Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Taylor Ferns: Racing Toward a Legacy in Open Wheel and Beyond

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Taylor Ferns: Racing Toward a Legacy in Open Wheel and Beyond · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
• 0:04
  all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
• 0:09
  designers, and everything in between.
• 0:11
  Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder.
• 0:16
  How did they get that job or become that person?
• 0:19
  The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
• 0:24
  The following episode is brought to us in part by the women in motorsports,
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  North America, a community of professional women and men devoted
• 0:31
  to supporting opportunities for women across all disciplines of motorsport
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  by creating an inclusive, resourceful environment to foster mentorship,
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  advocacy, education, and growth, thereby ensuring the continued strength
• 0:42
  and successful future of our sport.
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  Tonight's guest is an accomplished race car driver, team owner, law
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  student, writer for Speed Sport, and co host of On the Drive.
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  Throughout her 22 year racing tenure, she has won numerous races,
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  championships, awards, and set records that not only pertain to her gender.
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  but also in a diverse portfolio of race cars on varying race surfaces.
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  As a United States Auto Club USAC champion, Taylor Ferns has carved
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  a name for herself within the open wheel ranks, including, but not
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  limited to, being the youngest female driver to win a sprint car race.
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  Becoming the first female to win a USAC midget and sprint car races
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  at a multitude of racetracks.
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  Being the second female ever to win a USAC championship.
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  Having the most USAC silver crown starts by a female and having the highest finish.
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  By a female and USA sees 51 year silver crown history.
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  She's here with us on break fix to share her motor sports journey with you.
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  And with that, let's welcome Taylor to break fix.
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  Hi guys.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  I'm excited to chat with you all.
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  And joining us tonight is our returning cohost break fix.
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  Lauren Goodman, supervising producer of media and exhibitions
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  for the revs Institute.
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  So welcome back to the show, Lauren.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Well, Taylor, like all good break fake stories, there's
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  a super heroine origin story.
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  So tell us about the who, what, where, and when of you, how
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  did you get into motorsports?
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  Did you come from a racing family?
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  Did you pick it up as a hobby?
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  How did you get into this?
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  Like a lot of people, I feel like you interact with and motorsports.
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  A lot of them come from some forum of a racy background or parents, you know, that
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  were mechanics or did something within the motorsports community in some way.
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  My two uncles on my maternal side actually raced late models and stock cars back
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  in the eighties and early nineties.
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  As soon as I came around, you know, I would just always grew up around it.
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  Daytona 500s were like the Superbowl to us and kind of always had an idea
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  at a young age that I was going to do something in motor sports as weird
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  as it sounds like reflecting on it.
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  But at such a young age, there wasn't a lot of visible
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  females within the industry.
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  So I never really was sure what that was going to be.
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  When I was six years old, my dad and my uncle, who had previously raced,
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  had did some research, and a neighbor of ours had a quarter midget, which
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  is like a go kart with a roll cage around it, and they found one for sale
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  in nearby Lansing, Michigan, like an hour and a half away from our home.
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  It was like a family weekend trip.
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  I have two younger siblings, and my parents all hopped in the Yukon, and we
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  drove to Lansing, and as soon as I sat in the car, I just fell in love with it.
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  I've been hooked ever since, 22 years on, and You know, I'm still here.
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  You know, I did take a few years off there.
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  I had some gap years, you know, racing's expensive.
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  So it takes a lot of money, a lot of support to do this.
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  And I knew if I was to go any further, I was going to need a lot
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  more money than what I was already fortunate to have access to, but it
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  was going to take even more than that.
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  And so my dad was just kind of like, you know what, it's time to maybe
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  focus on the education and kind of always come back and do this.
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  Took some time off, went for my bachelor's, graduated with honors.
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  Went for my master's, I started at law school and my job that I had, I
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  worked for five years as an operations director at the San Bernstein Law Firm.
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  Working there is what brought me back in a way because they helped sponsor me
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  and when I started racing again in 2019, they helped get me back on the track.
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  If it wasn't for them, you know, maybe I wouldn't be talking to you right now.
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  I have lawyers coming out the wazoo in my family.
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  My dad, my sister, my first cousin, once removed.
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  My time in the law firm showed me that the law wasn't for me.
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  But what's really, but I really like track.
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  Yeah.
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  The question is you who love being on the track.
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  What is it about the law that is still really interesting?
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  When I was in high school, I was obsessed with racing.
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  Obviously I still am, but as a teenager in high school and already missing
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  60 days a year, I was like, I don't even see myself going to college.
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  Like that was my mentality.
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  When I started going to Grand Valley State University and
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  I took my business law class.
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  I joke and say this story, but the first two weeks, the professor was
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  like, Oh, you know, Michigan state has a special three and three program.
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  If you're interested, come see me.
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  And I would just laugh.
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  I'm like, there's no way I'm going to put my time and be done.
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  Two weeks later, I was in professor Sanford's office.
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  Like, how do I get into this Michigan state three and three program?
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  I mean, I was just obsessed with the business law class.
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  You know, at that time I wasn't racing.
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  And so, you know, I put so much time, focus, energy, competition.
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  And to me, a lot of it, I think was the competition and the speed with racing.
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  And so when I didn't have that anymore, I was trying to compete with my academics.
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  And this isn't a dig or anything on marketing, but I was originally like
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  marketing and entrepreneurship major.
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  And I ended up switching to finance and economics cause I wanted
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  something that was just going to be super challenging for me.
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  I think it was almost like the way of like complex thinking really challenged me.
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  And then I felt like I had a lot to relate to as far as like the business
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  realm goes, seeing my parents growing up, like run their own businesses.
