SPRING CREEK, Nev. – Their second racing vacation of the season will take the Taylor family of Spring Creek, Nev., to the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s.
IMCA Modified driver Wade Taylor will race at Boone Speedway for the first time. His wife Lisa is a licensed competitor in the same division but makes the upcoming trip in the dual role of crew member and mom to son Easton, not quite three, and daughter Blakely, eight months old.
“We went to Oregon for the Wild West Shootout and the first couple nights it seemed like it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time but we finally got the win at Willamette,” said Taylor, a chiropractor by profession. “We had hired a new associate so it was the first time in 14 years that my office stayed open while I was racing.”
“We like the idea of a racing vacation and Lisa brought up the idea of going to Super Nationals,” he continued. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Taylor enjoyed some success on a racing vacation last year, winning two of his eight Ironman Challenge Series starts before getting caught up in a multi-car accident and breaking his foot.
“That was actually a blessing in disguise because it got me into a Harris,” he explained. “My dad, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., visited over the holidays and encouraged me to think bigger. I contacted 18 builders and liked what I heard from Kyle Brown of Harris Auto Racing when I heard back from him.”
The first Nevada driver to win a Wild West Shootout feature, Taylor has 20-plus starts so far this season, most of them at special or special series events.
“This car drives 100 percent differently than my old one. It took me half a season to get my muscle memory changed. My reflexes were telling me to hit the gas when the car really didn’t want it,” he said. “I have such a new respect for any driver who can get in a different chassis and win because there is such a difference in handling. I did not appreciate that until I got a new car. My lap times are faster at every track I’ve been to and it showed me there is more than one way to go fast.”
After a single outing and win in an asphalt sprint car, Taylor has spent his entire career in an IMCA Modified.
His dad Terry ‘The Wild Man’ Taylor also raced Modifieds, while grandfather Joe Taylor and great uncle L.B. Taylor, raced in the 1950s in the IMCA Sprint Car class.
“I won my first Modified start at Elko and was hooked,” Taylor said. “And now 12 years later we are really looking forward to being part of Super Nationals.”
Along with his wife, Taylor gets crew help from father-in-law Mark Coker and Dylan Newman.
His sponsors are Taylor Chiropractic, AP Crane, Elko Tool & Fastener, NAPA Auto Parts, Nevada I.T. and Jody Hensley, Coldwell Banker Realty, all of Elko; Melissa’s Out On A Limb Photography of Spring Creek; Condon Motorsports and AC Designs, both of Santa Maria, Calif.; and Harris Auto Racing of Boone, Iowa.