Wayne Taylor on his IMSA legacy and Le Mans dreams

Many exceptional names in racing have graced the IMSA paddocks for the reason that collection’ inception in 1969, however few of the legends have been a presence so constantly, for thus lengthy — and so good at successful — as Wayne Taylor.

“Mark Raffauf, who works for IMSA [as its Senior Director of Race Operations], jogged my memory that he and I are the one two people who have really been to each single sportscar race for the reason that finish of ‘89,” Taylor says. “However in these days, it was nearly driving, and I couldn’t consider the rest.”

If you recognize IMSA, you recognize Wayne Taylor’s identify and the success related to it. There’s the legendary No. 10 Konica Minolta automobile and its extremely IMSA run with him on the wheel. His staff, Wayne Taylor Racing, boasts two IMSA driver championships, back-to-back Michelin Endurance Cup Championships, and wins at crown jewel occasions just like the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. His legacy contains two sons, Ricky and Jordan, who’ve stored the Taylor identify on the rostrum. 

And that legacy continues. This weekend’s Rolex 24 kicks off Wayne Taylor’s thirty seventh season within the American sports activities automobile collection, and whereas his thoughts is not consumed with driving (he doesn’t miss it, both), racing may be very a lot nonetheless his life. 

However Stateside racing wasn’t the life he had initially supposed for himself. Actually, his arrival in IMSA’s paddock was someplace between a pivot and a coincidence. One which’s became a everlasting residence, with no indicators of slowing.  

“The whole lot right here simply works”

Again in late 1986, Wayne Taylor was a 30-year-old South African recent off successful the South African Method 2 championship. He had one goal in his sights: making his strategy to Method 1. So he did what each F1 hopeful knew to do again then, and relocated to England along with his spouse.

Then, actuality set in.

“It was going to require huge quantities of cash [to get to F1] and there was no approach I used to be going to have the ability to increase it,” Taylor says. “However I used to be by no means going to surrender — I [was] going to be a racing driver for the remainder of my life.”

Wanting round for a fallback, he observed sports activities automobile racing’s reputation, notably in Europe, the place the late ‘80s performed host to the Group C World Championship. Boxy, wedge-shaped prototypes with imposing wings, just like the Porsche 956, dominated the endurance collection. Taylor figured it might be a straightforward leap. 

“Not solely might you alter from Method 1 to sports activities vehicles, however sports activities vehicles have an extended shelf life for drivers,” Taylor stated. “In Method 1, if you’re achieved by the tip of your thirties, you’re form of achieved. Whereas, guys at the moment are racing till… effectively, I used to be racing till I used to be 51.” 

The Porsche 962 C pushed (partly) by Wayne Taylor leads a fellow Porsche 962 C in 1987’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It was a straightforward pivot for Taylor: he took 4th within the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1987, then shifted to the World SportsCar Championship, shifting up the ranks in Group C. On the time, IMSA-sanctioned vehicles might take part, so Taylor jumped on the alternative and took on just a few races throughout the pond. His now-37-season streak with IMSA started at Tampa, Summit Level, and Del Mar late in 1989. In Del Mar, he put the Chevrolet Spice automobile on pole, and Taylor says that is when the calls began coming for him to drive for different groups. However time and assets dwindled in Europe, and with out a definitive drive, his small household returned to South Africa.

The U.S. got here calling once more quickly, with Jim Miller bringing Wayne on for a full season — 10 races — within the 1990 IMSA season. “The whole lot occurred. The whole lot right here simply works,” Taylor says of america. “You understand, it doesn’t matter what you need, you will get.” Taylor needed to compete, and so he and his household moved Stateside to grow to be a mainstay within the IMSA paddock.

“We actually didn’t have any cash, and it was an actual wrestle after we first bought right here,” remembers Taylor. “However I spotted a few issues: that in America, everyone loves winners, so I wanted to win a championship — and did that with Jim Downing.” 

That first IMSA title got here in 1994. The wins stored coming: Taylor took three extra Exxon World SportsCar Championships, two wins at Daytona within the Rolex 24, and a win at Sebring. In 1998, he clinched a Prototype-class win at Le Mans with a Ferrari and have become the primary driver to win at Petit Le Mans in its inaugural race.

The primary half of the brand new millennium noticed Taylor break up his time between IMSA and dealing intently with Cadillac in its Le Mans effort (till it pulled out of the competitors). His final massive podium got here in 2005, when he received his second Rolex 24.

Wayne Taylor along with his staff members in Victory Lane within the 2005 Rolex 24

Photograph by: F. Peirce Williams / Motorsport Pictures

Wayne Taylor hung up his helmet after the 2006 season. However his story solely turned a brand new web page: Taylor joined along with his longtime driving companion, Max Angelelli, to guide the Wayne Taylor Racing staff. And shortly racing grew to become a household affair.

Wayne Taylor & Sons, Inc.

In line with their dad, Ricky and Jordan Taylor — Wayne’s sons — did not a lot look after racing as youngsters. He would take them go-karting, although, if solely to get them away from the tv. He might see their expertise, however wasn’t going to strain them into the game if their coronary heart wasn’t in it. That each one modified when Ricky and Jordan watched their father win on the Rolex 24 in 2005. 

