point. He then turned the car over to Limoges, but the driver change and heavy traffic dropped the team back to 11th, where they would finish.

"The experience was great and I was happy to keep my streak of racing nothing but Ford power alive," Tagliani said. "Hopefully this is something that we can do again next year, and I would be very excited to race with Ford as my Champ Car schedule allows."