HORSES FOR COURSES

By Pete McNae

Stephen Taylor is going to become very familiar with airport lounges, ferry terminals and the passenger's seat of a pickup truck this summer, as the capital-based sprintcar driver filled his speedway calendar by taking the wheel for a team on each island.

Taylor is must-see, appointment viewing at Nelson's Milestone Homes Top of the South Speedway. He's gone last to first in a feature race, stood his race car on its tail tank as it carried a wheelstand the length of the pit straight, and he's known for the kind of laps where you think things, both good and less good, can happen in a hurry. His entry this weekend in the Hydraulink War of the Wings, presented by Mike Rollo of Harcourts Real Estate, represents the beginning of a new liaison with a Nelson sprintcar devotee who kind of fell into the role of team owner.

Taylor's story began when the 25-year-old was still in short pants, watching World of Outlaws sprintcars with his dad in the States, where methanol and hot dog mustard run through the veins of vast crowds of fans. Taylor – whose father Ian was a gun stockcar driver in his day – got into indoor karting from 4, then race karts at 7 and ministocks at 12, with a shift to open wheelers by the time he was 14, racing a minisprint. That accelerated development saw Taylor run his first sprintcar season at 16, meaning the young man already has the best part of a decade of sprintcar experience behind him.

When Landon Dawson, the proprietor of the Collision Centre in Richmond, made a move in the off-season into car ownership, there was really only one name on the list of potential drivers; Stephen Taylor.

“I'd been friends with Sully (Steve Sullivan) and Brett (Sullivan) for a while and I had a motor in Caleb's (Caleb Baughan) car,” Dawson said. “When Brett had his crash and was getting out of sprintcars, there was a bit of chat back and forwards and maybe some bourbon was present and buying one chassis became two and other deals were done. And here we are now – two identical cars and when we talked about drivers, Sully just said 'Taylor'.

“I'd watched Stephen go in the car we have now and over the years with his own cars, and it was a no-brainer. Calls were made, Stephen has brought over a strong Kasey Kahne Racing motor and Jim Key Racing has come together.”

It's a similar story from Taylor's side. Running one car as 21P and with a second car based in Auckland, he already had plenty on his plate. But he knows the Sullivans well and raced alongside them in Australia and New Zealand before stepping into the 9N Maxim when Brett broke his back in a wreck.

“It's always a good time in Nelson, good people, fun track, a fast track and I really enjoyed the chance to crew for Brett, then run the car for Steve and Brett late last season,” Taylor said. “We were racing in Nelson in my second or third season and after the meeting they were the ones who called me over for a beer and a friendship started then.

“At the end of last season, they asked me if I'd like to run Brett's car in the South Islands and the Sunshine Classic in Nelson and we basically built a car between 8am and race time with Landy (Dawson) stuck in, so I got to know him then.

“In the off-season there was some chat between Landon and the Sullivan boys and chassis changing hands and Landon asked me if I'd be interested in driving for him.”

Taylor described their North Island situation as “moving goalposts” especially for the car that was to be run at the locked-down Western Springs track in Auckland so the South Island campaign with Dawson could now extend to 17 shows – while the NZ champs and GP were put on ice by Speedway NZ this week, that still includes all the Hydraulink War of the Wings series plus feature meetings at Ruapuna and the Sunshine Classic in Nelson in late March, sponsored by Dawson.

Things were meant to kick off in Invercargill a fortnight ago, but the team turned around in Dipton, 60km north of the city, after rain set in and a cancellation came following a monster tow from Nelson. They had more luck in Christchurch last weekend, debuting the new 9N at Ruapuna's Summer Slam meeting with heat wins, a feature flag and a new race record for the 25-lapper.

Taylor is a proven winner as a driver, a two-time North Island champion while he has twice been on the podium at the NZGP. Dawson says he has all the attributes needed to need to win a national championship, once that meeting is back in the speedway calendar.

“He's 25 with a decade in sprintcars behind him and he lives and breathes it. He's young enough to avoid being stuck in his ways and to have that young man's courage and confidence but he has already raced all round New Zealand and in Australia and the States, which is experience you wouldn't expect in a 25-year-old.”

Taylor is definitely quick in a sprintcar, Nelson fans have seen that first-hand. Racing his own car in a War of the Wings round in December 2014, another driver initiated a turn 2 tangle that saw cars low flying, Taylor's 21P having the wing peeled back as he slid below the rolling rival. Set to start the feature from the back of the grid, Taylor simply smoked the field, winning with room to spare. And in the Sunshine Classic last season, he had a good lead over a very strong field when a lapped rival spun on turn four of the last lap with Taylor 40m from the flag. With nowhere to go, he rolled and rued what was almost in his grasp.

“We had done the work and controlled what we could control,” Taylor said. “Sometimes it doesn't fall your way but the second you stop pushing and start to stagnate, you should get out.”

Dawson saw that when he invited Taylor to join the team. “Stephen grew up watching Outlaw drivers in their own backyard and seeing guys run wheel to wheel – I think it sometimes surprises him when he gets to a meeting and not everyone is hitting the turns as hard or carrying as much speed as he does. That edge he has is what makes me believe we have a combination that can make some noise.”

Dawson loves what his driver brings. “It's the difference between a driver and a steerer, Stephen is definitely a driver. He has a lot of race wisdom for a young man."

That wisdom is behind the Jim Key Racing team name, too. Dawson didn't think Landon Dawson Motorsport had much of a ring to it but he'd learned about Beautiful Jim Key, an American horse at the turn of the 20th century who became a travelling sensation because he could “read”, “count” and solve simple maths problems.

“Jim Key was the smartest horse ever, they reckon,” Dawson said. “I figure if we can aim to be as smart as a horse from 120 years ago, we will do all right.”

• Jim Key Racing runs with support from Landon Dawson, Ian Taylor, Steve and Brett Sullivan, Angus McLeod, Niche Commercial, Miles Commercial, Collision Centre Richmond, BNT, Sub 5 Security, Pace Powersports, GTR Developments and ME Transport Paremata.
• With super saloons and sidecars down on numbers, superstocks have been called into Saturday's programme. Any weather disruptions will be notified as soon as a decision is made on www.nelsonspeedway.co.nz and on the club's Facebook page Nelson Speedway Association Inc. Please do not phone the track. 

Track photos: Rebecca Connor Maling, BM Photography

Article added:  Thursday, 11 November 2021