SunTrust Racing lost its new Pontiac Dallara and virtually all of its equipment when its transporter burned to the ground while returning from the recent Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask. 16 race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
While the transporter and everything in it was destroyed in the blaze near Amarillo, Texas, the team will be back in action for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 7, running the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley that scored a fifth-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
"We'll be racing at Watkins Glen, for sure, and we will be running for the rest of the season," Taylor said on Tuesday evening's Grand-Am Weekly on WROD, Daytona Beach. "We'll definitely be running for the rest of the season."
Taylor said the support of the entire Grand-Am community has made his return possible.
"It's been really, really tough," Taylor said. "We certainly have support from SunTrust, my biggest partner, Toshiba, Pontiac and the whole motor racing industry. People have really stood up, the Target Chip Ganassi team, along with everybody else, including Bill Riley, Rum Bum, Mike Shank and Mark Patterson. Just about everybody you can think of in our series has offered to help in whatever way.
"We're going to be running the Riley we raced in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the car that we've got for sale in all the magazines," Taylor said. "Thank God nobody bought it."
Taylor Racing accepted Ganassi's offer for use of the hauler, along with the lion's share of pit equipment and spares. The two teams are located in close proximity in Indianapolis.
Taylor opened the season with a fifth-place finish in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, co-driving with regular drivers Max Angelelli and Michael Valiante, along with his son, Ricky Taylor. After the new Dallara was involved in altercations in its first three races, it finished eighth at Laguna Seca. The next day, transport drivers Larry Harmon and Buddy Johnson were approximately an hour east of Amarillo on I-40 when they heard a noise from the trailer. They immediately moved the transporter safely away from the lanes of travel, and after exiting the cab, discovered that the trailer was on fire. Both of the drivers escaped without injury.
Taylor is not sure when his team will be able to return to the Dallara.
"I don't know at the moment when we will change cars," Taylor said. "We've got an engineer right now in Italy with Dallara. There were no other cars available, so when we come back with the new Dallara is yet a little bit unknown. In the meantime, Grand-Am has allowed us to go back to this (Riley) chassis. They have a force majeure clause in the rules; they've been very helpful, so we can compete again in the car we raced in the Rolex 24."
Once a Daytona Prototype team upgrades to a new chassis, Grand-Am rules prohibit teams from returning to the older bodywork.
"That rule basically stops teams having big enough budgets from running different chassis that work on different tracks," Taylor said. "In our situation, they've made it possible for us to run next week. Without that, very simply, we'd not be at the next race."
Grand-Am officials invoked the force majeure clause within 24 hours of learning of the fire. In addition, the SunTrust Racing and TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teams will be allowed to work next to each other on pit road, since Taylor Racing is sharing much of the rival team's equipment.
"When I say we lost everything, people don't understand the magnitude of it," Taylor said. "In addition to the car and engines, we lost our uniforms, our crash helmets. Even our notes and personal items - Max had notes from all the time he's been with us. We lost everything. But we're already working on getting everything ready. We'll have everybody in the right attire for The Glen. We will be running the same colors that we raced at Daytona - the Dallara paint scheme really doesn't suit this car."
Taylor isn't worried about data for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.
"We've got backup data, and we've got a lot of data dating back to 2004," Taylor said. "Also, Bill Riley offered to help, so we're not too worried about that. We've run the Riley for a long time, and we've won many races and the 2005 championship with it, so we know what it's like. It won't take much to get that car up to speed and be competitive, certainly for the next race."
One change of plans involved Taylor's return to racing. Since expanding his role as car owner and bringing on Valiante as full-time driver, Taylor's lone drives were planned for the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the endurance races at Watkins Glen and Salt Lake City.
"With amount of work to get the car up and running, we need to focus on Max and Michael," Taylor said. "I'm in no shape to drive the car right now."
