Taelor Janes is a veteran go-kart racer. She drives like one.
The 15-year-old Arroyo Grande resident is a rookie driver at the Santa Maria Speedway. She doesn’t drive like one.
She pulled a go-kart double last year. The Arroyo Grande High School rising sophomore won both the 2008 International Karting Federation’s Junior-2 World Formula grand championship and Heavy World grand championship in Portland, Ore.
Janes, who races in the Briggs Jr. II World Formula category, won the Santa Maria Karting Track championship in 2006.
She leads her SMKA class in points this year. Janes had 772 before finishing second Sunday, Aug. 9. Seth Morgan was second with 762 going into the race.
“I like everything about racing,” Janes said. “I like NASCAR a lot, but I like Indy racing best.”
“It takes a lot of skill in NASCAR but it’s left turn, left turn. In Indy racing, you get to turn right, left, up, down, all that good stuff.”
She is aggressive without being reckless, and she has a knack for passing at the best time. Janes showed that Aug. 8 at the Speedway and, even without her best motor, at the go-kart track Sunday.
Janes was unfazed after Jeff Dye’s car tapped the rear of hers on lap one of the Mini Stocks Division main event Saturday evening, Aug. 8., causing her to spin. She regained control, then held her line well following the re-start.
Janes was in line for her first top-five Speedway main event finish, but fellow Arroyo Grande resident Robby Cervantes passed her on the 19th lap of the 20-lap race. Cervantes finished fifth. Janes settled for sixth, her best finish in a main.
Still, “That was the best race I’ve run at the Speedway all year. It was really clean.”
Besides being a talented racer, the youngest competitor at the Speedway is also a popular one. At the Speedway Saturday and at the go-kart track just southwest of the Santa Maria Airport on Sunday, Janes bantered with her peers and older racers alike.
“You’ll see me when I pass you,” Janes said with a grin to an older driver just before the Mini Stocks main event. The man grinned back and chuckled.
Janes raced in two heats Sunday. She hugged a track official just before the main event and shook hands with each competitor at the starting line — except one who playfully pulled away a hand after extending it. Janes did a fist bump with that driver — before the race began.
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