It was a dark and stormy night . . . well actually, it was a blistering hot day in the Arizona desert in a little town named Goodyear, just outside of Phoenix. Nestled in the foothills is the infamous Phoenix International Raceway, known as the “Fastest Road in the West”, or know by her friends as “PIR.” It was at this location that somewhere in the deep crevices of my mind a seed got planted that I could actually become a racecar driver. Having attended numerous Indy Car races at this facility, I was able to watch the likes of Mario Andretti and many other big name drivers compete and win races. As I watched a 55 year old Mario Andretti circle the track in his farewell season, and win the race at age 55, I thought to myself, heck I'm only 40, I'm not too old to get started in this game. And somehow through a lot of support of from friends and family, I was able to make the dream become a reality. That particular year, I had friends that worked for a company that had sponsored one of the Indy Lights cars. Because of this, we were treated to VIP credentials and full pit and paddock passes that gave us access to not only the hot pits but interaction with the drivers and crew of one of the Indy Lights cars. I began to have conversations with these folks and realized that they are just “regular” people like me, they just happen to be doing something that I'd only dreamed of. While talking to this team I began to ask, what does it really take to get involved in the race game as a driver, and a few of the team members told me their stories which seemed to have one level of commonality in it which was, to go to a race driver school and learn the basics, and at the same time see if I had what it took to be a competitive driver. Within a year I had booked my three-day driver school at the world famous “Skip Barber Racing School”, which was one of the best schools at the time. I woke up in my hotel room in Sonoma, California to find that the eagerly anticipated day had finally arrived. While driving to Sears Point Raceway I could hardly contain myself with anticipation of finally getting into a racecar and experiencing the thrill of competition. Upon arriving at the track I found approximately 20 other men who had the same inclination. Now if you would have asked any of them if they would have had grit to get into the game and be a competitive driver, they would have all answered with a resounding, yes! Little did we know that as soon as you start going through the school experience it teaches you a number of humiliating lessons, most of which is being a professional racecar driver is not something that comes naturally, nor is it easy. The natural inclinations that your mind has, are proven to be incorrect when it comes to driving a racecar. As an example, screaming into a hairpin turn at the end of a long straight and lifting off the throttle, will immediately throw the car into an unrecoverable spin with a trajectory of a tire wall, or even worse. I found that the mind has to be trained to use new methods of thinking in order to get the most out of a racecar and often times lifting off the throttle is not one of them. Schools like Derek Daly, Skip Barber, Russell Racing and many others offer an extensive learning experience that usually starts in a sedan type car, or even a skid pad vehicle. These experiences are invaluable when it comes to learning how to drive a racecar. It was clearly obvious that some of the students would not finish the class, and others would not continue in the racing game, and merely enjoyed the experience. Out of the group of students that I participated with, there was the final group of those that would choose to go on to bigger and better things. This is the group that I was lucky enough to be counted in.

I learned in school that driving a racecar would take a lot of time, effort, and lots of seat time, and that also there was a whole other aspect of driving a racecar which was participating in races. Due to this fact, I signed up for additional test days and also participated in school run race events so that I could get some hands on race experience with invaluable coaching from instructors who had a lot of experience. This helped me greatly, and also gave me more confidence in terms of continuing on in the race game. As time went on I began to look into the cost involved in racing and various classes of racecars that I could conceivably participate in. Due to the fact that I was partial to Formula Car racing and envisioned myself as being able to drive an Indy Car one day, I tested Formula Cars such as Formula Dodge, Formula Ford, Formula Continental, and Formula Mazda. After looking into various series I opted to purchase a used Formula Mazda to continue in the evolution of my racing career. I also seized every opportunity to try other types of vehicles whenever the opportunity presented itself, and I also continue to run in some of the school series to gain additional education. I found the Pro Formula Mazda group to be highly competitive which really brings out the best and the worst in every driver. Through this period of a few years we campaigned Formula Mazda which brought about some high moments of podium finishes as well as some low moments with horrific crashes and destroyed racecars. This showed us both ends of the spectrum from victory to defeat, but throughout it all, even with a couple of trips to the hospital, we bounced back each time and went racing again that much smarter and better prepared for the next event. I found that often times it's the lows that you experience that bring about the greatest growth and the greatest positive change. Not only in racing, but in life in general.

As I grew in knowledge I then began to look toward running higher horsepower Indy Cars with the hopes of running an Indy Car with the Indy Racing League and perhaps even run the Indy 500. Who would have ever thought that a few years prior, I was just a spectator walking down pit lane. At that point we began participating in the Pan American Indy Car Series running 500 horsepower Lola Indy Cars for a partial season with an eye to testing an Indy Car with the Indy Racing League. We were finally able to begin testing an Indy Racing League Car in 2001 and 2002. At this point we began to hit a brick wall when it came to financing my passion. Once you get to that level of racing to be seriously competitive takes a lot of money, this means sponsorship dollars. Not only does a racecar driver have to be good at driving, but he has to be good at sales and marketing as well, and while I continue to have a passion to run an Indy Car I am realistic to know that it's going to take a lot of money from a very committed sponsor in order to do it properly. In the meantime I know that I will always be involved in the race game to some degree. I enjoy driving and continue to drive in different series with different classes of Formula Cars. Carroll Smith put it so well when he said “anybody who goes to the track to drive or work on a racecar that thinks they know most everything about racing, should probably just go home.” I find that every time I go to the track, it's a learning experience. Not only is it exciting to learn about different techniques that make you a better driver, it's also exciting to learn about various other aspects of racing such as, car set-up, vehicle dynamics, aero dynamics, and data acquisition. There is no end to what one can learn, nor is there any end to the amount of enjoyment and pleasure that one can find by merely taking the initial steps towards your dream.

- Taylor Fletcher