30 UNDER 30 |
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ALEX TAYLOR
until 2015, though, when she first dipped into the eights while running at Indianapolis, Indiana, and also improved by finishing sixth with an average of 9.1212-seconds.
With a goal of eventually winning her class, Taylor participated in her fourth consecutive HOT ROD Drag Week in 2016 with her daily-driven street car. Although she didn’ t win class, she showed significant improvement as her 4,000-plus-pound, air conditioned“ Badmaro” was consistently in the eights and clicked off
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an impressive personal best of 8.584 at 161.93 mph pass while racing at Michigan’ s US 131 Motorsports Park to round out the event with a much-improved 8.6806-second average.“ It’ s not just a test of your car, it’ s a test of yourself,” she explained of what keeps her coming back.“ You’ re running on no sleep and adrenaline, and the whole time you’ re wishing it’ s over but it’ s the best feeling ever at the same time.”
Taylor knows that she wouldn’ t have gotten to where she’ s at by such a young age if it weren’ t for the help of certain people and companies.“ In addition to my parents, Crower, Aeromotive, Borg Warner, Tial, and Holley have all made this
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possible,” she said thankfully.
Perhaps more impressive than Taylor’ s performance history is her commitment to being a well-rounded racer.“ I don’ t want to just be a driver, I want to know what’ s going on,” said the talented young woman who is hands-on with every project and does her own maintenance. Both her father, who is a talented fabricator and mechanic, as well as Barbara Hamilton, the first woman to receive an NHRA license for driving supercharged cars, have influenced her heavily over the years.“ Barb told me not to just be a driver, but to know what I’ m doing and to know my car, and that’ s stuck with me.” – AINSLEY JACOBS DI
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PHOTOS: KEVIN COX, ROB PEARSON |