of the media stuff with it . It ’ s a tribute to Ed Iskenderian ’ s car that he built when he was 17 . It ’ s the 75th year of ISKY , so that ’ s a pretty big project .
I ’ m honestly still learning . I don ’ t have it figured out . I just learned that everybody else is probably always behind , too , and I just have to accept it , which is hard , because I don ’ t like keeping people waiting , but it ’ s just part of it .
You wear a lot of hats and take on a lot of different roles . Which title do you think fits you best ? Or which one are you most proud of ?
I like the drag racer hat , honestly , and I question myself sometimes . I ’ m like , “ Am I a real racer ?” Because I have so many of these different roles that I don ’ t get to make it always my main focus . Of course , I love all the other stuff , and I wouldn ’ t be able to race without that .
This happened just the other day . We were at HOT ROD Garage . It had been such a long week , and you know how you just get burnt out from the mundane , day-to-day tasks ? I was stressed because we were going up to Bakersfield and we were supposed to test the Savoy . My dad was out there , and we were going to test the car , and I was nervous because the car didn ’ t handle very well the last time , and just the weight of it all . I was like , “ Man , I am ready to go take a nap , ready to go home for a day .”
But I went up and I launched the car , and the rev limiter didn ’ t work , but the car launched at 7,500 . Launched off the main rev limiter , carried the wheels past the 60-foot . We just put a face-plated transmission in it , so it was the first time I really got to bang the gears in a car like that . I came back , and I was like , “ This is why I do it .” After every single pass that ’ s successful like that , or a pass that you learn from , the natural high that comes from that , I can ’ t match anywhere else .
I actually turned down a project earlier this year , and could it have been good press ? Yeah , probably . But I was like , “ If I do that project , I ’ m afraid it ’ s going to wear me out from other stuff that I want to do .” And if I become so corporate-y , so to say , if I come to be so just a face of stuff , I was like , “ I ’ m going to lose what really gives me my spark , and that ’ s when we ’ re out at the track , just beating ourselves up , working on making some killer passes .”
Going into Sick Week 2023 , you were working out some gremlins in the ’ 55 Chevy in testing . How did you guys work past that once the week started ?
It just seemed like it wasn ’ t in our cards again . We go out on Monday , and usually the first day of a race week is the indicator of how
NOLAN JAMORA , THE COO AT ISKY RACING CAMS , HAS BECOME A PART OF THE TAYLOR FAMILY ’ S CREW , OFTEN JOINING THEM ON DRAG-AND-DRIVE EVENTS LIKE SICK WEEK . ISKY IS ALSO ONE OF TAYLOR ’ S PRIMARY SPONSORS .
the week ’ s going to be because if you start out behind , it ’ s really hard to make that up . On pass one , I launched the car and it shuts off . I was like , “ Son of a gun .” We come back , we think we have it figured out , and we wait and wait and wait . It ’ s the slowest moving I ’ ve ever seen anything go and it was 6:30 . We made our first pass at nine a . m . and it was 6:30 at night before we made our second pass . It was our only other pass . That ’ s where I get really nervous because I ’ m like , “ This is make or break .”
I had a 13-second pass to turn in , but I launched the car . I get through that first shift , second shift , and I ’ m like , “ OK . Everything ’ s going good . I didn ’ t break anything . Car didn ’ t shut off . Kind of along for the ride now .” And I get to the top end and I ’ m like , “ That felt fast .” Once I throw the ‘ chutes , I ’ m like , “ That felt like a good pass .” I turn off and Steve Morris comes behind me and he ’ s chatting and I ’ m like , “ But did you see what I ran ?” And he ’ s like , “ Oh yeah , you ran a 6.95 .” And I was like , “ What ?!” This is my first in-competition 6-second pass .
That ’ s what set the week off , and it ’ s honestly the best week of drag-and-drive we ’ ve ever had . We made a couple one-and-done passes . It was totally opposite of what I expected . It ’ s what I hoped for , that ’ s what we planned for , but I didn ’ t expect it because there ’ s so many variables with drag-and-drive . It was a great
98 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 181