Even though Taylor Dunahoo grew up in a drag racing family , it wasn ’ t until she watched the Disney movie Right on Track that she actually envisioned herself becoming a drag racer , just like her dad , Jerry , her grandfather Tommy , and great-uncle Marvin ... not to mention a couple of drag racing sisters that were featured in the Disney original .
The movie was based on the real-life story of sisters Erica and Courtney Enders , and it showed young girls like Taylor that drag racing had a place for them too . Dunahoo was just 6 years old when she saw the movie and realized that there were race cars for kids to drive .
“ Dad was racing in IHRA Super Stock at the time and I ’ d go with him to the track when he competed in Division 9 races , but back in those days they didn ’ t have Jr . Dragsters at those events ,
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so I had never even seen one until I watched the movie . It ’ s actually how I got into racing ,” she explains .
Taylor told her dad that she had to have one , so he bought her a Jr . Dragster when she was 7 years old , but it would be another year before she could drive in competition because the minimum age was still 8 in those days .
Jerry didn ’ t want her to be a complete novice when she first hit the track , so he found a vacant parking lot near their home in Roanoke , Virginia , where Taylor got quite a bit of seat time . “ I used to take her to that parking lot on Sunday afternoons and I ’ d flag her and she ’ d take off across the parking lot ! We did that for a whole summer before I ever took her to the track ,” Jerry says .
Taylor raced a full decade in Jr . Dragster until she aged out at 18 , saving her most memorable year for last and truly going out on a high note .
As her final season in Jrs . was winding down , she won a big-money bracket race in Darlington , South Carolina , collecting an Ironman trophy , then doubling up at Bristol during a Wally weekend , winning both Saturday and Sunday ’ s main events .
By now Taylor realized she was a drag racer for life and stepped out of Jrs . right into a 1993 Super Stock Mustang , in which she would continue her career . The classy Fox body Ford has been in the Dunahoo family for decades . In fact , it ’ s the same car that Jerry himself used to race in Super Stock , but parked the car after Taylor began driving Jrs . “ The Mustang has been a race car for longer than I ’ ve been alive ,” laughs Taylor , who ’ s now 24 .
Jerry and his dad found the car in a local junkyard in the mid-1990s , completely totaled after it had been wrapped around a tree or telephone pole . They put the car back together beautifully
60 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 172