THE PEDALER

Tough, terse and tenacious, here's Bobby Taylor
on what it takes to race blown alcohol dragsters

In the hyper-competitive world of NHRA's blown alcohol class, Federal Mogul dragster, few racers are more successful than Bobby Taylor. Driving Gary Turner's GT Bicycles FMD, Taylor was the Winston Champion in 1996 and finished #2 behind Rick Santos in '97 in a class that differs little from Top Fuel.

Taylor, 31, has a reputation as a loner. He's been called somber, even arrogant. The reality is he doesn't beat around the bush; he spits out his opinions minus the fluff. What some view as an ultra reserved, self contained competitor is a guy utterly committed to perfection. " Whatever I do, I let it all hang out." His rise to the top of FMD has been swift and his insights into the inner workings of the class are presented to DRM without frills. His attitudes toward driving and his past, present and future as a drag racer are equally blunt.

Because Taylor is so direct, he's often misquoted by the media and misunderstood by fans and fellow racers. Behind an austere facade is a driver who knows his stuff in and out of the cockpit. He's also a person who cares about those around him, as he demonstrated with his 1996 Indy win. " Indy was traumatic. The good part was we won the race and nailed the championship. The bad part was I watched a good friend die. Blaine Johnson's wreck was the worst moment of my career. I wanted to quit racing. You know, it's a family thing out here. I went up to Everett and Alan (Johnson). I was at a loss for words. It was the saddest moment in drag racing for me."

Taylor, from Laguna Hills, CA, was NHRA Division Champion three years in a row; Div. 7 in '94, Div. 6 in '95 and '96. He finished #2 in the world in '95 behind one of his buddies, Jay Payne. Whenever the pressure of racing gnaws on Taylor, he ducks into Payne's trailer. Payne is one of FMD's premier drivers. He's also known for his good humor and common sense. " Jay is a great guy and that's the truth. He's easy to get along with. I've never had a problem with him. He's always treated me fairly. We have a fun little rivalry going. We run pretty much the same and we refer to our races together as the Thunder Slug versus the Pedaler. I can talk openly with Jay. He can settle me down real fast. He inspires me and I look up to him. If he needed something and I had it, I'd be the first one to hand it over to him."

Taylor is an athlete. As a kid he raced bicycles, skateboarded, played baseball and football. He played to win and often did. He has a slick ski boat and rides an air chair. " When I won Indy, I crawled out of the car and was in tears. Everyone thought I was caught up in the emotion of the moment. Instead, I had three broken ribs and was in unbearable pain. The previous weekend I'd been riding the air chair, was doing flips in the air, got tangled in the rope and landed in the water on my side. Ouch." He plays golf. " My goal is to become a better golfer. This may sound weird, but golf helps me with the mental side of racing. Golf is about strategy and keeping your cool. Half of the starting line shit is mental. With golf, if I stay calm and don't think about it, I can put a ball within a five foot square area on the course. If I start sweating the process, worrying about it, I'll screw up. It's the same deal with the starting line."

During the week Taylor works with his dad, Bob, in a family owned auto upholstery business. Bob is an ex-flat track professional motorcycle racer. " Dad retired after he was run over during a race. He's lucky he recovered from his injuries and is able to walk. He developed an interest in hot rods and spectated at the drags. My father has been instrumental in my growth and in the direction my life has taken. He got me up and running. He made me want to race cars."

At 14, Taylor was helping his father at the shop after school. He decided to put together a mini truck for drag racing. Bob located a junk Chevy Luv truck and instructed Bobby to take it apart from stem to stern. They chopped the top and did all the body work themselves. A Camaro was purchased and its engine and tranny were dropped into the Luv. The project was completed in two years. Taylor's first run in 1984 at Orange County Raceway was 13.77 at 107 mph. "I was hooked."

In 1986 another of Taylor's racing pals, Darren Nicholson, presently driving the Peen Rite FMD, invited Taylor to crew on Gary Turner's alky dragster at Bakersfield. He was low man on the totem pole and did whatever he was asked to do. " I cleaned parts, checked tire pressures. The weekend turned into a disaster. The motor blew up. Everyone was bummed. They finally pulled themselves together and seven hours later all the repairs were made. The car did not qualify. Turner fired the dragster's driver. I told Darren, 'You're crazy to crew on one of these things. Everybody's grumpy. No one's having any fun. I think it (alky racing) sucks.'"

