Dennis Taylor- Seattle Wrap Up

Taylor Powers to Spectacular Exit


Anaheim, Calif. – Dennis Taylor had consistency qualifying his K&N Filters Camaro for the Northwest Nationals in Kent, Washington, this weekend. Both shots on Friday yielded identical 5.743-second timeslips with speeds at 252mph, so the combination was fully capable of going quicker in the final session. However, after completing those two consistent laps, the third was plagued with parts failure for the second weekend in a row. Dennis noted, “We may have left a bit on the table for Friday’s late run, so I was confident we could land in the top half of the field on Saturday. It felt really strong until about 800 feet when it banged the blower and the resulting fire was worse than last weekend.”

Tear-down uncovered another broken valve lifter, which was like déjà vu all over again. Crew chief, Terry Morrow added, “This had us shaking our heads. We inspected every part in the valvetrain and found absolutely no signs of wear or potential failure. I’d understand it if we were running marginal equipment, but Dennis never makes compromises with this car. The computer showed that run would have easily put us in the top half of the field and we had the quickest 60-foot time during that session, also.”

The crew changed engines for the first round of Eliminations where they met Sean O’Bannon – a talented driver who Taylor had beaten the last five times they faced each other. Dennis added, “I was confident even though we didn’t have lane choice but when I stepped off the clutch, the front wheels came up high and it pushed me toward the centerline. All I could do was lift. We may have been a touch too aggressive, as nobody won from that lane, but when this thing stays in one piece, it hauls the mail. We’ll take a break and look at everything before we run again, but at least we know our tune-up is on the money.”

Taylor and his crew send a special thanks to Brotherton Cadillac of Renton, Washington, for supplying an Escalade Hybrid support vehicle this weekend.


Courtesy of Randy Fish