Dirt
Pro Extreme veteran Frankie Taylor
discusses no-prep movement
By Lisa Collier
T
here’s little Frankie “Mad Man”
Taylor won’t try or hasn’t already done.
Well known for his accomplishments
in Pro Extreme and successful, albeit
unusual, match races, the Mad Man has had his
hand in many facets of drag racing over the years,
creating a persona for himself and lending his
expertise to many over the years. His recent ap-
pearances on Discovery Channel’s Fast N Loud
has given him notoriety even beyond his normal
sphere of influence.
In the spring he debuted a no-prep car and
plans to stick radials on it before the year is out.
He’s also still chasing Pro Extreme points, sit-
ting in eighth headed into the PDRA’s highly
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anticipated stop in Indianapolis. Add to this his
son’s Junior Dragster, the family business, and
consulting for teams, and, as Taylor calmly puts
it, life is “never boring”.
Taylor is a healthy mix of speaking his mind
and truly wanting the best for everyone. He’ll
tell you exactly what he thinks in his thick Texas
drawl, but he’s the first to congratulate an op-
ponent with sincere goodwill. He may be a “mad
man” on the track, but Frankie Taylor is also an
all-around good guy that everybody likes to
have around.
How are things going with your no-prep car?
We went to Redemption 6 and 7. We went a
round at both races. We keep getting loose on
the other end. We added some wing to the back
of it. Trying to get it all doing good. We beat Kye
Kelley at Redemption 7, so that was pretty cool.
And then I lost to the Mustang. I was ahead of
him and then the car got loose. Hopefully we got
that problem fixed with the high spoiler and a
wing deflector on the back.”
Have you had any scary moments
in no prep?
First time we took it out, end of last year, we
had a little incident where I kinda panicked and
hit the brakes and couldn’t find the parachute. I
rubbed the wall on its like second or third pass.
But now it’s all fixed back up.
Are you having fun with it?
Yeah, so far it’s been some pretty good fun. It’s
a lot different than trying to run as fast as you
can go. You gotta back it down to keep it under
control and still get down the track. The [Pro
Extreme] car can obviously handle a lot more
power and still go straight down the track. They
both feel pretty cool driving. One really sets you
Issue 123
‘Mad Man’ Goes
No-Prep Racing