Taylor: “Last night we had a driveline issue and thought we had it fixed for today’s racing”

Scott Taylor and his #8 Skyjacker Suspensions Roush Performance Miller Electric Justice Brothers BFGoodrich Tire Ford F-150 came to Texas Motor Speedway looking to compete with several of his long time west coast rivals. The Texas stop on the CORR schedule looked like an East vs. West Shootout on the Texas prairie.

The off-road track was built at the half mile high banked dirt oval at TMS. The. 8 mile track consisted of high speed jumps, infield whoops, and a table top jump. It looked like a similar version of the layout at Antelope Valley. The biggest difference between the two venues was the clay surface in Texas. During day time practice sessions, it was difficult to minimize the dust. At night, when the racing began, the clay surface held the moisture, creating a real challenge for the competitors. The track looked tacky, but was actually very slick. Teams and tire engineers were trying all types of combinations, looking for the best combination of tire life and traction.

Thursday Night Qualifying Afternoon practice saw Scott come back to the hauler with an overheating transmission. With little time before qualifying, the team decided to refill the transmission and take a conservative approach to the timed run.

With a smoking truck, the #8 Skyjacker Ford stopped the clocks sixth fastest.

For the final two races of the CORR season, Taylor Racing has partnered with Alan Pflueger Racing at the race track. Scott and Russ Wernimont were providing input on Alan’s PRO-2 truck, while Alan had some of his crew giving Scott support at the track.

Saturday morning, with everybody working together, the underdrive unit was repaired.

Friday Night

PRO-2 Baldwin Cup

The starting lineup inversion for the night’s racing put Scott and his #8 Skyjacker BFGoodrich Tire Ford F-150 on the pole.

The rolling start saw Scott jump into the lead. Immediately, smoke was coming from the transmission. Regardless, the #8 Ford was pulling away from the field. The on lap eight of the 18-lap event, the transmission gave up. Officially Scott finished fifteenth.

“Last night we had a driveline issue and thought we had it fixed for today’s racing, ” commented Scott Taylor. “The inversion had us sitting on the pole and this gave us the chance to stay clear of all the contact a short track like this can create. Right from the start, Russ told me over the radio that we were smoking. I figured just drive it hard and maybe will get lucky. We weren’t and that was it. ”

With only a couple of hours before the Points race, Scott Taylor and the team’s Chief Engineer, Russ Wernimont enlisted some of the crew from Alan Pflueger’s team. Additional help came from Charlie McCormick, from Auto Trans Design as well. The group went to work and pulled off the impossible. The #8 Skyjacker Suspensions Roush Performance Miller Electric Justice Brothers BFGoodrich Tire Ford F-150 lined up as the PRO-2 field headed for the track.

Friday Night

CORR Points Rd. 10

Again Scott Taylor had the pole position. The rolling start saw Scott take the lead with MacCachern in second. After a few laps MacCachern dropped back, and then Ricky Johnson began to challenge Scott for the lead.

As the two lead trucks came out of the final corner heading for the competition yellow, Johnson inched ahead of Scott for the lead.

When racing resumed, Scott and Johnson were side-by-side heading down the backstretch. As Johnson turned into the infield, Scott made contact with Johnson. The two trucks tangled and much of the field went past. The CORR officials, immediately black flagged the #8 for the incident. Scott came into the pits for the stop-n-go penalty, which put the team well back in the field. Officially, Scott finished in eighth place.

Saturday Qualifying

It’s hot and the track is dry. Scott qualifies 4th for the evening’s race.

PRO-2 Points

CORR Rd. 11

Right from the start, Scott Taylor and his #8 Skyjacker Ford hold onto the fourth spot until lap fifteen when Scott got sideways trying to avoid another out of shape truck. At the same time Renezeder caught Scott’s front bumper ripping it and both front shock reservoirs off the truck. Scott idled into the pits and back to the hauler ending his weekend. Officially Scott finished in twelfth place.

Afterwards Scott commented on the day’s race.

“Carl had nowhere to go when I got sideways avoiding another truck. It was just one of those things. We ran well this weekend, but just never got to the end. Considering the slick conditions all weekend, the BFGoodrich tires performed better than its competitors. It just wasn’t our weekend. ”

Scott and his crew will head directly to Las Vegas for the final weekend of CORR competition. The final rounds of the Points Championships and the Jason Baldwin Cup will be held November 3-4, in Primm, Nevada.

Special thanks goes the Russ Wernimont, Charlie McCormick, Andy Wacker, Alan Pflueger and everyone at Pflueger Racing.