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  And you know, my grandfather, the same way, there's a lot of overlap there.
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  You know, here I am, I'm graduating this May.
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  So I definitely think a lot of it just goes back to the challenge of it.
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  You know, I love challenging myself.
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  And so I feel like.
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  People will see that in a lot of the things that I take on.
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  Talking about the family business and sort of assessing the lay of the land
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  and bringing your law degree with you.
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  Have you found a way to partner together your racing career
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  and your law aspirations?
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  Are you looking for a way to marry the two up?
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  100%.
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  Actually, it was when I first sat down to take the LSAT, it was like a light
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  bulb went off in my brain because.
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  You know, I come from an open wheel racing background.
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  And then when I was 16, 17, I dabbled in late models and stock cars a little
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  bit, like with Arca and I raced with the Venturini's for a few races because I
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  wanted to go NASCAR racing in that time.
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  I dealt with a lot of contracts and, you know, sponsorships.
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  And so I ended up.
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  An attorney that did a lot of that work within motorsports.
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  So, you know, when I sat down and took the LSAT, I was like, I want to do
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  what Alan Miller does and represent drivers and work on contracts and
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  things of that nature, and it was all business related ever since then.
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  It was my vision from then has.
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  almost come to fruition now because I talked to some of the sanctioning bodies
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  I have close relationships with and that I network with and one of them was like
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  you know what when you're done with law school we'll set you up with an office
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  in Indy and you can work out of here and do a lot of the racing stuff for us.
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  I know I might have opportunities working in other law firms that do
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  like contract work and things of that nature within racing as well.
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  I'm definitely going to stay within motorsports.
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  It's definitely going to be the merger of two passions.
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  So let's dive into your racing a little bit more.
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  You've mentioned some of the different cars you've driven, and obviously you
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  were thrown right into the arena of circle track and short track racing.
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  Your world is really interesting and people don't really realize
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  how nuanced it is and how many different disciplines exist.
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  Dirt versus asphalt versus short track versus sprint cars and midgets.
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  I mean, there's so many different things going on there.
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  What was the progression like for you?
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  You wanted to go to NASCAR, but did it get easier as you went up?
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  Did it get more difficult?
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  Which cars were the most fun to drive?
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  You know, those kinds of things.
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  For someone who wanted to go to NASCAR, that was a very
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  unconventional route that I went.
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  I started off in quarter midgets, you know, I did bandoleros, I went 600,
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  micro sprint racing, and then I just automatically, by the time I was 12
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  and 13, I started in full size midgets.
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  And then I got into sprint cars when I was 14, and then I started racing USEC Silver
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  Crown when I was 16, while at the same time dabbling in late models and Arcas.
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  Mixing up the open wheel cars with the fender cars.
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  At a young age, you kind of go with what you know.
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  So when I was younger, I grew up around NASCAR.
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  Like that was the epitome, especially for my family.
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  So it was natural and organic for me to be like, I want to go NASCAR racing.
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  Well, at the same point in time, I loved open wheel.
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  When I started racing the late models and the stock car stuff, I loved it.
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  And I took naturally to it.
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  Obviously for me to continue on, that was going to take a lot more money.
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  And for me, I love any race car I can get into and drive.
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  But as far as my favorite cars to race, I will always say it's sprint cars.
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  And obviously, like you had said, there's so many different variations of that.
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  I mean, you could have a wing pavement sprint car, you could
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  have a wing dirt sprint car.
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  A non wing pavement sprint car, a non wing dirt sprint car.
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  Then obviously then you have the different engine sizes, so on and so forth.
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  You know, I started racing sprint cars when I was 14 and I'm 28 now
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  and I'll still say, I make it known that I love sprint car racing.
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  You really like the open wheel cars, but what I didn't hear in there was.
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  Supermodifieds.
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  Isn't that the next step?
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  Yeah, honestly, I've never raced a supermodified.
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  Can't even say I've had an opportunity to do it, but I'm sure if I put a blast
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  out there, tried calling somebody, might know some people within that realm.
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  I'm sure it's something wouldn't be hard to do.
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  You never know.
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  You might see me at a supermodified race one of these days.
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  The aspiration was to go to NASCAR.
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  And I wonder, was that because at the time you were seeing personalities,
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  like let's say Danica Patrick on television as a woman in NASCAR,
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  or were there other females in motorsport that you were inspired by?
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  And one of the names that pops out, especially in your world is someone
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  like Aaron Crocker, Everham, which everybody knows from Winged Nation,
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  the first woman to win an outlaw race.
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  Who were you striving to be?
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  Like?
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  I was lucky coming up, like there was a handful of females, like Danica obviously,
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  and indie car, and that was someone when I was growing up that I really looked up to.
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  'cause I really thought she was a great indie carri open wheel driver.
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  And then obviously she transitioned to nascar.
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  Didn't see as much success there, but you know, she.
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  still like a prominent fixture as far as like drivers that I looked up to was like
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  meeting more of the crossover drivers, like Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, you
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  know, that came from open wheel and then transitioned over to NASCAR at some point.
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  And then that's really where they made their name more.
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  So for me wanting to go to NASCAR was, it was always because.
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  When on Sundays sell on Mondays, I feel like when you bring up NASCAR racing,
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  like, I don't come from a prominent racing community, so to say, in Metro Detroit.
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  But, you know, you bring up NASCAR and people recognize it, whereas, like,
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  if you try, and I hate to say it, I become a big fan of IndyCar, but you
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  try to bring up an IndyCar and it's not as relative, maybe, or it's not
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  as, like, well known, I feel like.