“It was like a lightswitch,” Taylor says. “And that’s all they needed to be, was racing drivers.”

The Taylor boys joined the household enterprise for actual in 2007. “I bought them began — however actually, really, they needed to earn the best to do what they’ve achieved,” says Wayne Taylor. “And I feel they’ve achieved that.”

Inside a decade of becoming a member of their father’s staff, Ricky and Jordan would have a good time successful their very own Rolex 24. “We had 2017 the place we had the entire household, Ricky and Jordan, along with Max [Angelelli] and Jeff Gordon at Daytona,” remembers their father. “We received out of the field. We received 5 races within the championship.”Jordan would ultimately transfer from Wayne Taylor Racing to the manufacturing facility Corvette GT program. Ricky left the nest to drive for Roger Penske and his Acura Staff Penske prototype entry.

Race winner Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon on the 2017 Rolex 24

Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz

Get Wayne Taylor speaking about his sons, and he sounds extra happy with them than what he is achieved. 

“Jordan has had a fantastic profession. [He] received Le Mans. Received many championships,” says Wayne Taylor. “Ricky’s had an unimaginable profession for Roger [Penske]: received championships, received the Rolex 24, received Sebring. They achieved all of this earlier than the age of 35, and I used to be doing this till 50. It’s been unbelievable.” 

Taylor’s additionally conscious that in making racing a household affair, it in all probability hasn’t been simple for Ricky and Jordan.

“They in all probability hate driving for me,” Taylor says. “Actually, I’m critical. They actually don’t like driving for me, I feel, as a result of they are saying I by no means depart them alone. I’m all the time on the telephone with them, and so it’s a relentless battle for them. I can’t even name them and say, ‘I feel you must do that within the subsequent race.’ However I actually prefer it.”

After exploring IMSA life exterior of the Taylor-family storage, Ricky and Jordan rejoined dad to race the No. 10 and No. 40 Acura GTP vehicles in 2024. This 12 months, they’ve one new addition to the staff — though it is performed an enormous half in all of their careers: Basic Motors. Particularly, Cadillac.

Profitable is not all the things…it is the one factor 

Because the 2025 IMSA season kicks off on the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Taylor talks about it like a household reunion.

“You understand, with the brand new program approaching board with Cadillac, it’s like, I’m going again to my outdated household,” says Taylor. “I received the championship in 1996 in an Oldsmobile Aurora. I received the Grand Am championship with a Pontiac with Riley & Scott. After which got here the Corvettes. We received races in Corvettes. After which I went over to be staff proprietor.”

As staff proprietor, the GM, Cadillac partnership continued, main to 2 IMSA championships in Daytona Prototype Worldwide (DPi) competitors. Because the DPi and Prototype class was retired to make approach for the now-running Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, Wayne Taylor Racing partnered with Acura for a short stint, earlier than asserting on the finish of 2024 a return dwelling to Cadillac.

The #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V- Sequence.R at this 12 months’s Roar Earlier than the 24

Photograph by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Pictures

Their shared historical past has made the reunion a palpable second of pleasure on the 2025 Rolex 24. Sights are set for getting again into groove with Cadillac — and never simply right here within the States with IMSA. Each have their sights set on Europe and the potential for a win that neither Wayne, his household, nor Cadillac have managed to attain.

“One factor we haven’t achieved is win Le Mans total,” says Taylor. “Each Jordan and I’ve received courses — he’s received the GT class; I received the prototype class within the Ferrari. With the present guidelines and rules [Ed note: both IMSA and WEC GTP cars share the same cars and similar regulations], it’s attainable that we are going to get an invite.”

Bringing dwelling IMSA championships stays the day-to-day focus, Taylor explains. Including in just a few WEC races, too. However getting that Le Mans invite — after which, ideally, total win — is the dream he and the remainder of the Wayne Taylor household (literal and in any other case) take into consideration.

Till then, Wayne Taylor will preserve doing what Wayne Taylor’s achieved so effectively: racing.

“So long as I keep motivated, and I’ve the eagerness, and I’ve individuals specializing in this staff and desirous to win, I’ll preserve doing it till each time, as a result of what else am I gonna do?” says Taylor “I don’t play golf. I don’t play tennis. I don’t play snooker. I don’t have girlfriends. I don’t have another sports activities. I don’t know what I’d do, to be trustworthy.”

#10 Cadillac DPi, P: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Wayne Taylor

Photograph by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Pictures

Since Wayne Taylor Racing’s IMSA Drivers’ Championship title in 2013, the staff has racked up 25 wins — many on the nice endurance races, just like the Rolex 24, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. When Taylor hears these numbers, the relentlessly profitable South African driver perks up. “Since 2013? 25 wins? Wow,” he says. “Yeah, I assume we’ve achieved okay.”

“I do want I’d get pleasure from it greater than I do,” says Taylor. “My spouse, she all the time stated, and my youngsters, ‘Dad, you’re by no means blissful. You’re by no means blissful, Dad.” And I feel to myself, ‘You understand what? That’s bloody true.’ The one time I’m blissful is after we’re successful races. Outdoors of that, I don’t know the way the remainder of the world lives.”

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