Jimmy Taylor went to Bradenton Motorsports Park for open testing ahead of the final event of the three-race DI Winter Series. On Wednesday, the Pro Modified driver was reminded how quickly a routine session can turn violent when his car snapped left and slammed the wall at more than 200 mph.
Taylor exited the car under his own power and reported no injuries. The damage to the entry he campaigns with Carl Stevens Jr., however, will require weeks of repairs.
“I’m doing good,” Taylor said. “I mean, it didn’t hurt me. I thought this morning I might be sore. I’m just running on adrenaline or something. But I woke up this morning and I feel fine. I mean, I’m not sore, not hurting. Pride’s hurt a little bit, but that’s about it.”
The crash occurred during a pass that data later showed was shaping up to be among the team’s quickest of the test. Taylor said the car left cleanly and was accelerating hard before it abruptly veered left.
“Let go of the button and it left great and we run a .53 at Yellow Bullet with it, and we were above it when we lost it,” Taylor said. “So it was on a lick. It was on a .51 or a .52 pass. And man, the car just immediately turned left with me and I barely got to shoot out in time to hit the wall. I mean, it happened so doggone quick. I mean, I’ve never experienced the car move that quick to the left like it.”
Early inspection suggests fluid under the tires, though the exact source remains undetermined. Taylor indicated transmission fluid may have been involved, possibly from his own car.
“We’ve gotten into some kind of fluid,” Taylor said. “We just don’t know exactly where it’s come from. That’s what we’re doing right now is tearing the car down to see where the fluid actually come from. We don’t know if it come from my car or from the track, but we’re kind of suspecting it was coming from my car.”
“We got in trans fluid with the driver’s side tire,” he added.
Data from the run revealed the impact speed. Taylor said he was traveling a little over 200 mph when the car struck the wall.
“Well, I mean, really just getting it stopped and hoping I didn’t turn over and catch on fire was my main thing,” Taylor said. “I mean, we looked at the data this morning. We were doing a little over 200 mile an hour when I hit the wall.”
After the initial impact, Taylor attempted to guide the car away from the opposite lane to avoid contact with the other competitor. The steering input proved ineffective for a reason he did not immediately realize.
“I didn’t really think that it hit that hard,” Taylor said. “When I got off the wall, I was trying to steer the car because I wasn’t wanting to get over another lane. ‘Cause I knew I was out on the guy a little bit and I was afraid he’d hit the brakes and then hit me if I crossed over in his lane. So I was trying to steer the car and the car wouldn’t steer and I was like, ‘What the hell?’ And then I get out and see I ain’t got wheels on it, so I figured out then that’s why it wouldn’t steer.”
The incident reinforced the volatility of Pro Modified, where horsepower and traction operate within a narrow window. Drivers in the class understand the risks that accompany competitive performance.
“If you’re long enough, it’s going to happen, man,” Taylor said. “The main thing is just make sure you’ve got all your safety gear right and … Yeah, it’s a big thing. It’s one of my big things, man. I am pro-safety all the way. I mean, I’ve practiced getting out of the car. I make sure my hands and everything’s in great shape. I just don’t ever take no chances on safety at all. ‘Cause you know it’s coming. You just don’t know when. It may be the next pass you do. The next pass I go out, I may do the same thing again. You just never know. It’s just one of them things. And we take a risk every time we get in there. You just got to be the best prepared for it you can.”
Taylor said he was not surprised an incident eventually occurred given how often the team pushes performance during testing. He credited his experience in no-prep competition for helping him manage unstable cars on a prepared surface.
“I’ve drove the car a lot worse out of control,” Taylor said. “The NPK helped me a lot in driving no prep and stuff ’cause it just helped me know what I could do on a prep track.”
He also acknowledged the outcome could have been far worse under different circumstances. “I’m just glad that it didn’t happen when I was breaking the quarter-mile record. If that happened at the quarter mile record and it got fluid down there like that, it could have been a whole different outcome.”
For now, the focus shifts to rebuilding rather than refining performance for the DI Winter Series finale. The car will require extensive repairs before returning to Pro Modified competition.
Taylor left Bradenton with a damaged race car but an intact appreciation for preparation and perspective at more than 200 mph. In a class where the difference between control and chaos can vanish in an instant, survival is sometimes the only number that matters.
“We’ll live to race another day,” Taylor surmised.
