SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich.—Sept. 4, 2013 — There is just something about one-mile dirt ovals that agrees with Taylor Ferns and her driving style. After making her first start on a track that size back in May at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, she has made four more appearances on historic fairgrounds ovals and has finished in the top-10 in each subsequent start, including finishing fifth in the Ted Horn 100 with the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois on Sunday, Sept. 1, which marked her best-career finish with the series. The 17-year-old followed that up with a 10th-place finish on Labor Day with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
“The mile tracks are great to race on, especially in the Silver Crown cars.” Ferns said. “I watched a lot of film in preparation for the miles and I think that helped me adapt to them quick. Everyone said DuQuoin is one of the trickiest tracks, so I was a little surprised that I picked it up so quickly. I really enjoy racing on the mile dirt tracks and have had fun on each of the three I raced on this year.”
Ferns opened the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series portion of the event at DuQuoin by recording the seventh-fastest lap in time trials. She circled the one-mile oval in 31.772-seconds, which put her on the inside of the fourth row for the 100-lap main event. The native of Shelby Township, Mich., ran among the top-10 for the entire race aboard her No. 35 Toyota-powered Beast. Several cautions slowed the field and fuel mileage came into play as well in the late going. Along with marking the best finish of her career in a Silver Crown machine, the fifth-place showing was the third straight top-10 finish with the series for Ferns.
“With people running out of fuel at the end, I was definitely concerned about it,” she noted. “Ever since we were running fourth at Pikes Peak (International Raceway in June) and ran out of fuel late in that race, it’s always on my mind late in the races. With about six laps to go at DuQuoin we started to run out of fuel and kind of coasted around there and tried to get as much fuel into the line as we could. It was a good finish and we raced against some of the best drivers in USAC.”
On Labor Day, the high school senior was 18th in qualifying for the ARCA event, which put her on the outside of the ninth row for the Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care. She quickly began moving toward the front of the field and ran as high as fifth in the latter stages of the 100-lap contest. Following a late pit stop, Ferns restarted 16th and was able to work her way back up to 10th to earn her second straight top-10 finish on the dirt in ARCA competition in the Motor City Transport Inc./National Auto Placement Toyota. She has three top-finishes in six ARCA starts in 2013.
“We had a solid top-10 finish in the ARCA race, but not quite the finish we were looking for,” said Ferns. “I just messed up in qualifying and that set us back and then we were running fifth and had a bad pit stop and lost a bunch of spots. We were able to make up quite a few positions at the end and came away with another top-10, so I can’t complain.”
Ferns moved up a spot in the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series point standings and is currently ninth. She has made a total of five starts in the “Big Cars” this season. In the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the No. 55 Venturini Motorsports Toyota is seventh in owner points. The winningest female driver in USAC history will return to action this coming weekend in an ARCA event at the Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday, Sept. 7. She made her Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series debut at the seven-eighths-mile paved oval last year and finished 10th.
“The main goal at Iowa (Speedway) is to take care of the car and get a good finish,” she stated. “It will be good to get back on the pavement and back to Iowa. I’ve heard a lot great things about the past ARCA races there and am looking forward to it. I ran well there last year in the Silver Crown car and that should give me a good baseline for the ARCA race. We’ve had a few top-10s and we’ve run in the top-five, so we know we can do it and a top-five is what we are shooting for.”
Taylor Ferns and Ferns Racing would like to thank their valued partners: Motor City Auto Transport Inc., National Auto Placement, FK Rod Ends, Lucas Oil, K&N Filters, Lansing Sanitary Supply (LSS), Simpson Race Products, Indy Race Parts, ButlerBuilt, Allstar Performance, Stanton Racing Engines, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Lyn St. James Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation, Race4Girls and Racing2Cure.
- Admin Account on Sep 04, 2013
- Article Date: 9/4/2013 by Ferns Racing PR