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  As you grow, your dreams evolve at the same time, and so I think right now, I'm
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  definitely more aiming towards the IndyCar route, maybe if I had the opportunity to
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  do something in that realm, because as far as like the easier access goes, and then
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  relating more to what I come from now, that might be more of a realistic goal.
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  I love that just because as a student of motorsport history,
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  looking at all the American greats who cut their teeth on dirt tracks.
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  In midgets in sprint car and turn that into an incredible career at Indy.
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  To me, that makes total sense.
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  For me, it's always like bringing back the nostalgia about it.
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  I've become close and I've interacted a lot with the vintage Indy guys.
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  They have a shop based out of Brownsburg, Indiana, and they
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  restore a lot of vintage Indy cars.
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  And you learn a lot about the history of the sport, but specifically
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  the USAC ranks and when those guys came from USAC to IndyCar.
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  You know, that's kind of something in a way that I was hoping to bring back
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  because I feel like it's forgotten.
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  I feel like when I talk to a lot of IndyCar teams now, you
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  almost kind of have to sell the USAC Silver Crown model to them.
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  It's almost like a lot of people forgot that history.
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  That's something that I'd like to bring back because I feel like there
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  is so much relation and overlap there.
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  Consider my bias, right?
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  But there's a lot of the guys from, like, the USAC ranks, specifically
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  the Silver Crown drivers, who I have a lot of respect for, but I think that
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  they're overlooked in a lot of ways.
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  With that said, dirt or asphalt?
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  What do you prefer?
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  Uh, this is such a tough question for me because if somebody was to ask me
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  this when I'm running better on dirt than I am pavement, naturally when I
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  was younger, I'd be like, Oh, dirt.
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  And then, you know, same thing the other way around.
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  I love them both.
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  I love having the opportunity to go back between both of them.
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  I think it really creates a diverse and complete driver.
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  But, you know, I will say right now, I do lean more toward the pavement because
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  that's always been something that's just come natural to me and organic.
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  Whereas the dirt has always been something that I've really had to work at.
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  But, you know, if you think about it, like, when you go silver crown
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  racing, there's only, like, five dirt Silver Crown race is on the schedule.
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  Well, you're racing against guys like Justin Grant, CJ Leary, Brady Bacon.
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  They race those dirt nine win cars like 80 times a year.
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  For me to do that only five times a year.
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  You don't want to show up and be already defeated, but you already
• 13:25
  know at some point to be realistic.
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  You're fighting for fifth through 10th.
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  I don't like that mentality, but you got to take into context all the seat time.
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  Right now, I just don't have a lot of the dirt.
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  I definitely try to focus more on the pavement because I know
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  that's my strong suit right now.
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  But just always taking away whatever I can when I race the dirt stuff.
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  When you look at other drivers you're with, just like certain tennis
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  players will say, he's great on the clay, she's amazing on the grass.
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  Then he's great on, on asphalt.
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  Do you see that in the other drivers?
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  Yeah, I see that in the other drivers.
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  Even my family's like, you're one of the best pavement drivers.
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  Sometimes they try to like even steer me away from messing with the dirt right now.
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  Everybody has their thing, you know, it's like what you said, no different
• 14:08
  than basketball or football or whatever.
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  So everybody's going to have their thing if they take two more.
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  I used to think I was a pretty decent dirt driver.
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  Practice makes perfect and I haven't practiced it a lot.
• 14:20
  With all of your driving experience.
• 14:21
  experience.
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  There's comes these moments for all of us that participate in motorsport
• 14:26
  and they're learning moments.
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  What's gone wrong at the racetrack and what have you learned from it?
• 14:31
  So I will say this past season, so 2023 season definitely did not go the
• 14:37
  way that I wanted to in any way at all, did not meet any expectations
• 14:42
  that I had set and nor did we achieve any goals that I set for.
• 14:46
  Myself and my team.
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  And so we had to overcome a lot of adversity and a lot of problem solving.
• 14:52
  When I reflect on that, I say that there was a lot of growth there.
• 14:56
  And there is a quote that I like to turn to from Denzel Washington.
• 15:00
  And he said, don't view things as problems, view them as opportunities.
• 15:03
  For example, if I qualify bad and you know, I got to start towards
• 15:06
  the back, it's like, what an opportunity I have to pass a bunch
• 15:09
  of cars, be hard charger or whatnot.
• 15:11
  But there was one moment in particular that stuck out last season.
• 15:16
  And it was my very first Dirt Silver Crown race back in eight years.
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  And we were out in Belleville, Kansas.
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  We had just put together a brand new car, brand new frame,
• 15:24
  parts, engine, you name it.
• 15:27
  Everything was brand new.
• 15:28
  You don't normally get a practice day racing.
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  After four laps on practice, my motor blew up.
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  We didn't have a spare.
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  All my guys were like getting ready to load the trailer to
• 15:37
  go home, head back to Indiana.
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  And I was like, nope, we're going to find another motor.
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  A buddy of mine had one for sale in Brownsburg, Indiana.
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  I had another buddy go and pick it up.
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  Drove all night to Belleville, Kansas.
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  We put it in and I raced.
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  And we ended up finishing 9th or 10th.
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  It wholly encapsulates, like, our entire season last year.
• 15:56
  But what it comes back to is just never giving up.
• 15:58
  And, you know, it's easier to give up than to keep going.
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  To quote Winston Churchill, you know, it's the courage to continue that counts.
• 16:05
  We're never out of the fight.
• 16:07
  And I definitely gained a lot of mental strength from that last year.
• 16:12
  If I were your magic sponsorship fairy, And I came down right now and tapped you.
• 16:17
  And I said, you could drive at any other series and any other track.
