- For
Immediate Release
September 5, 2005
Belvidere, IL
Taylor
Racing Battles Through Tough Weekend
As the Taylor Racing #1
Skyjacker BFGooodrich Ford F-150 headed to Crandon International Off-Road
Raceway, expectations were running high, as the team pulled off back to
back wins at this track earlier in the spring.
Friday
- Parade & Time Trials
Friday is a big day at
the 36th running of the Labor Day Weekend Borg Warner Off-Road
Championships. In the morning, all the race vehicles are put on display in
downtown Crandon. By mid morning the pit crew competition begins, at noon
the traditional parade through downtown is held, and lastly the Nismo Time
Trials are held all afternoon for the Borg Warner Shootout.
At time trials, Scott
Taylor and the #1 Skyjacker BFGooodrich Ford F-150 qualified as the
fastest Pro-2 truck on the field with a time of 1 minute 28.02 seconds on
the longer 1.75-mile track. This put Scott in the “Fab 5” which gives the
five fastest two-wheel drive trucks a head start for the ten-lap event.
Saturday - Round 11
Round 11 began with Scott
Taylor, Evans, Probst, and Renezeder battling for the top spot as the
field went through the Forest County Potowatomi Turn One. Scott used his
BFGoodrich tires and his Roush Performance power plant to take the outside
line through the high-speed turn. Suddenly the Skyjacker Ford had Evans
leaning his truck into the Skyjacker Ford causing both trucks to go off
line. Fortunately the Skyjacker engineered suspension kept Scott on the
track and in 4th place heading into the front stretch filled
with 25,000 cheering fans. Quickly Scott got by Evans and set his sights
on the second place truck of Probst.
On lap three Scott new
something wasn’t right with the truck. As the front of the truck began to
smoke, Scott realized the truck was on fire. Fortunately, he was able to
stop the truck near the “Hot Pit” exit, where his team members and safety
crew quickly pulled Scott from the truck and put out the flames. This gave
the team a 14th place finish. The early exit in this round
combined with a first place finish by Renezeder, dropped Scott to second
in the overall standings for the 2005 Lucas Oil CORR Pro-2 standings.
After the race the team,
went to work to find out what caused the fire, and repair the damage. By
4am the team had competed all the repairs and the truck was ready for the
next day’s battles.
The team found a faulty
fuel pressure regulator starved the engine of fuel, which caused
detonation in the cylinders. The end result was an oil fire. “ I can’t
remember, when we didn’t finish a race, I think it’s been several years.
Fortunately I was able to get out of the cockpit and the safety crew put
the fire out quickly. Roush Performance supplies us with such great
engines, and to lose one to due to a non-Roush part failure… well let’s
say were are looking for a new fuel delivery solution so this will never
happen again,” commented Scott Taylor.
Sunday
- Round 12
The first test of the
repairs came in the morning practice session. Scott went out and the truck
produced some very fast lap times. Once back in the pits, the team went
over the truck, and deemed it ready for round 12.
There were 14 trucks line
up in the land rush start and as the green flag dropped the Skyjacker
BFGoodrich Ford F-150 ended up sideways in the first turn. Suddenly Scott
found himself back in tenth position. The truck was really working well,
the BFGoodrich Tires applied the flawless Roush Performance horsepower to
the track, and the Skyjacker engineered suspension kept that power applied
to the ground. As the race continued Scott methodically picked off the
competition. As the laps wound down, Scott kept climbing up the standings.
At the flag, Scott took home a respectable 3rd place finish.
Borg
Warner Shootout
It was Taylor, Renezeder,
LeDuc, Vandenheuvel, and Oberg that were the “Fab 5” trucks that received
a head start. As the race started Taylor came out of the first turn in 3rd
place behind Renezeder and Vandenheuvel. Quickly the lead pack for Pro-4
trucks caught the “Fab 5”. On lap four Johnny Greaves in his Pro-4 had
taken over the lead. Later his truck would suffer from transmission
failure and eventually Jason Baldwin would grab the lead and win the Borg
Warner Shootout. Through the entire race Scott kept pace with the leaders
and finished a very respectable fourth place overall and the 3rd
Pro-2 truck at the finish.
“This weekend really
tested all aspects of our team. After the fire on Saturday, the team
really somehow got the truck back together. I was really proud of everyone
in the Taylor Racing family. We came to Crandon in first place and now we
are going to California sitting in second place in the standings. It could
have been worse, much worse. I got out of the truck without injury, the
guys on the team worked on the truck all night, and somehow when the sun
came up on Sunday, we were ready to go racing…. There are still two rounds
of racing to go. It’s a new track that nobody had been to. We haven’t come
this far to give up on the championship. We will be in California to
compete and keep the championship in Belvidere, Illinois.”- Scott Taylor.
Currently Scott Taylor
is in second place overall, just 15 points behind Carl Renezder for the
2005 Lucas Oil CORR Pro-2 Championships. The remaining two rounds of
racing, the Nissan Off-Road Nationals at the Otay Ranch in Chula Vista,
California on September 24 –25, will be determine who will be champion.
Scott would like to thank
everyone that helped out this weekend, especially his crew, family,
friends, and his partners.
Skyjacker Suspension –
Jesus Rocks!
BFGoodrich Tires,
Ford Trucks,
Roush Performance,
ATD,
Justice Brothers,
Miller Electric,
Mobil 1, MSD Ignition,
Phil's Inc., Precision Gear, Auto Meter, Boatec, CNC, K&N Engineering, Mastercraft and Ringer Gloves.
Kellie Taylor –
Team Coordinator
Mike Reusche –
Press Release/Webmaster |
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order your Taylor Racing Cap today. Only $15.00. To order call (815)
544-2789 or Online
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