TULSA, Okla. — Toyota development driver Taylor Reimer has taken a unique path to the highest levels of midget car racing. Her career comes full circle this weekend at her home track — Port City Raceway.
After starring as a young and upcoming racer, she made the decision to step away from racing to focus on academics and competitive cheer. This month, she’ll be doing both – graduating with honors from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Health and Exercise Science and a minor in Business, as well as continuing to pursue her goal of becoming the first woman to win a national midget feature.
This comes after a partial season last year that saw her become just the sixth woman ever to earn USAC fast-qualifier honors and then followed it up by qualifying second at the Turkey Night Grand Prix where she and teammate Kaylee Bryson became the first all-woman front row in USAC history.
Reimer started racing go-karts and age six and grew up at Port City Raceway.
“I grew up racing at Port City Raceway,” she explained. “I raced against Kaylee Bryson, Jason McDougal, Cannon McIntosh, and we would watch Christopher Bell. There’s a lot of great drivers that came from Port City and it shows.
“There’s not a lot of tracks in Oklahoma, but everyone knows the Chili Bowl and the Shootout, and the talent continues to grow,” Reimer added. “As soon as my dad got me into racing, I knew that I loved it and had a passion for it. I knew I was going to do it for a long-time and we started winning a lot at Port City. I am the winningest female at the track, which is an accomplishment that I’m extremely proud of.”
But Reimer stepped away from racing at age 14 to follow another dream.
“I made a decision when I was 14 that it would be best if I took a break from racing to focus on academics and cheer,” she explained. “After graduating from Bixby High School, I went to the University of Oklahoma where I became a cheerleader on the OU All Girl team.”
Reimer returned to racing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Last year, I had the opportunity to jump back into a midget after COVID hit and this year we’re back in it full time,” Reimer explained. “I always knew that I would race again. I just didn’t know if it would be possible with school. When covid happened, it opened up a lot of free time on my schedule and I got the opportunity and I’m just glad to be back.”
Reimer drives for Keith Kunz Motorsports, which has produced stars the likes of Kyle Larson, Bell, Rico Abreu, Michael Kofoid and more.
“I would say I grew a lot last year, especially the last few months with Keith Kunz and the KKM team. I’ve learned more about the car and how it all works,” Reimer explained. “You could see my progression. I was getting faster each time I was on the track. Now I just need to figure out how to get around cars in traffic and get to the front because we are fast.”
Reimer desperately wants to win a midget place and this weekend’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget Series visit to her home track might be the ideal time for it to happen.
“My main goal this year is to win a midget race in either USAC or POWRi. We’re racing the full season with Keith Kunz Motorsports and Toyota in 2022 and we have an awesome sponsor in BuzzBallz Cocktails that’s coming along with us,” she said. “We’ll see what we can accomplish. My main goal for sure is to win.”
While she’s yet to win a national midget race, Reimer knows a thing or two about winning.
“I was in competitive cheer and stunt. I won several state and national championships in high school at Bixby,” she said. “In 2021 at OU, we won our collegiate national championship after previously finishing as a national runner-up in 2020. I like to do the best I can in everything that I do whether it’s a team sport with cheer or if it’s coming out to the race track.”