• 16:21
  What would you like to do first?
• 16:22
  Number one would be the Indy 500.
• 16:25
  Obviously at MIS.
• 16:26
  That's on my bucket list.
• 16:27
  Something I'd really want to do and something I'm really working hard towards.
• 16:32
  But on top of that, you know, I always.
• 16:34
  Say if somebody says I had my perfect scenario with a sponsor that would
• 16:38
  let me do whatever I wanted to do or whatnot, I would say winged
• 16:41
  dirt, sprint car racing all the way.
• 16:43
  And formally it was always like when I was winged dirt, sprint car
• 16:46
  racing, when I was a teenager, I was always like, I want to be an outlaw
• 16:49
  and race with the world of outlaws.
• 16:51
  Now, you know, there's kind of like that split field, you know, right now
• 16:54
  between High Limit and World of Outlaws.
• 16:57
  Winged Root Sprint Car Race is something that will always have my heart.
• 17:00
  It's between those two.
• 17:01
  I think that's wonderful.
• 17:02
  We can hear your passion for it.
• 17:03
  Thanks.
• 17:04
  For sure.
• 17:05
  Going back to your aspirations for NASCAR, There's been a lot of changes
• 17:10
  happening lately and especially last year.
• 17:12
  And I want to kind of get your take on things like garage 56 and how
• 17:16
  that really shook up motor sports.
• 17:18
  It's a really interesting concept.
• 17:20
  It's a really great marketing tactic.
• 17:21
  A brings a lot of extra attention.
• 17:24
  And as far as like globalization goes, like international influence,
• 17:28
  bringing those international fans over, because also overlaps with the whole
• 17:33
  formula one drive to survive on net.
• 17:35
  That really brought in the American fan base because the statistics prior
• 17:40
  to drive to survive and how formula one was like barely making it, or they
• 17:44
  barely got the field that they do now.
• 17:46
  As far as like fan base goes at circuit of America is an awesome.
• 17:50
  And now they're selling now and now added.
• 17:54
  Two American races within the past two years.
• 17:56
  That's unheard of.
• 17:57
  And NASCAR is probably trying to do the same thing.
• 18:00
  Steve Phelps with NASCAR, I've interacted with him a handful of times
• 18:03
  at the women in motorsport events.
• 18:06
  And, you know, he definitely really has that corporate mindset and, you
• 18:09
  know, That I think that comes with globalization and trying to target those
• 18:13
  fans overseas because NASCAR historically was kind of like grassroots Americana.
• 18:19
  The garage 56, I think is just the evolution of NASCAR.
• 18:22
  Did drive to survive convince you in any way?
• 18:24
  Are you a fan too?
• 18:25
  Yeah.
• 18:25
  You know, honestly, I didn't know too much about F1.
• 18:28
  Before that, just little tidbits here and there.
• 18:30
  I try to keep up with it now as much as I can.
• 18:33
  And, you know, it is also interesting, you know, hearing from international drivers,
• 18:37
  how much they train in their mindsets, you know, a lot of that like relates and
• 18:41
  I can connect with them in that way, as far as from a competition standpoint.
• 18:45
  If you're a competitor, no matter what it is, whether it's racing or basketball
• 18:49
  or football or whatever, you know, you all have this similar mindset.
• 18:53
  I'm really interested in human behavior and so learning from other
• 18:56
  people and what makes them tick.
• 18:58
  And so I think that's something that drive to survive brought to light as well.
• 19:02
  And you touched on something really important, which is the training
• 19:05
  that the F1 drivers go through.
• 19:06
  And I'm glad you brought that up because one of the other things that has changed
• 19:10
  in the last couple of years, and it's a result of the pandemic in some ways.
• 19:13
  Is the explosion in the sim racing world.
• 19:16
  And a lot of people are saying it's the future of motorsport.
• 19:19
  There's all sorts of titles out there and simulators that really lean towards
• 19:23
  formula one or sports car and endurance racing, and even rally in some respects.
• 19:26
  But there's a little bit of love for short track and circle track out
• 19:30
  there through the iRacing community.
• 19:31
  Do you use sims at all to practice?
• 19:33
  And do you think it helps or hurts motorsports?
• 19:37
  Utilize some simulator training.
• 19:39
  I have a relationship with Dallara and they let me go into their facility and
• 19:43
  Speedway, Indiana, and I'll use some of their simulators that they have there.
• 19:48
  And then I also train at Pit Fit down in Indianapolis and they
• 19:53
  have a simulator in there as well.
• 19:54
  For me, I'm trying to get used to some road course racing right now.
• 19:57
  And so that really helps as far as adapting and getting used to
• 20:00
  the tracks, maybe breaking points and downshifting growing up.
• 20:04
  I've kind of always utilized.
• 20:06
  The phrasing I mind race, I don't I race saying that I'm kind of implying that
• 20:13
  there still is a lot to getting used to when you get in the actual car and
• 20:18
  you're on the track versus the simulator.
• 20:20
  And I don't think anything will be able to like really replicate that.
• 20:24
  I know there's like three simulators in the world that
• 20:27
  are as realistic as it can get.
• 20:29
  And I know that I think Dallara has two of them.
• 20:32
  And then I think there's like maybe a NASCAR facility, like Toyota or
• 20:35
  Chevy or something that has one also.
• 20:37
  I've heard that those are pretty legit.
• 20:40
  But as far as maybe what like the common folk has access to, I think there's
• 20:44
  still nothing comparable to getting actual seat time in a car at a track.
• 20:49
  I was at Skip Barber Racing School in September doing some road course
• 20:52
  training, and there was a student there that was in the school and
• 20:56
  he had just always sim raced.
