“Times have changed, which has made my stuff kind of change as well, which is good and bad,” Taylor said. “It’s been a fun kind of journey. I mean, obviously, I grew up in an era of when Instagram and Twitter and all this stuff was born. So it’s kind of been cool to see the progression of it and how it’s changed and a lot of it’s good, some of it’s bad, but it’s always a unique challenge to kind of figure it out what works and what doesn’t.”
Many of Taylor’s videos are hits. Whether it’s alter-ego Rodney Sandstorm at a NASCAR or IndyCar race or highlighting a GT driver’s perspective on a prototype driver flashing their lights at him or mimicking a NASCAR driver creating a voicemail with a rap song playing in the background, Taylor’s creative genius provides meaningful insight as to what it’s like to be a race car driver.
More importantly, it hasn’t changed Taylor’s personality, though people may not see him as they think they should. Instead of approaching a happy-go-lucky driver always looking to give people a laugh, upon meeting Taylor they’ll see a driver who is a self-described extroverted introvert who can be more reserved than people expect.
“People always ask me to do something funny on video when they see me,” Taylor said. “And I’m not that guy in person, I mean, in certain situations with like my friend group or my family, yeah. I’m definitely more outgoing and more comfortable in my own skin, but when I’m at the track or when I’m with people that I don’t know, I’m definitely more of the quiet type of guy, which definitely surprises most people considering my social media.”
While Taylor can be reserved off the track, he’s open to driving any type of race car and he’s proven that through his career. His professional career started in GT cars in Grand-Am before moving to Daytona Prototypes, but Taylor has been a mainstay for Corvette Racing at Le Mans, scoring a class win in 2015 along with a pair of runner-up finishes and a third in class at the twice-around-the-clock spectacle.
Taylor and his older brother, Ricky, were teammates for their father’s team until Ricky received a call to race for Team Penske in 2018. Jordan remained at his father’s operation until moving to Corvette Racing in 2020.
When Chase Elliott was injured in a snowboarding accident in March, Taylor received a call from Hendrick Motorsports to take over the No. 9 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas, putting the car fourth on the starting grid. After finishing 24th in Austin, Taylor ran the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in the Portland NASCAR Xfinity Series race, finishing 27th.
That diversity also extended to a May CARS Tour Pro Late Model race at North Wilkesboro in a car painted to look like the iconic DuPont Chevrolet Jeff Gordon raced during the late 1990s. Taylor finished 20th.
Additional races are on Taylor’s radar. IMSA and sports cars have been his home, but Taylor is open to trying new cars and track types, including sprint cars on dirt.
“A sprint car is a completely, completely different animal, a different skill set again,” Taylor said. “So I think it would be just a ton to learn. So I’d love to give it a try. I mean, a test day would be the first step for sure with the right people, someone there to kind of come help coach me and help me understand, you know what works, what doesn’t work and the driving style of it. So yeah, I’d love to give it a shot.”
As of press time, Taylor was third with Corvette Racing co-driver Antonio Garcia in the IMSA GTD Pro class standings, 109 points behind the class-leading duo of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth in their No. 14 Lexus.
This story appeared in the August 9, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
