SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — July 2, 2014 — There is no place Taylor Ferns would rather spend the Fourth of July and the days leading up to and after it, than at the race track. She will get plenty of laps this week as she competes in three 410-winged sprint car races in the state of Ohio. This comes on the heels of racing twice last week in the Buckeye State during Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
Ferns will open the trio of races aboard the Jimmy’s Towing/Indy Race Parts Maxim on Thursday, July 3, at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe for the “Night the Stars Come Out” with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions. She will then visit Attica Raceway Park on the Fourth of July, and will wrap up the weekend on Saturday, July 5, at Fremont Speedway. Both of those races will be Fremont/Attica Sprint Title (F.A.S.T.) events.
“Racing with the All Stars (Circuit of Champions) you really have to be on your game, because you are racing against some of the best like Dale Blaney and Randy Hannagan,” said Ferns. “I’ve raced with them a couple times this year and have learned a ton every time I’ve been on the track, whether it’s been for hot laps a heat race or a feature. As a driver you always want to keep getting better and racing against tough competition is a good way to do that.”
Last week at Atomic Speedway during Ohio Sprint Speedweek, Ferns finished 16th in the A-Feature, with a star-studded 62-car field in attendance. The 18-year-old opened the night by turning the sixth-fastest lap in time trials. She would finish fourth in the first heat race, earning a spot in the six-car dash, by way of her qualifying position. Ferns lined up fifth in the dash and came home sixth. In the 40-lap main event, she would end finishing 16th in her first-career main event with the UNOH All Star Circuit of Champions. She has made four starts at Atomic thus far in 2014.
“It was a great accomplishment to make the show and the dash with 62 cars there,” said Ferns. “That was the most cars at a Speedweek show since the 1990s. I was happy to make the show, but I always want to finish a little better and felt like I made a few mistakes in the feature. We’ll learn from that and should be better when we go back to Atomic (Speedway) this week with the All Stars.”
Ferns has made one start at Attica Raceway Park this season. She led a number of laps on May 9, after starting on the pole, but a spin relegated her to a 14th-place finish. In heat race action that night, the native of Shelby Township, Michigan, finished third. Ferns was scheduled to race at Attica in the opener of Ohio Sprint Speedweek on June 20, but that event was rained out.
“When I go back to a track for the second or third time, I always feel like having been there previously helps,” she explained. “I made a rookie mistake last time there, and as much as I hated it then, it was probably good it happened, because I learned my limit from it. Sometimes I need to slow down and back off the throttle. The corners at Attica (Raceway Park) are two completely different corners and I know that now and that will help this week and hopefully we have a lot better outcome than last time.”
The 18-year-old will be making her debut at Fremont Speedway this weekend. The Northern Ohio oval is semi-banked third-mile located at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds and features some of the toughest weekly competition in the country.
“We’ve been using the GoPro camera a lot this year and I always watch those before I go to a track I’ve never been to,” Ferns said. “Watching GoPro video from previous races, I can see the lines I’ve run and mistakes I’ve made, so that I can correct those. Going to a place for the first time like Fremont (Speedway), you have to kind of expect the unexpected and be ready to react. Cole Duncan is a good friend of our’s and he’ll be a good person to talk to at Fremont, since he’s raced there.”
Ferns has earned four top-10 finishes in 410-winged sprint car races this season. She was victorious at Southern Ohio Speedway in May with the Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association, which marked her first triumph in a winged sprint car.
Taylor Ferns and Ferns Racing would like to thank their valued partners: Jimmy’s Towing Recovery & Transport, Indy Race Parts, Motor City Auto Transport Inc., National Auto Placement, Project Podium, Women’s Sports Foundation,Lyn St. James Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation, FK Rod Ends , Lucas Oil, K&N Filters, Lansing Sanitary Supply (LSS), Simpson Race Products, ButlerBuilt, Allstar Performance, Stanton Racing Engines, Hoosier Tire Midwest,Race4Girls and Racing2Cure.
Keep up to date
For the latest news, results and information on Taylor Ferns and Ferns Racing and to view a full 2014 schedule, visit TaylorFerns.com. Follow Taylor on Twitter at @TaylorFerns and like her on Facebook.