• 20:57
  And so this was his first time like actually getting on the
• 21:00
  track, utilizing those skills that he had learned on the simulator.
• 21:04
  And it was really interesting because You know, he did have some speed, but
• 21:08
  it was funny because one of the trainers was like, Oh, you can tell he's an eye
• 21:12
  racer based on some of like his technique.
• 21:14
  You know, I wish I would have inquired a little bit more about what he meant
• 21:17
  as far as like his techniques and like how you could actually tell, but I just
• 21:22
  thought that was like a funny takeaway.
• 21:24
  I've experienced Only very low speeds at high performance driver
• 21:28
  education, but I'm telling you the effects on your body are extreme.
• 21:33
  Yeah, I was not anticipating how it's like running a marathon driving
• 21:36
  a car for long periods of time.
• 21:38
  Yeah, I've of course subscribed to like all the things all of like the
• 21:42
  F1 TV and the WRC plus blah blah blah and then they'll often feature their
• 21:46
  This is our e racing, our sim racing.
• 21:48
  And like these children who look like they could not lift a twig are there.
• 21:53
  And I'm like, there is no way you could try a sports car for a three hour stint
• 21:58
  because the conditioning you have to have is like you're a performance athlete.
• 22:02
  It'll be surprising.
• 22:03
  Cause sometimes I'll look at people who are racing the silver crown
• 22:06
  stuff will race a hundred mile races.
• 22:08
  And.
• 22:09
  For an open wheel car, like that is endurance racing,
• 22:12
  especially for what we do.
• 22:13
  I mean, you're seesawing at the wheel for a hundred laps.
• 22:16
  And so you gotta be in peak condition.
• 22:19
  I mean, it's no joke.
• 22:20
  And sometimes, you know, you kind of look around at the field, like
• 22:22
  what you said, and you're like, how is this kid wheeling that?
• 22:25
  You know, he looks like he's like maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet.
• 22:28
  It amazes me as well, but I know how hard I train to do it.
• 22:33
  And since a young age, you know, I've always worked out really
• 22:35
  hard to try to stay in the best.
• 22:37
  physical shape.
• 22:38
  And even now, sometimes at the end of a silver crown race, I'll
• 22:40
  look around and some of those mile races will race and it's like 100
• 22:43
  degrees out on the dirt miles.
• 22:45
  And you know, it gets pretty hot in there and we're in open wheel cars.
• 22:48
  And I know like also when I used to race stock cars on a hot day,
• 22:52
  geez, it's like 50 degrees hotter in there than it is outside.
• 22:55
  It's pretty grueling.
• 22:56
  So you know, a lot of that not even just working out but sauna training.
• 22:59
  Sometimes I'll sit in the sauna for an hour just to get used to the heat.
• 23:02
  It definitely takes a toll on your body.
• 23:04
  And then I've definitely learned over the years staying hydrated.
• 23:08
  I'm really big on the whole liquid IV packets now and staying on that.
• 23:12
  And it's a lot.
• 23:13
  Also, when you add in all the traveling on top of that, too, sleeping in strange
• 23:18
  hotel rooms or motels, there's a weird light outside and there's a buzzing
• 23:22
  in the room you can't get rid of.
• 23:24
  And you can't sleep.
• 23:26
  So you've been to mid Ohio is what you're saying.
• 23:27
  I got you.
• 23:28
  It's all good.
• 23:31
  I'm sure all that's going to mess with your performance.
• 23:33
  The business of racing.
• 23:35
  I'll just bring this up because I have a degree in screenwriting.
• 23:38
  Believe it or not.
• 23:39
  When you're in Hollywood, you discover that a lot of the
• 23:41
  business of screenwriting has very little to do with screenwriting.
• 23:44
  And I think racing is the same way.
• 23:46
  Is that so much of what you spend your time doing is not
• 23:49
  actually being on the track.
• 23:50
  It's the things you do.
• 23:53
  I'm bringing this up because I'm almost positive we maybe shook hands
• 23:57
  at the women of drive summit in Phoenix, but of course I shook 800
• 24:00
  million hands, which was amazing.
• 24:04
  It was amazing to be in a big space with women who were all excited about
• 24:08
  this and wanted to help each other.
• 24:09
  There were so many incredible speakers there.
• 24:11
  I feel like I'm still digesting some of the things I learned
• 24:15
  and took from that conference.
• 24:17
  At first it was like, I'm like, Oh, am I a little out of place here being from
• 24:20
  like, A car museum and my specialty being like automotive history, but it made
• 24:24
  perfect sense as I looked at a lot of the struggles I saw young women drivers
• 24:28
  facing with the exact same struggles.
• 24:30
  I saw women drivers from the past facing.
• 24:33
  It comes down to money because racing is a sponsorship.
• 24:36
  A lot of the famous women drivers of the past either came from money or had a
• 24:41
  connection who helped get them in the door that was almost the equivalent of money.
• 24:45
  And I think it's still kind of the same.
• 24:47
  And I think the conference did an amazing job for a lot of these young drivers
• 24:51
  saying, like, we're going to give you workshops and breakouts about, okay, you
• 24:55
  can't control this thing, what companies are going to decide to spend on marketing.
• 25:00
  You can control these other things.
• 25:02
  One of the keynote sessions was about this is that companies don't realize.
• 25:06
  What a good deal women in sports are.
• 25:09
  I'm just curious, you know, does that reflect what you've experienced?
• 25:11
  Is that for companies, why aren't they pouring money into this?
• 25:14
  Because people who follow women's sports and women in sports, they spend the money.
• 25:19
  They're committed.
