In human development theory, individuation describes the process whereby one becomes distinct from others.
It just isn’t a matter of a change in hairstyle or dress but rather the quest to define and understand who we are.
Taylor Courtney may not use the same terms to describe his life journey, but the desire to be his own man has guided the choices he has made. Taylor and Tyler Courtney, the latter known to the racing community as “Sunshine,” are identical twins. Both men are involved in racing.
Yet, identical twins are not identical people. In a funny way, NHRA driver J.R. Todd captured the gist of it during a simple conversation at the Chili Bowl Nationals. Todd said, “So if they call your brother Sunshine what do they call you? Moonshine?”
It was perfect in more ways than Todd realized.
Taylor started racing quarter-midgets with his brother at the age of seven and stuck with it until 2006. He then moved to mini sprints but going forth from there was difficult.
Even at this level the sport can be cost prohibitive, and as Taylor recalls it, “Our parents eventually said, ‘You’re on your own. You figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it.’ They said they would help all they could, but they really couldn’t afford it. Tyler got some help in areas I didn’t, but we both had opportunities, Tyler went one route, and I will say this.
“No matter what opportunity you are presented with you must perform. Tyler did that. I just took a different route. I always seemed to make life a little harder on myself.”
Perhaps so, but now he can see the fruits of his labors.
While in his teens, Taylor still got a chance to race on occasion, but for the most part his participation was limited to working on cars for other teams. After graduating from high school, he took a job with C & A Motorsports working with drivers Caleb and Dalton Armstrong. Then in 2013 he had a chance to sign on with USAC superstar Tracy Hines and his wife Krista.
That proved to be a valuable experience.
“I give Tracy a lot of credit,” he said. “A lot of the things I do now are because of him. He is not an easy guy to work for. But if you just listen to him, your job becomes a lot easier. Think how many times he had a DNF due to a parts failure? Very few.”
Still, something nagged at him. He felt a need to get away from the familiar and to strike out a bit on his own. Nine years ago, he jumped at a chance to move to Houston, Texas, and work for a racing team owned by family friend Kyle Anderson. Despite not racing in his first three years in the Lone Star State, he never regretted his decision.
“It was a good way for me to get out of the shadows,” he said. “I wanted to get out and start my own life. Within my first year, I met my wife and when my gig was done in Houston, I moved up to Fort Worth.”
Migrating north there were chances to race mini sprints, 305 sprint cars and midgets.
Yet, in time, getting behind the wheel was not his primary focus.
Moonshine’s future father-in-law Kevin Ramey had enjoyed a successful racing career. He moved from late models as a teenager to sprint cars and adapted quickly. He was the kingpin of the National Championship Racing Ass’n in 1994, and within a decade he had scored multiple titles with the American Sprint Car Series.
Even with this connection, racing was not going to be Taylor Courtney’s sole occupation. Instead, he secured a position in the same printing company where Ramey worked. It was a mature decision because in his words, “I had to get my feet on the ground.”
He has continually progressed with the company and still works there.
Not that he was ready to give up racing. He got his first sprint car when he was somewhere around 21 years old and Ramey had two midgets in the garage. They went to the Chili Bowl together for three straight years and then decided to build their own cars.
Chris Archer had been one of Kevin Ramey’s partners for years and then associates David and Gary McManus brought Honda on board. Serving as a research-and-development team has its perks, but in time the main players decided to go in a different direction.
Courtney said, “We wanted to speed the learning curve up a bit, so we parked our home-built cars. We bought a couple of used cars from Chad Boat and we also bought a couple of Toyotas between the 2022 and 2023 season.”
Things were getting serious.
When the 2023 USAC National midget season opened at Belleville, Kansas, in mid-May it is doubtful that many saw the RAMCO Speed Group with drivers Kyle Jones and Zach Daum as pre-race favorites.
Jones cracked the starting field both nights, while Daum occupied the third step on the podium in the lid-lifter and emerged victorious in the Saturday finale.
It was vindication of their hard work.
“We have run about a dozen outdoor shows and in 2020 we ran Indiana Midget Week with no success. We were taking a knife into a gun fight. But then we elevated our program to match other people and proved we knew what we were doing,” Courtney said.
With a solid foundation RAMCO Speed Group is prepared to make more noise.
In late July, Kyle Jones was the best in a POWRi West show at I-44 Speedway in Oklahoma City, and now the team has its eyes on the BC39 at the Dirt Track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sept. 27-30.
Given their humble beginnings, remarkably three trailers will make the trek from Fort Worth to Indianapolis loaded with six cars and push vehicles. On hand will be an interesting array of drivers.
“I don’t know if I would call us the misfits,” Courtney said with a laugh, “but we all come from different racing disciplines.”
Jones and Daum will be back along with NASCAR driver Josh Bilicki, Californian Landon Brooks and TQ midget graduate Connor Wolf. Then there is the matter of the sixth driver – Taylor Courtney.
To the surprise of many, this will be Moonshine’s first USAC race. He’s raring to go.
“I am extremely excited,” he said. “I really can’t put it in words. I haven’t competed at IMS since 2006 when I raced a quarter midget in the Gasoline Alley Nationals. Now I get to go back to this place in my hometown and race in front of my family and friends. That’s something I don’t get to do that much. But I’m not doing it just to do it, I have some expectations.”
This race is important to Courtney on multiple levels.
First, he is thrilled to be a part of an event that honors Bryan Clauson.
“I respected and grew up idolizing Bryan even though we weren’t that different in age,” he revealed. “But he was one of those guys you looked up to because he was so successful.”
Yet, there is more. This is a chance to showcase what he has accomplished.
The path he has taken to make his mark in racing is different than his brother’s but no less meaningful.
“What I like about what we have done with RAMCO is that we began with a two-car Chili Bowl effort and now we are taking six cars to the BC39,” Courtney explained. “We have seven cars now and an eighth being built. It is incredible. There really are no full-time people because we all work. We are a blue-collar team.
“Most of the time it is just me, my father-in-law and my brother-in-law Dylan in the shop.”
Most would agree that no matter how they got here, what they have built primarily with sweat equity has been impressive.
With some pride, Courtney said: “I like to tell my father-in-law that he has built the Keith Kunz Motorsports of the South.”
It will be a special time. He will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway accompanied by his wife Mackenzie and daughter Paislee who will celebrate her first birthday.
In the end it is both a homecoming and a barometer for how far he has come. His brother has spent some time in the limelight, while Taylor Courtney’s work has largely been behind the scenes.
That’s OK.
“I wanted to create my own story,” Taylor Courtney said, “and I think as a team we are creating our story, too.”