The Drive of Their Lives
by Eric Adelson
Driving anywhere on two hours’ sleep is brutal. Driving a racecar at 180 miles-per-hour on two hours’ sleep? Yikes.
That’s what Central Florida’s own Jordan Taylor had to do on January 31 behind the wheel of a high-powered Corvette at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. That 24 stands for 24 hours: the ride had to run for a full day and a full night, nonstop.
The good news: Jordan had two teammates, and the trio normally drives in shifts.
The bad news: One of those teammates tested positive for COVID-19 – in the middle of the race! – and couldn’t finish.
“I was so stressed,” Jordan says. “It was one of the most nervous times I’ve ever had. I couldn’t eat. I was forcing myself to drink.”
Jordan found out about four hours before the end of the 24-hour race that he’d have to drive the anchor leg himself. The usual final driver, Antonio Garcia, got a positive test result during the competition. Jordan was the only option, and he had only slept for two hours between his shifts.
“I mentally wasn’t prepared to finish,” he says. “I thought I was done for the race. When I was told, mentally I wasn’t able to hear it.”
It turned out Antonio’s test was a false positive, but Jordan didn’t know that as he got into the car with the pressure of finishing and winning the race.
There was yet another layer of drama: Jordan’s brother, Ricky, was on the same racecourse driving in a different class of racecar (Jordan drives Corvettes in the GT Le Mans class; Ricky drives Acuras in the Daytona Prototype International class). And Ricky was driving for their dad, racing legend and team owner Wayne Taylor. So, all three Taylors had to be clutch (no pun intended) in the same tiny window of time.
Jordan grabbed the wheel and felt his nerves channel into energy as the last hour of the race approached. He would not only finish, but he had a shot to win the race in his class. So did his brother.
Hurtling into the final stretch, Jordan shot a quick glance at the results from the other class, which was just finishing, as well. Ricky had won. It was the third straight Rolex win for Wayne Taylor Racing – tying the event’s consecutive-win record.
Then Jordan got the checkered flag. He won, too. It was his first Rolex win since he departed from the Wayne Taylor Racing team.
“Huge relief,” Jordan says, exhaling as he relives the experience. “Just pure happiness and joy. A moment I’ve always dreamt of. It’s kind of something you play in your head, imagining what it’s like. When you get into these races, everything has to go your way.”
Jordan ended up driving for close to 10 of the 24 hours, about three hours more than a driver must usually endure.
“To win it in our backyard is so special,” Jordan says.
This triumph adds another chapter to an incredible odyssey for the Taylors, who arrived in Orlando in 1989 and built a burgeoning racing empire while building a family. The Taylor boys went to Lake Highland Prep and were both bar mitzvahed at Congregation of Reform Judaism. They still go over to each other’s houses to practice various courses on racing simulators.
Did Jordan pile into his brother’s arms after such an historic family win? Nope, not in a pandemic. At that point, Jordan still thought he had been exposed to COVID by his teammate, and he would have to quarantine. So the Taylors celebrated separately until they got the relieving news about the false positive.
Then, they finally got together, the next night, and let the happiness bubble over.
The Taylor family gathering after Daytona is one they’ve held for many years, always planned around pizza. This time, for whatever reason, the Taylors decided ahead of time on steaks.
“Maybe that was the trick!” Jordan laughs.
After two incredible wins in such a monumental race, you can bet the steaks are here to stay.