• 25:20
  I was doing some testing.
• 25:21
  And I connected with an agent of some sorts and she represented
• 25:24
  a manufacturing brand.
• 25:25
  We had conversed a lot, so on and so forth throughout the couple of days.
• 25:29
  And she ended up telling me, I get a lot of high profile brands all the time.
• 25:33
  They want to get in women in sports.
• 25:35
  And she was saying, it's such a hot commodity right now.
• 25:38
  We're trying to find everywhere we can to allocate money to women in sports.
• 25:42
  So I'm like over here, raising my hand, me, me, me.
• 25:48
  But this is kind of a recent phenomenon in a way.
• 25:51
  And I think 13 ish years ago, that was maybe the early onset of it, but it
• 25:56
  was nothing then like how it is now.
• 25:59
  And the reason why I bring that up, because when I won my USAC championship
• 26:02
  in 2011, when I was 15, I had won this grant or sponsorship from eBay motors.
• 26:09
  And I think a lot of it, I had heard.
• 26:11
  From their marketing director was because they wanted a female.
• 26:15
  And I was not only that, but I was a highly competitive one.
• 26:19
  Like I had just won the USAC championship, so on and so forth.
• 26:23
  So that's what they were looking for.
• 26:24
  So I was the ideal candidate really at that point in time.
• 26:27
  That was the first time I had ever really heard that from a company.
• 26:30
  Granted, I was so young, but I really never heard anything like that again.
• 26:35
  Until really the past, like three years, if I would have had more access or there
• 26:40
  was larger access pools of that when I was in my late teens, before I took time off,
• 26:45
  I probably would never would have left.
• 26:47
  And that's a big thing with women in motorsports, North
• 26:50
  America, you close with Lynn St.
• 26:51
  James.
• 26:51
  She's been a mentor of mine since I was 13.
• 26:54
  And I've worked closely with Beth Parada and Cindy Sisson.
• 26:56
  And at first we kind of came up with this theory, like the funnel effect.
• 27:00
  And for me, it was like, you know, if you look around to a lot of the successful
• 27:03
  females in motor sports around the ages of like 18 to 22 to 23, you start losing them
• 27:11
  because they get to this point to where, and it's no different with girls than it
• 27:15
  is with males, but because there's so few females involved, especially from a driver
• 27:20
  perspective, when you already only have, let's just say 8 percent of the school.
• 27:26
  And you lose like your 6%, you know, when you get to that certain
• 27:30
  segment or like ladder, you're losing a lot of your participation.
• 27:35
  We figure that, you know, girls are getting opportunities to go elsewhere,
• 27:38
  whether they're going to get an education or they settle down and get married
• 27:41
  and have kids because they realize it's kind of like the glass ceiling.
• 27:45
  Like there's nowhere to go from there if they don't have access to.
• 27:48
  Money, not to say that's just specific to the girls, because it does happen
• 27:52
  to the males too, obviously in greater proportions to the females, because
• 27:55
  there's so few, now you see this big drive with women in sports and,
• 28:00
  you know, a lot of people wanting to allocate money towards it, we just
• 28:03
  got to bring them to the racing realm.
• 28:05
  There is like a certain look, you'll see a NASCAR, like some of the girls
• 28:09
  that are in it now, they all have the look, but some of them, they're just
• 28:12
  not performing, but they have the money.
• 28:14
  That's where they have the upper hand.
• 28:16
  I mentor younger girls now.
• 28:18
  And what I try to tell them is like, I just try to pass on what Lynn St.
• 28:21
  James taught me.
• 28:22
  The way you market yourself, how you present yourself, how you talk.
• 28:26
  Yeah, you can drive a car on the racetrack, but if you can't do what it
• 28:29
  takes off the track, your chances just basically went down to almost zero.
• 28:34
  You're going to be a development driver in that case.
• 28:36
  You're going to be a test driver.
• 28:38
  Yeah.
• 28:38
  They still make a paycheck too.
• 28:40
  Everybody's got a job.
• 28:41
  They play an important role.
• 28:43
  But I'm just saying from a historical perspective, as I look at some
• 28:46
  of the greats from our past, this has always been the case.
• 28:49
  This is nothing new, but you're absolutely right.
• 28:51
  Because the racing funnel is always in Hollywood is the same
• 28:55
  way, always whittling down people.
• 28:57
  But if you don't have a 50 50 split at the top of the funnel.
• 29:00
  Obviously, you're not going to have a 50 50 split when the funnel gets narrower.
• 29:04
  Yeah.
• 29:04
  So it becomes a vicious circle where only the wealthy, only the white,
• 29:09
  and only the male are getting the opportunities because they can show up
• 29:12
  for the opportunity and not have to go to school and not have to raise the kids.
• 29:16
  I attended a expo in Philly which catered to the circle track late
• 29:21
  model dirt world and What was really interesting about that is I went to
• 29:25
  booth to booth and teams are there, you know, they're representing their
• 29:27
  engineering or representing the drivers.
• 29:29
  I was sort of taken aback by how many young women drivers there were
• 29:34
  in the different disciplines of short track and circle track racing.
• 29:38
  And I was like, wow, you don't see this in open wheel, Indy
• 29:42
  lights, even formula W is gone.
• 29:44
  Let's just say there hasn't been another female rally driver in like 30
• 29:48
  years, you know, those kinds of things.
• 29:50
  And even in sports car and endurance.
• 29:52
  Other than the iron dames and a couple of others, they're
• 29:54
  sort of few and far between.
• 29:56
  But when I walk through those doors and I'm looking around, I'm
• 29:58
  like, there's women everywhere.
• 29:59
  And then, oh, I'm the team principal and I'm the owner.
