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What can a racing driver teach other racing drivers – especially when the students are a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, a Formula 1 world champion and a versatile sports car ace?
With Jordan Taylor’s skill set, turns out it’s quite a lot.
Taylor, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, has been named backup driver for the Garage 56 partnership between NASCAR, IMSA, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear that will field a NASCAR Cup Series-based Chevrolet Camaro as an entry in the “Innovative Car” class for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. He’s also serving as a coach and mentor for the car’s all-star driver lineup of Jimmie Johnson (the NASCAR legend), Jenson Button (the F1 champ) and Mike Rockenfeller — winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and multiple sports car championships around the world.
Not that Taylor thinks they need his help.
“My title is ‘driver coach,’ but I think that’s more of a joke than anything with the level of drivers that we have,” Taylor said, chuckling. “I think a more accurate title would just be a consultant, with a lot of experience on the sports car side — the Le Mans side, specifically, having raced there so many years.
“The Hendrick guys obviously have no experience there, so I can give them some feedback and things to look out for, whether it’s about rules or protocols of a secondary nature that are very easy to overlook when you’re not expecting them. It’s exciting being involved with a team like Hendrick and continuing my association with GM and Chevrolet.”
Indeed, Taylor would be a natural for the role just given his history with Corvette Racing. The younger son of sports car racing stalwart Wayne Taylor has tallied eight starts at Circuit de la Sarthe in Corvettes, claiming a class win in 2015 and three other podium finishes. Jordan and Antonio Garcia also earned class championships for Corvette in the WeatherTech Championship in 2020 and ’21 to go along with titles that Taylor earned in prototype competition in 2013 and ’17, both also with General Motors affiliation.
But Taylor also brings a truckload of intangibles to the effort — like an inquisitive technical mind and steely resolve that is sometimes masked by a happy-go-lucky personality that lights up any room.
As soon as he heard rumors about Garage 56, Taylor reached out to Hendrick Motorsp orts Vice President of Competition Chad Knaus, offering to help in any way. Knaus kept Taylor in the loop from the start, vowing to somehow get him on board.