In spite of the negative experience, Taylor found himself hanging out at Gary Turner's shop. " Everyone was so nice to me." He struck up a relationship with the car's tuner and Turner's chum since high school, Sam Shockley. Taylor still owned his Luv truck and was adding a bigger blower to run on alcohol. Shockley helped him sort out the fuel injection and accompanied him to Carlsbad Raceway. Shockley told him to ease the racer off the starting line and then step on it. On its first pass the truck scraped the rear bumper on the launch. Taylor was on and off the throttle and skittered his way to a 9.30 at 140 while shutting off early. Wheelie bars were added. The following weekend, thanks to Shockley's input, Taylor put the pedal to the metal. The front end shot four feet skyward. The truck stayed straight, the front wheels settled back down and Taylor pulled off an 8.60 at 164. " Oh man, I was planted. The run was fast." Taylor proceeded to run into fuel mixture problems. Again. Shockley stepped in to help and Taylor squeezed out 8.40s with a best speed of 168 MPH. Taylor back-halved the car himself and installed a rollcage. He now was fielding a homebuilt Pro Modified truck. He entered a Super Chevy show at Phoenix and ran Pro Mod, which was technically a no-no. He was allowed to compete because the truck was such a crowd pleaser. He made it to the final four without a transbrake. " I scared half the people I ran against. The car was loud, just like a Funny Car. We'd pre-stage, my competition would light the second bulb and before I pulled all the way in I'd whack the throttle and they'd take off. I raced three guys who dialed a 10.10 against my 8.60. I'd catch them at the 1000 foot mark and dump the chute. Nothing like fender racing with a parachute. It was neat."

Darren Nicholson asked Taylor to fill in for him at a race at Baylands in 1987. Cruz Pedregon was driving. " Cruz was a good driver. We won the race. I enjoyed the event and Gary and Sam asked me to join the team. I went to every race with them after that weekend and we won a lot of drag races. I worked my way up from tire wiper to bottom end guy. By the end of 1989 there wasn't anything I couldn't handle on the dragster. Sam taught me everything he knew about a blown alcohol motor."

Then the team fell apart. Pedregon picked up a ride with the Miner brothers and Shockley hooked up with Bucky Austin. Turner Racing was defunct for a year. Taylor encouraged Turner to put together a new team. Turner asked him who would drive. Taylor responded, " Hell, I'll drive. It can't be that hard." Turner chuckled. After much deliberation, Taylor made license passes at Palmdale. " I'd watched Cruz make 200 runs. I felt I'd have no problem negotiating the quarter mile. I did a good burnout, backed up just like I was supposed to and left the starting line correctly. I made three runs: a quarter pass, a run through second gear and finally a shift into high gear. The whole time I was petrified. I didn't know how to tell Gary I didn't want to drive this thing. I couldn't see where I was going! We checked the bearings, etc., loaded the car and went to Bakersfield. I was now tuning and driving. I made a full pass at 6.55 - 220 MPH. I still couldn't see. By now I'm really stressing. Gary Scelzi came over to sign off my license. I told him about my situation and asked him if this was the way it was supposed to be. 'Uh, no,' Scelzi said. He volunteered to watch me make a burnout." Scelzi told Taylor his head was too close to the rollcage and his top seat belt was too loose. " I'm gonna tighten your belt and you're gonna bitch. When you launch, lock your head foward." Taylor followed Scelzi's advice and ran a 6.18 at 223 MPH. Bingo! Taylor could see perfectly. He qualified for his first race at the Winternationals and for every drag race entered thereafter.

After a year of competition, Shockley returned to the team but soon moved on to tune for Shaun Hyland. Taylor and Turner struggled for a couple of years. In '94 they debuted a new car at Bakersfield and ran 5.91 on a 5.89 record. However, they blew the blower off at a thousand feet. They carefully went through the car and checked everything out, yet they tossed the blower off on the next 15 runs down the drag strip. No matter what changes they made, it always ended up the same; Ka-boom! Taylor's frustration mounted and he informed Turner, " I'm outta here. I've had enough of this blower shit. Everyone's ragging on me, you're upset, and all of this is becoming real expensive." In the back of Taylor's mind he suspected the fuel tank was the culprit. He asked Shockley who agreed that Taylor's tune-up was clean. It appeared the car was launching with such ferocity that fuel was becoming trapped on the top shelf of the tank. " Steve Davis built us a new tank and our blower tossing days were over."

