After nearly four full years between starts in a 410-winged sprint car, Taylor Ferns looked like a veteran last weekend at Atomic Speedway in Ohio, aboard one of the nearly 900-hp machines. She was leading her heat race until a mechanical problem forced her to the pit area, and then blasted through the field during the main event, passing 11 cars, according to Ferns Racing.
The high school senior looks to build on that foundation this weekend, as she makes her second winged start of the season in the Jimmy's Towing/Indy Race Parts Maxim. Ferns will visit Skyline (Ohio) Speedway for an event with the Ohio Valley Sprint Car Association on Saturday, May 3.
“It feels great to be back in a winged sprint car,” said Ferns. “I kind of had forgotten what it felt like to be in a winged car, especially with other cars around, since it had been so long since I’d raced one. I had been wanting to race a winged sprint car for a while and it is great to be back in the seat.”
The native of Shelby Township  made three appearances at Skyline Speedway in a 410-winged sprint car in 2010, with a best feature event finish of 13th. Skyline is a high-banked three-eighths-mile, located in Stewart, Ohio.
“The one thing I really remember about Skyline (Speedway) is that it gets dry/slick pretty fast and stays that way all night long,” she said. “The key is to be prepared to race on a slick race track. I’ll have to be patient and get used to passing cars and getting through traffic. It kind of worked out starting at the back last week, because I was able to be in traffic quite a bit and get re-acclimated to it. The closing rate in winged cars is so fast, due to the horsepower, so that definitely took a little getting used to again.”
Last weekend at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio, Ferns was 10th-fastest in time trials of the 24 entries at the high-banked, third-mile. She was leading the second heat race when the crank trigger on the engine broke, leading to some repairs prior to the main event. She lined up on the inside of the 11th row for the A-Feature and steadily worked her way through a solid field of cars to finish 11th.