• 30:02
  And, you know, I'm on the edge and I was like, wow, there's a thriving
• 30:05
  community that maybe is sort of being overshadowed by the lack of women
• 30:10
  and other disciplines of motor sport.
• 30:11
  And I feel like Taylor, you're in the right place.
• 30:14
  To blossom as a woman in motorsport for sure.
• 30:17
  And I think a lot of it, you know, I credit women in motorsports, like
• 30:21
  spanning my perspective, because when I was coming up through the ranks, when I
• 30:24
  was a younger driver, I always thought that's all I wanted to be was a driver.
• 30:28
  So I was like, if I don't make it as a driver, what am I going to do?
• 30:31
  So then I went off.
• 30:32
  to school.
• 30:33
  And I, at one point thought, you know, that was it.
• 30:35
  I wasn't going to have anything else to do with racing.
• 30:38
  Then when I came back and started racing again, and I reconnected
• 30:41
  with Lynn and Beth Perretta, and you see Beth, you know, she owns her
• 30:45
  own team with Perretta Autosport.
• 30:47
  That kind of got me thinking.
• 30:48
  It was, I didn't always have to just be the driver.
• 30:51
  I couldn't afford to race anymore.
• 30:53
  I could have went off and been an engineer, worked on the pit box and
• 30:56
  done something or been a team manager.
• 30:58
  It's not like I still can't do that stuff when I'm done driving.
• 31:01
  You know, we talk about being an attorney in motor sports, really
• 31:04
  credit WMNA to that as well, because sometimes social media and stuff.
• 31:09
  Now you kind of have greater glimpses to that.
• 31:11
  10 years ago, the visibility wasn't as high.
• 31:14
  You know, I credit them for expanding my perspective.
• 31:16
  And so, you know, I try to pass that on to the younger girls I work with as well.
• 31:19
  If you could make one change to USAC right now that you feel would expand the table.
• 31:24
  What do you think that would be?
• 31:25
  Diversify their board.
• 31:28
  Let's unpack that for a second because, you know, there's this
• 31:31
  talk about gender in racing, but there's a bigger conversation to be
• 31:34
  had about diversity, whether it's in ages, whether it's in gender, whether
• 31:38
  it's in creed, color, and otherwise.
• 31:41
  And I started to stand back from this conversation sometimes, and
• 31:43
  I like to think about it and go.
• 31:45
  How do we make the paddock more diverse in general, more inviting
• 31:49
  for everyone that might have an inkling of interest in motorsport?
• 31:52
  And I think you said earlier, you know, drive to survive sort of
• 31:54
  invited a whole bunch of people to the table, but how do we get them
• 31:58
  off the couch and on the track?
• 32:01
  Yeah, and I think it's like a top down approach, right?
• 32:04
  You know, from what I know, like I said, I have close relationships
• 32:07
  with the hierarchy at USEC.
• 32:08
  And, you know, I've known them for a long time.
• 32:10
  And so I think I have a lot of insight in this way to where I know some of the
• 32:14
  people on the board, but I know that a majority, if not all, is all Caucasian
• 32:18
  males, a lot of people, you know, in motor sports and ways are like minded
• 32:22
  people, who's to say someone from a different race or a different gender.
• 32:27
  And you add them on the board, imagine like all the greater concoctions of ideas
• 32:32
  that could come from that and how it would benefit the growth of the sport.
• 32:35
  I hold a lot of meetings with them and try to, you know, pick their brains
• 32:39
  and give them ideas on stuff to do to kind of expand as far as like the
• 32:44
  grassroots racing with the Silver Crown, the Midget, and the Sprint
• 32:47
  Cars that you set kind of overseas.
• 32:50
  Maybe one day you'll see me on the board.
• 32:51
  I don't, you know, I don't know.
• 32:53
  I was about to say, I will start your campaign.
• 32:55
  Do you want that right now?
• 32:56
  I will run your campaign.
• 32:58
  Yeah.
• 32:58
  Taylor for the board.
• 32:59
  Contact Kevin Miller.
• 33:01
  I'm going to call him.
• 33:02
  I'll make it tomorrow.
• 33:03
  You joke, but I will be making calls.
• 33:05
  All right.
• 33:06
  And then suddenly Cindy Sisson is going to be on the case and then it's all over.
• 33:09
  Oh yeah.
• 33:11
  I got you.
• 33:11
  You're going to be on the case.
• 33:13
  She'll be barking up that tree for sure.
• 33:18
  If young girl walked up to you today and asked, why do you race?
• 33:24
  Because I love it.
• 33:25
  It's my passion.
• 33:27
  But aside from that, I'm obsessed with the lifestyle.
• 33:30
  I'm obsessed with the art of competition.
• 33:32
  The speed, the adrenaline rush, like the challenges.
• 33:36
  And I think overseeing in the long run, like how a race unfolds.
• 33:40
  Folds, analyzing the cars around you and where you can pick up speed and how,
• 33:45
  you know, there's just so many elements that go into making, not only making
• 33:50
  a car go around the track, but making it go around the fast and the fastest.
• 33:54
  Maybe that's why I also am going to law school at the same point in time.
• 33:57
  Cause it's all the complexities.
• 33:59
  But you know, for me, it's like an all encompassing thing.
• 34:01
  I feel like with racing, you have to love it all.
• 34:04
  Otherwise, you're not gonna be completely enthralled with it.
• 34:07
  You have to love to travel.
• 34:08
  Otherwise, I mean, there's so much that comes into it.
• 34:11
  You're gonna have to, at some point, interact with the business
• 34:14
  stuff and the business side.
