TORC: Scott Taylor Crandon summary

Taylor Takes Round 6 at the "Big House"
The Skyjacker Ford Third in TORC PRO-2WD Standings

Belvidere, IL (June 23, 2009) - After two weekends of TORC racing in Texas and California, Scott Taylor and the Skyjacker Ford were looking forward to racing at the track he considers home, "The Big House" in Crandon, Wisconsin. Since the creation of this permanent facility in 1983, nobody has completed more laps or has more wins, than Scott Taylor. His reputation as one of the favorites at the track continues as the Illinois native took home the top prize in Round 6 of the Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL.

After Friday's practice session, Scott knew changes were needed to keep the #8 Skyjacker Suspensions ATD BFGoodrich Ford F-150 at the front of the pack. After a discussion with Crew Chief Kevin Pence and Mike Kasch a change was made and the team saw Scott's lap time improve during the early Saturday morning practice session.

Round 5

As the seventeen truck field lined up for the land rush start, USAC officials checked the tire pressure of each competitor. Then the confusion began. The radio transmission was misunderstood, and the track personnel thought that the announcement was that Scott Taylor only had 8lbs. of air in his rear tires. Suddenly, over the radio, the announcement was made to move Scott Taylor to the back of the starting field. Now Scott really had his work cut out for him.

In reality, the #8 truck was within the designated tire pressure of 13lbs. unfortunately, once the starting grid was changed, there wasn't enough time to correct the miscommunication. USAC officials later told Taylor Racing the truck was not in violation of the tire pressure rule and the #8 truck should not have been moved from the original front row starting position.

When the green flag fell the field headed for the fastest turn in off-road racing, Potawatomi Turn One. Early on dust began spreading throughout the track. At times visibility was poor as best. The poor starting position and the loose characteristics of the track made advancing through the field almost impossible. Amid all the pushing and sliding Scott brought the Skyjacker Ford across the finish line, missing some fiberglass, in sixth place.

Quickly, Justin Pence and the crew went to work remounting body panels, as more time was spent dialing-in the King Shocks.

Round 6

This time Scott was starting the front row and the red, white and blue #8 got a good jump off the start line thanks to all the Roush Yates horsepower in his Ford truck powerplant. This time around it was a drag race between Scott and Ricky Johnson for the top spot heading out of Turn One. As the two headed down the Ford Trucks straightaway, RJ grabbed the top spot with Jeremy McGrath just behind Scott. The order stayed that way until the restart after the mandatory yellow. McGrath got around Scott briefly at the restart, but within a lap he regained the second spot with a pass in the Argonne Loop.

Scott continued to stalk RJ lap after lap. Then with only a lap and half to go, Scott drove the #8 Ford underneath the leader as the two came through Turn One. The BFGoodrich Tires kept the Skyjacker Ford on the inside line, and as the two headed down the front stretch, Scott Taylor was in lead. The Skyjacker Suspensions ATD BFGoodrich Ford F-150 crossed the finish line in first place, the second time this season. Scott Taylor was also awarded the Oakley Bomb, for the quickest lap of the race. This was also his second Oakley award of the year as well.

Now the Taylor Racing crew went to work prepping the Ford F-150 for the sixteenth annual Chairman's Cup race. As a previous winner of the event, Scott and his team know it takes a well prepared race truck and a little bit of luck to win one of the most prestigious short course races in the world. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side, on lap one, a u-joint on the driveshaft broke ending the weekend for Taylor Racing.

"My crew really worked their butts off this weekend," remarked Scott Taylor. "Friday afternoon I wasn't real comfortable with the truck, but we never gave up. My guys kept working on the setup and by Sunday we really had a great hot rod. The win really keeps us in the chase for the championship and that's our ultimate goal. The changes TORC made with the track, some worked and some didn't. For some reason the track got really rutted up and it changed quite a bit from lap to lap. Our King Shocks really kept our BFGoodrich tires on the ground so our ATD transmission could really put all that Roush Yates power in motion. I can't wait to see the broadcast of PRO-2WD race on ESPN2 next weekend."

After the Round 6 win, Scott Taylor is now third overall in the 2009 TORC PRO-2WD Championship standings.

You can watch all the exciting TORC PRO racing action on ESPN2, this Sunday, June 28, 12:30pm eastern time.

Next Race,TORC Rounds 7 & 8, June 11-12, Bark River, Michigan.

-credit: www.taylorsoffroadracing.com