Series spotlight - Taylor Ferns

FERNS SETS USAC SINGLE-SEASON FEMALE VICTORY RECORD!

Taylor Ferns of Shelby Township, Michigan has won five USAC feature events this season and may be on track to become the winningest female driver in USAC history!

The 13-year-old Ferns won a USAC Kenyon Midget race at Anderson, Ind. last October at age 12 but has since added five Junior Focus wins this season and those wins broke a USAC record held by three ladies. Denise Bennet won three USAC TQ Midget races in 1987, Audra Sasselli won three California Ford Focus races in 2005 and Alison MacLeod won a pair of Midwest Ford Focus races and a Regional Midget race last year.

Ferns now has six career USAC wins to her credit, one ahead of Stephanie Mockler, but one behind all-time leader Alison MacLeod, who continues to compete in USAC events.

Ferns' latest victory came in Friday night's 20-lap Junior Focus feature at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif.

The 13-year-old quarter-midget graduate, Ferns was named USAC's Kenyon Midget Series "Rookie of the Year" last year, finishing eighth in the final standings.

She's plays basketball and volleyball at St. Peter Lutheran School in Shelby Township, Mich. and has a 4.0 grade average!

USAC's first female feature winner was Bev Griffis, who won a Regional Midget race at the Indianapolis Speedrome on ESPN TV in 1986. Twenty different ladies have accounted for 42 total feature wins under the USAC banner.

-credit: --USAC--