• 34:15
  But if you don't have the passion for it, You're most
• 34:19
  likely not going to go very far.
• 34:20
  Just be a weekend warrior.
• 34:22
  It's all of it together.
• 34:23
  That said, what's next, Taylor?
• 34:26
  Any spoilers?
• 34:27
  Big events are going to be at something you want to tell us about.
• 34:29
  So I will be working with Skip Barber again in a few weeks.
• 34:33
  I'll be in Sebring testing a road course car.
• 34:37
  And then also with my podcast on the drive, we'll be following the sprint cars.
• 34:42
  Maybe hit some late model races up and things of that nature.
• 34:45
  As far as my racing plans.
• 34:48
  Kind of saying this year, I'm going to be a little noncommittal
• 34:52
  and take it race by race.
• 34:53
  Cause last year, you know, I put a lot of pressure on myself
• 34:56
  with all the issues that we had.
• 34:57
  And I was like, no, we have to be at every race.
• 34:59
  I told them take it race by race, but you never know.
• 35:03
  Maybe I'll pop up at a Indy car race or an Indy next race or a late model
• 35:09
  race or a wing sprint car race.
• 35:12
  Right now, you know, I'm focused on finishing up law school.
• 35:14
  I'm focusing on my upcoming season with my sprint cars and my silver crown cars.
• 35:18
  We'll kind of let the higher powers take it from there.
• 35:22
  Well, Taylor, we've reached that part of the episode where I like
• 35:25
  to invite our guests to share any shout outs, promotions, or anything
• 35:28
  else we haven't covered thus far.
• 35:29
  Yeah.
• 35:30
  So just a big shout out.
• 35:31
  Obviously I wouldn't be able to participate in my past couple
• 35:34
  of seasons without the support of Bradford Allen, my sponsor.
• 35:37
  So I'm super grateful for them and believing in me and just
• 35:40
  helping me grow and prosper.
• 35:42
  Mobile One, the San Bernstein law firm that I worked at for like
• 35:46
  five years for kind of helping me bring me back to the track.
• 35:49
  And, you know, without the support of my family, like each individually, my
• 35:53
  mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, my extended family, you know, they're all
• 35:57
  just as obsessed with racing as I am.
• 35:59
  And, you know, my number one supporters, you know, my grandma and grandpa, they
• 36:03
  live in North Carolina and they're tuned into flow racing, watching all my races.
• 36:07
  And so, you know, it's all about having a great support system.
• 36:10
  And, you know, I have that.
• 36:12
  With my team as well, my crew chief, Common Beesacker, and my guys that help
• 36:16
  us out at the track, like Justin Upchurch and Michael Guglomucci, and surround
• 36:21
  ourself with a positive group and, you know, the opportunities are endless.
• 36:25
  So I'm looking forward to the season.
• 36:27
  Over the years, Taylor's perspective on the motorsports world and
• 36:30
  her placement in it has evolved.
• 36:32
  She now recognizes the power and greater meaning behind being a
• 36:36
  woman in a male dominated trade.
• 36:39
  With that, she has made it a personal mission.
• 36:41
  To give back to a sport she is so passionate about by mentoring
• 36:45
  younger girls interested in racing.
• 36:48
  Taylor is also an active member of Women in Motorsports North America,
• 36:52
  regularly taking part in professional speaking engagements, and she is
• 36:56
  a contributing writer, podcast co host, and founder of the Safety Bank.
• 37:01
  To learn more about Taylor, be sure to log on to TaylorFerns.
• 37:04
  com or follow her on social media at TaylorLFerns on Facebook, at TaylorFerns
• 37:09
  on Instagram and Twitter, as well as her YouTube and TikTok channels.
• 37:14
  And you can always connect with her via LinkedIn.
• 37:16
  With that, Taylor, I can't thank you enough for coming on Break Fix and
• 37:20
  sharing your story with all of us.
• 37:22
  And I have to say, One of the things I really noticed is your passion
• 37:26
  for motorsports as a whole, not just your discipline in motorsport.
• 37:30
  And you said something really important earlier.
• 37:32
  It's a philosophy that I also subscribe to.
• 37:34
  So I'm going to paraphrase what you said, which is there's no such
• 37:37
  thing as a bad situation, just problems looking for a solution.
• 37:41
  And I see that with you and your involvement in motorsports and in WMNA and
• 37:45
  how you're engaging with the community.
• 37:46
  And I have to applaud you for what you're doing.
• 37:48
  So please keep spreading motorsports enthusiasm and good luck.
• 37:52
  This season.
• 37:52
  Thanks guys.
• 37:53
  I appreciate the conversation and looking forward to chatting with you
• 37:56
  a bit more, hopefully down the road.
• 38:02
  Officially founded in April of 2022, women in motor sports, North America is
• 38:07
  an official 501 C three not for profit organization because of its partners.
• 38:11
  Women as proud of what it's been able to accomplish.
• 38:13
  And don't forget that each year, over 450 women and men from all disciplines of
• 38:18
  motorsports attend their annual summit.
• 38:20
  Attendees are open to industry executives, drivers, team members, OEM sponsors,
• 38:25
  racetrack representatives, and anyone working in the sport or wanting to learn
• 38:29
  more about opportunities in motorsport.
• 38:31
  If you'd like to learn more about women in Motorsports North America, be sure to
• 38:35
  log on to www.womeninmotorsportsna.com or follow them on social media
• 38:42
  at Women in Motorsports, NA, on Instagram and Facebook, or
• 38:47
  at underscore w na on Twitter.
• 38:52
  We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of break fix podcast brought
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  to you by Grand Touring Motorsports.
• 38:59
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