Taylor was the dragster's sole tuner for four years. By 1995 he was feeling the pinch of driving a full schedule and spinning wrenches so Shockley and his wife, Anita, rejoined the team. The goal was for Turner Racing to finish in the top 5 in the world. They won the Winternationals, Houston, Reading and Dallas and were the Division 6 champs. "We experienced an outstanding season." In '96 they kicked butt and finished #1.

THE PRICE OF ADMISSION

Taylor concedes that being top in FMD is not easy. An " amateur " class by NHRA standards, FMD is a ruthlessly competitive category that requires unflagging dedication, excellence in every aspect of the sport and big bucks. " To field a FMD at the level that we and several other teams do, you're looking at a yearly budget of $350,000. This figure covers salaries, hotels/ motels, food, airfare, parts breakage, pistons, tires, one or two blocks, two cranks and incidentals. Your equipment is over and above this dollar amount. It includes a race car and all the amenities to run it (tools, etc.) a transporter, one spare of everything. A nice rig will cost a half mil. You don't need an expensive hauler to race in alky, but it makes chasing the championship physically more comfortable and your presentation is more professional. A complete roller (dragster) from Hadman costs $40,000. Essentially, you have a million dollars worth of equipment including six spare motors ($100,000) plus the $350,000 to run 25 races. In 1996 we spent $55,000 alone on titanium valve springs. They're $2000 a set and last 10 runs. Thye're worth the investment because they don't beat up the seats. We aren't faced with valve jobs or constantly sending the heads back to Brad (Anderson)."

Has FMD become as expensive as Top Fuel? Almost. Some say a nitro car costs $3 million a year to race: $1.5 million to run the car, another half million to update equipment. The remainder goes into the car-owner's bank account. " We have everything a Top Fuel team has. We incur the same expenses coming, going, staying at the races. The difference is their car's purchase price is 20 to 30 grand more and their carnage is a little steeper."

With outrageous expenses mounting, the future of the class may be in jeopardy. Taylor's concerns are not new. " Money is an issue. If some type of ceiling is not placed on spending, the smaller teams will disappear. There'll be nobody left to race against. You'll have five or six teams who'll have the resources to compete in FMD. The weekend warriors will find something else to do. Spending is out of control. When the people who have the finances are feeling squeezed, there's a problem. Anybody who races in this class does it for love, not money. The purses are not increasing. What can we do? Drag racing is like a drug. Once it's in your system you can't get rid of it." Due to the crippling cost to field a FMD and FMFC, the category is outgrowing its sportsman status. While Federal Mogul's presence has helped, the class is in dire need of a large infusion of cash, an upgrade to Pro status or cost controls that address the needs of the racers.

Is it possible to win races and be champion if one is a " budget conscious " FMD dude or dudette? Yes and no. Those in the Federal Mogul dragster and Funny Car classes who have to count their pennies can be winners if they work smart. " Fresh parts are a must. Five year old pieces won't allow you to repeat good performance. Consistency wins races. You don't need a ton of spare blocks sitting in the trailer. If you have one complete ready to go race car that is top of the line, an efficient crew of three people plus the driver, one spare motor, one spare set of cylinder heads and a spare tranny with a selection of gear ratios, you can win. It's imperative that your spares and your primary setup be the same; same cam, same compression ratio, same everything. Changing your baseline combination will put you out of the running. Your maintenance has to be impeccable. You still need luck on your side. In my opinion, racing is 80% luck and 20% personnel and equipment. Equipment and personnel help to make your luck. Attitude makes your luck. If you think you might lose, you probably will lose."

BLOWER WARS

Taylor has seen FMD's technology change over the years. Gone are the days when you cross your fingers and hope for the best. The most crucial evolution in the class is supercharger related. Old technology hinged on the GMC Rootes- type blower. It required 600-800 horsepower to run, generated a ton of heat and was inefficient at high RPM - an alcohol motor must run at high RPM to make power. In 1988 Norm Drazy of PSI developed the " screw-type " blower which operates with one third the power (150 hp), a cooler charge and traps the air more effectively. The screw blower freed up the motor so the engine did not have to pull so hard to drive the system. Even though the cost is twice that of a Rootes system, it is essentially maintenance free for a full season.

The PSI officially arrived on the scene in 1989. It had a few problems. When it chose to come unglued, it was akin to a bomb going off. The restraints and case weren't strong enough. Equipped with cast rotors to keep costs down, the rotors couldn't withstand the RPM they were spinning and they flew apart. The screw blower was banned.

