Jimmy Taylor Discusses Pursuit Of the Fours, 300 MPH, And Doorslammer Infamy

Drag racing is defined by measurable performances and milestones more than any other form of motorsport, and throughout its 75-plus years of organized existence, it has defied logic, physics, and preconceived beliefs, time and again. Drivers, car builders, and engine tuners have tirelessly pushed mechanical boundaries, showcasing the seemingly limitless potential of a wheel-driven, piston-powered automobile — and despite all of the decades that have come and gone and the technological advancements that have defined them, the clock has failed to halt progress.

In just a few short days, drag racing may witness yet another impossibility, as Tennessean Jimmy Taylor and engine builder and tuner Carl Stevens chase history at the World Cup Finals: Import versus Domestic event at the Maryland International Raceway. Their pursuit of glory — the 1/8-mile and 1/4-mile full-bodied records, including their goal to run sub-four-seconds and surpass 300 mph — have been well documented in the latter half of 2025. We’d call their prizes the last great barriers of doorslammer drag racing, but history has proven that limiting the future capabilities of our sport’s finest is a fool’s game.

Taylor’s combination of careful preparation and brazen aggression has propelled him into uncharted waters. He and Stevens have already written a new chapter in 1/8-mile door-car history, clocking a staggering 3.38 seconds at 240 mph in their PRC-built ’69 Camaro. Now, their sights are set on rewriting drag racing’s record books again with what would be one of the all-time-great feats if it comes to pass.

“This whole thing started with Carl,” Taylor opens. “He’d been doing my motors for about four years when we were running No Prep Kings. He told me he was building a car for the World Series of Pro Mod, and when I saw pictures of it, I said, ‘man, that’s a nice car.’ He asked me to drive it, but I told him, ‘why don’t you just sell me the car, I don’t want to wreck somebody else’s half-million-dollar car.’ So we worked out a deal, and it’s just worked out good for both of us. He’s a hell of a tuner, and I can drive the car. Our teams get along great.”

The car, with a 522-cubic-inch, 4.9-inch bore space Noonan Hemi with twin 98mm turbos (he’s bringing 111mm snails to World Cup), has been a technical Disneyland for both men. With Stevens on the laptop and Taylor in the seat, the two have fought through the development curve that inevitably comes with exploring the upper atmosphere of horsepower. “We had some converter problems early on,” Taylor said. “When all that power would kick in, the transmission would start slipping — we had 21 percent slippage. We were twisting the end off the input shaft on the transmissions. Marty at Neal Chance jumped in and built us an all-titanium converter, and when we put it in, the lockup problems were over. Then we started twisting the ends off the input shafts in the transmissions, so Rossler shut down their shop and built us 1.25-inch input shafts and drums.”

That fix proved to be the answer. With the drivetrain finally staying together, Taylor and Stevens began discovering what their combination was truly capable of. “We had already broken the record with the 3.45 and the 3.43, and that’s when we were twisting the shafts. When we put that new setup in, we went out the first pass and ran a 3.47 at 229, and we were all bummed out,” Taylor laughs. “But when we looked at the data, the coil had burned up on number eight, so it didn’t fire the whole run. We went 3.47 on seven cylinders. So we went back, fixed it, and on the next pass it went 3.38 at 240. That’s when I knew we had something special.”

But special doesn’t always mean simple. The team has taken extraordinary measures to ensure the car’s safety before pressing on toward numbers most drivers consider too dangerous to attempt. “We’ve been very careful about all of it. Rossler came out to the track with us and we tore the transmission apart every single pass to make sure nothing wasn’t getting ready to fail with me inside. We checked every nut, bolt, weld, everything. We pulled the tires off after every pass to check them, we checked all the wheels. We’re doing everything we can to make it as safe as possible for me.”

“After the 3.38 I told Carl I’d like to run it to the quarter, because I’ve never been that far before. I figure I’d run it a little ways and see how it went. He said ‘alright, let’s do it,’ but I said, but I wanted to put a new set of tires on it. The other set had 30 passes on them. So we swapped the tires out and went back up to run; I don’t know if we were going to run the full quarter, but we were probably going to run it a 1,000 feet. But it just spun the tires off the line and that was it.”

Despite his calm confidence, Taylor admits that what they’re attempting is intimidating. “I ain’t gonna’ lie, I’m a little nervous about running the 1/4-mile. But I’m going to do it to get the record. We’ve already had the car to almost 280 mph on our data recorder. We’ve checked that the tires won’t hit the wheel tubs when they grow, and we’ve consulted with Hoosier about the tires. Their engineers there have done their homework for us, and they told me they couldn’t say for sure if they’d do it because nobody’s ever been that fast on a Hoosier tire, but they felt confident they’ll take it.”

