Scott Taylor (racing driver)
Scott Phillip McGraw Taylor (born September 15, 1955)[1] is a retired American professional off-road racing driver from Belvidere, Illinois. His off-road racing career began in 1974 with buggies and his career peaked in the premiere two-wheel-drive truck class called Pro2. He retired from driving after the completion of the 2013 Traxxas TORC Series (TORC) Heavy Metal race at Crandon.
Scott Taylor
September 15, 1955
Belvidere, Illinois
2013
2009–2013
Taylor Racing
4th in 2009
WSORR
CORR
SODA
ESPN Pro Series
Taylor won championships during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the series that sanctioned off-road racing in the Midwestern United States. He racked up championships in Short-course Off-road Drivers Association (SODA), SCORE International, ESPN PRO Series, Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR) and World Series of Off-Road Racing (WSORR).[2] Taylor won six consecutive Pro 2 championships in CORR between 1999 and 2004. He was the first two-wheel-drive truck winner of the Heavy Metal Challenge (now AMSOIL Cup) world championship race at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway in 2002; he repeated the win in 2008.
Taylor raced with Ford Motor Company vehicles for much of his professional career and he joined the "Ford Rough Riders" group near the end of their five-year promotion in 1995.[3] While a professional driver, he used Roush Racing engines (later Roush-Yates engines).[4]
Racing career[edit]
Early career: 1970s and 1980s[edit]
Taylor began his involvement with motorsports as a child. In a 2012 interview with the Rockford Register Star, he said "I was hopping up my dad’s lawn mower to make it mow faster when I was 6 years old."[5] He began racing off-road Volkswagen buggies in 1972, one year before he graduated from high school.[5] Taylor began his off-road racing career in 1974 at the Indian Summer Sprints at the Lake Geneva Raceway near his hometown Belvidere.[2] In 1979, he won the 4x4 Unlimited Memorial Day Challenge of Champions Showdown.[1] Taylor won the 1980 Florida 400 Challenge of Champions Showdown.[1] In 1981 he won the Montreal Olympic Stadium four-wheel championship and he repeated the win in 1982.[1] Taylor changed to unlimited buggy for 1983 and he won the SCORE International Riverside International Raceway Class 2 championships in 1983 and 1984.[1] He also started racing off-road trucks in 1984.[5] Taylor ended the decade by winning the 1989 SODA Class 7s championship for the mini-pickup trucks.[1]
1990s[edit]
Taylor continued in Class 7s and won the 1990 championship.[1] His full-sized trophy trucks career began in 1991 with his first season in Class 8. Class 8 had the premiere two-wheel-drive trophy trucks which generated about 800 horsepower.[4] He returned to Class 7s in 1992 and won championships in 1992 and 1993;[1] he became a factory driver in 1993.[5] In 1994, he dedicated himself to just Class 8 racing; he won the championships in 1994 and 1996.[1]
Taylor won the 1997 SODA Class 8 points title over future NASCAR drivers Walker Evans, Brendan Gaughan, and five-time champion Jimmie Johnson.[4]
In 1998, Taylor joined most of the SODA drivers by switching sanctioning bodies to CORR. Taylor took second in the 1998 CORR Pro-2 championship to off-road racing rookie and multiple-time motocross champion Ricky Johnson.[6]
In the 1999 CORR Winter Series, Taylor ended the decade by dominating the short series.[7] He dominated the final race and won the series' championship with 253 points - 36 points higher than Dan Vanden Heuvel.[7]
2000s and 2010s[edit]
Taylor battled Evan Evans for the 2000 Pro-2 championship. In the fourth last round, he started eighth after the top eight trucks were inverted. He rose up to fifth by the end of the final lap and finished second behind Evans. Evans held the points lead going into the third last race.[8] Taylor won the third last round and regained the points lead by three points.[8] The final two races were held on the same day on a wet track. Taylor finished second, three spots ahead of Evans to hold an eight points lead.[8] Later that day, the water coolant in Taylor's truck poured out the overflow in the second lap and he ran the rest of the race with no coolant.[8] The engine was able to continue without coolant and Taylor finished fifth to win the 2000 CORR Pro-2 championship.[8]
Miller Electric became a secondary sponsor for Taylor's truck in 2001.[9] The CORR Pro-2 championship battle was tight, Taylor was within five points of Evan Evans heading into the final two rounds at Crandon.[9] He ended up winning his third straight championship.
Jeff Frana took over as Taylor's crew chief in 2002.[10] He continued to use Roush Racing engines and had Mobil 1, BFGoodrich and Ford Motor Company as primary sponsors.[10] Taylor became the first Pro-2 driver to win the Governor's Cup at Crandon in 2002 and he was presented the trophy from Wisconsin Governor Scott McCallum.[10] He was the honorary grand marshal for the 2002 world championship weekend parade at Crandon.[11] In the Saturday race, Taylor pulled out to the lead by the first turn and Walker Evans tangled with Dan Vanden Heuvel giving Taylor a large lead.[11] After catching and following Evans for two laps, Taylor clipped him and was black flagged.[11] He left the pit box too early and was penalized again which led to him finishing fourth.[11] The final points race happened the next day. Taylor raced to third place by the first corner and kept swapping second with Evans. Taylor finished second and won his record fourth straight Pro 2 championship.[11] The Borg Warner World Championship Manufacture Challenge race (now AMSOIL Cup) took place later that afternoon pitting the two-wheel-drive Pro-2 trucks against the faster 4x4 Pro-4 trucks. The five fastest Pro-2 trucks started 1,000 feet (300 m) ahead of the other thirty competitors and Taylor was fourth by the first turn and he quickly moved up to second place behind Carl Renezeder. The Pro-4 drivers Curt LeDuc and Johnny Greaves caught Taylor and Renezeder. Taylor passed Renezeder and LeDuc slowed putting Taylor three seconds ahead of Greaves. Greaves blew a tire and Taylor won the race becoming the first two-wheel-drive winner.[11]
Taylor won his fifth straight CORR Pro-2 championship in 2003 after winning six of thirteen CORR races; he finished in the top five in each event.[12] After winning the Pro Precision Gear Driver of the Year, Taylor was nominated by the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association All-American Team in the At Large category.[12] At that point, he was the winningest driver in CORR history having 34 wins in 93 starts.[12]
Awards[edit]
Crandon International Off-Road Raceway awarded him the 2012 Jack Flannery Award.[2] He was the second recipient of the award.[2]