In 1993 Art Whipple, in conjunction with Auto Rotor of Sweden, came out with the Whipple Screw Supercharger. It was a massive unit with bulletproof case construction. No matter how hard they tried to blow it up it remained intact. PSI reconfigured its piece with billet rotors and eliminated its previous problems. Therefore FMD and FMFC have a choice between the Whipple and the PSI. An NHRA supercharger moratorium is currently in place to stop any further development of blowers. The objective is to keep costs down by negating the need to purchase a tricker piece every six months. A new blower puts a $10,000 dent in the pocketbook.

STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

Taylor says the role the chassis plays in FMD is all important. " The big deal with a chassis is proper power to weight distribution. The old school of thought, when we were making 2000 HP, was the stiffer the chassis the better. Well, if you took a car from the '80s and tied it together with the horsepower we're generating today, you would not move five feet off the starting line. If the car is too stiff it will shake. You want the car to give (in order) to plant the tire. The more power we're faced with, the more we need the car to flex. Look at Top Fuel. At the finish line you'll see a 2-3 foot gap between the driver's seat and the track because the car is arching and planting the tire and that's what it's all about. Conversely, the less horsepower you make the less the race car will flex and stick."

There are four separate areas in a dragster; the driver's box, front end, front section and rear. All these sections have specs. " The chassis builders have an association. The builders meet and throw out ideas to ensure the cars are as safe as possbile. Safety is their number one concern. They determine the size, thickness and how the tubing should be spaced. They also seek maximum performance without sacrificing its structural integrity. The best chassis builders out there today who sport winning alcohol cars are Brad Hadman, Davey Uyehara, Hansen Race Cars and Bob Meyer."

The balance of the hardware in alcohol is pretty standard. " A block is a block and a crank is a crank. You could probably take our blower and fuel system and put it on any of the five motors currently on the market and we would probably run as well as we're presently running. Fuel systems are the crew chief's call and are the crucial part of his duties. You can buy a system from Brad Anderson or Bob Newberry and off the shelf they'd be good for 5.80s or high 5.70s. It's the crew chief who fine tunes the system and it's their expertise that separates the men from the boys."

The clutch department is pretty much set in stone by NHRA. " I haven't seen any notable advancements wtih clutch development in the last five or six years. They are bigger and stronger and will withstand more abuse. I'm sure there are a few rocket scientists out here who could make them better, but unless they're REAL smart, the financial costs would be prohibitive and testing would take a considerable time investment. When you're chasing the championship or you you just want to win a race, it's tough to drop into an R&D mode."

BLOWN ALKY vs. INJECTED NITRO

There is a bone of contention amongst FMD camps: blown alcohol motors versus injected nitro powerplants. The situation is a nasty little basket overflowing with sour grapes. It is a topic Taylor prefers not to discuss. " Any comment I make on this subject seems to get me into trouble." This hot potato hinges on the differences betweeen the way the two systems build power. The nitro burners are often inconsistent performers that blaze their tires because they are not permitted to run timered clutches. When the fuelers manage to hook up, they can and do haul ass as seen by the likes of Stark, McPhillips, Zeal and Bushey. The injected nitro cars can make more power due to the nature of nitromethane and are lighter than the blown alcohol units. Their power band is from 5500-6000 RPM. In other words, mega power at low RPM, and if they don't smoke the tires or fling out the rods, they continue to build power. Because the nitro cars crank out more power right from the get-go, they rely on a two speed or high gear only transmission. An alcohol motor's RPM range is from 6000-9000 RPM. For an alcohol motor to get with the program, it must run a three speed transmission and build power (10,000 RPM) as it progressively makes its way down the dragstrip. The blown teams are crying " foul." They want to see still MORE weight hung on the nitro cars or a reduction in weight for the blown dragsters to achieve parity. Better yet, plop nitro into a class of its own.

SAFETY

Safety has become a major concern throughout the drag racing community. Taylor told DRM that safety encompasses the track, race car maintenance and licensing requirments. " My idea of a safe track (for a dragster) is one with concrete barriers which span the full length of the dragstrip. There shouldn't be any open turnouts for the car to slide through. The only turnout is the one located at the end of the track. Two safety trucks should be positioned near the starting line and two at the shutdown area. In between, track personnel, on foot, should be armed with fire extinguishers and other applicable safety response gear.