The team’s testing has been relentless and methodical. Taylor has made fewer than 20 total passes in the car since putting it in “unlimited” trim and beginning this record push, yet the results speak volumes. “We made 11 passes in one week, then four more the next,” he explains. “That’s all. Less than 20 total, including the ones where it shook. But that’s all it took, and we’ve got a real good handle on it now. It’s not a power issue; it’s just getting everything else to hold together. We had trouble after trouble with the converter slipping, but now that’s fixed. The car’s never lacked for power — it already pegged the dyno at 6,000 horsepower.”

With those issues behind them, Taylor and Stevens are heading to the World Cup with two missions, and they’re coming loaded for bear to accomplish them. The first is to re-write their own 1/8-mile marks — they believe they can go sub-3.30 seconds and surpass 250 mph in 660 feet. After that, it’s onward to infamy.

“We’re going to put 111mm turbos on it, and that’ll put another 12 to 15 pounds of boost in it. We figure it’s making 7,000 horsepower, maybe a little over. The plan at MIR is to start by testing the 60-foot, the 330, and the 1/8-mile. We want to run a 3.29 to the eighth and get it close to 250 mph, and we’re pretty sure we can do it. Then Saturday or Sunday, when I feel like it’s on a really good lick and going straight as an arrow, I’m going to run it out. We’ll turn the 1/4-mile clocks on every time, and when it feels right, I’ll run it.”

Taylor’s approach is part racer instinct, part controlled risk. “I told Carl, I don’t want to force it. If it ain’t safe, I ain’t doing it. My life’s worth more than a record. But if the car’s going straight, and it feels good, I’ll stay in it. But honestly, I don’t have any interest in driving 300 mph in that car. I just want to be the first to go four seconds. I think we can go 4.99 at about 285 mph, and if we can do that, I’ll be happy. If it goes 300 by accident, it goes 300. If we ran it all the way out, we think it’ll run 304 mph, and be in the high 4.80s.

At such speeds, things happen fast, and Taylor’s safety protocol is truly hands-on. “When my thumb leaves the transbrake, my hand goes straight to the parachute,” he said. “Once I’m past 120 feet, my hand doesn’t come off that parachute unless I’ve thrown it. If anything happens — if it gets loose or hits the wall — the weight of my hand will throw the chute automatically. We don’t have any fancy systems. It’s all manual.”

And though they could have quietly tested their way into history, Taylor wants to do it under the proverbial big-show lights, in front of a crowd. “We had the track for another day after that 3.38. Carl asked if I wanted to go ahead and do the 1/4-mile, but I told him, ‘no, let’s wait and do it at World Cup in front of everybody.’ People online were saying we weren’t doing it against other cars, or when other cars weren’t on the track, but that’s not true — we were testing there with other cars. But to do it in front of 50,000 people, that’ll be special.”

The Camaro, with its classic ’69 silhouette and all-billet turbocharged marvel under the hood, is a rocketship, but Taylor knows its limits as well as anyone. “It’s not the most aerodynamic car,” he says. “That front end’s got a blunt shape to it, and that big cup across the nose just catches air. But it’s held up just fine.”

Taylor’s confidence comes from detailed preparation, and less so on sheer bravado. “We’re going to be safe about it. But man, to do it in front of that crowd, that’d be something. Jason’s [Miller, World Cup Finals promoter] told me how wild it is up there, all the horns and everything. I’ve never been to World Cup, but I can’t wait. If it happens, it’s going to blow up the internet worse than when we went 3.38,” he proclaims.

Once the dust settles, Taylor plans to head south for the Winter Series and then make a return to the radial world for another crack at history. “I told Carl, after we do this, we’re putting it on 315 radials and going after those records, too,” he tells us. “I’ve been 3.54 on a radial before. I think we can go 3.20s, maybe even three-teens, if everything holds together. The 315s are faster, you’re not rotating as much weight. The big tire has advantages, but the radial is efficient.”

For all the talk of numbers, barriers, and of history, Taylor remains grounded but likewise confident. “Everybody told me I was crazy when I said we were going to run in the 3.30s. They said it couldn’t be done. Now we’re talking about fours and 300 mph. It’s just like anything else, technology catches up, and people figure it out. Ten years from now, somebody else will be doing what we’re doing and going even quicker. But right now, this is history,” Taylor says.

After World Cup, Taylor and his team will load up and head straight to Indianapolis, where their record-breaking Camaro will sit under the bright lights of the PRI Show floor. Whether or not it carries the title of world’s first four-second doorslammer by then remains to be seen, but if determination, preparation, and horsepower have anything to do with it, the odds are good that Jimmy Taylor and Carl Stevens will be the men to defeat the clock in the most epic of fashion, once more.