Track preparation is all important. Most car crashes can be attributed to loss of traction caused by a bit of oil or dust on the track's surface. In addition, the areas surrounding the main groove of the track must be free of dirt and debris. Safety with the car comes down to a hot crew who obsessively- compulsively services the race car between events and rounds. I'm lucky. I have the best team and crew chief in the business. As a driver I have absolute confidence in them. They don't make mistakes. God couldn't do a better job than they do. Finally, a rookie in a race car can be deadly. Licensing rules need to be stiffer. For example, I would say a license should be issued after a driver completes 20 runs in a FMD that approaches 5.70s. At a rookie's first event, he/she should make singles to prove they're capable of qualifying before they take on any side by side passes. I'll tell you, the worst thing in the world is to be next to a driver who's clueless. Whenever we pull out, we try to pair with Payne, Austin, Tiffani or someone else we know and trust."

ON THE ROAD

The biggest chore a Federal Mogul team faces in its march to the championship is scheduling. Unlike the pros, they have to run a combination of division and national events to gather their championship points. " Scheduling is a nightmare. The division races and nationals either overlap or are half way across the country from one another. If we had a choice, we'd stick with the national events. The tracks are better, we have TV exposure and the stands are packed with spectators. An upgrade to pro status would eliminate our present need to compete at a divisional level."

Taylor fulfilled his drag racing dream in his second year of driving full time; the Winston World Championship and the Division Championship in one fell swoop. In '97, the Turner camp was riveted on repeating their World Championship. To be champ, Taylor feels one must believe in one's abilities, have a stellar team, financial resources and luck. " Without all these ingredients you'll not be champion. You must have the desire to be the best. You have to want the championship. If you're unable to rip off the guy's head in the lane next to you, you'll be a loser. I ain't friends with nobody once I'm strapped in the car. I won't play games or be unethical. However, if my competition makes a mistake, I'll make damn sure they're history. Being the '96 champ worked as a confidence builder for me. The only downside is everybody winds up gunning for you."

Gunning for Taylor came down to a shootout between Rick Santos and the GT Bicycles entry at the last Division 7 race of the season. Taylor and Santos faced off in the final round. Santos took the win and landed the championship by a mere 20 points.

It's plain to see that Taylor is a talent behind the wheel, but in drag racing, talent harnessed to a sharp team owner, committed crew and a superior crew chief is the difference between running a mechanically tight ship or sinking like a stone. " It just doesn't get any better than this. Gary (Turner) has helped me to grow and has contributed greatly to who I've become. Anita (Shockley) and Cheryl Turner are incredible. Sam is top drawer. I'm nowhere near as smart as he is. We collabarate a lot and bounce ideas off each other. Sometimes I see things he doesn't see and will come up with a good idea. Other times I'll say things to him that are totally wrong. He'll explain why I'm off base. It's good to have two intellects working together. our team is so on top of it, I never worry about the car. When I go to the starting line, I know the car is the least of my problems."

Taylor's future seems to include a Federal Mogul Funny Car. " Yes, we have a Funny Car. We may campaign it in '98. Since we're one of the quickest FMDs in the country, I don't see us retiring the dragster. All I can say is our long range plans have yet to be finalized for the Funny Car and who'll drive."

The gruelling schedule Taylor adheres to impacts his personal life. " I'm away from home weekend after weekend. My absence puts stress on my wife, Carol. It's a good thing she likes racing, but it's still hard on her. One of our dreams is to have a son. I know the world is a messed up place to bring a kid into. Nonetheless it would be great to share all that I've learned and experienced over the years with my son. Time is flying by and I'd like a kid before I'm too old to keep up with him."

Bobby Taylor, " The Pedaler " (a nickname tied to Turner's GT Bicycles), has the desire to drag race far beyond the year 2000. His no-bull approach to racing, mechanical expertise and pragmatism have made him a winner. He is ruthless in the cockpit. He is not afraid to push the envelope. " If you don't redlight every once in a while, you're not trying hard enough." He's fearless. " I appreciate good competition; bring it on. It makes all of us work harder to win. Without other stout racers we wouldn't grow." Turner refers to Taylor as " one bad ass driver. He knows the car. He knows what to do." And that folks, is why Bobby Taylor is a champion in a class that leaves little room for error.

written by Florence O'Donovan from Drag Racing Monthly - page 20-25 - April, 1998 © DRAG RACING MONTHLY, LTD. 1998