Cameron Taylor

Cameron Taylor (born June 10, 1990 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American racing driver currently racing in the TM Master Cup Series. An Ohio native, he began his career in midwest road racing and dabbled in short track racing. Making his professional debut in the National Racing Championship in 2011, he won his first professional race. Later that year, he used sponsorship from a business partner to acquire a ride for Trevor Carrington Racing at his home race in Columbus, where he was by far the slowest competitor on the course. His driving improved significantly in 2012, as he mounted an independent's trophy run with strong runs at Brands Hatch and Michigan. The biggest success of the season for Taylor was his second place finish in TM Lights, which earned him Rookie of the Year. Although his Independent's Trophy run in 2013 was uncompetitive, he was able to have a fairly strong run in TM Lights and was signed by Team Saar USA. Taylor had a strong run again at Brands Hatch and proved competitive at times, but also ran toward the back of the field elsewhere. Following the race in Gravis City, Taylor was dropped by Saar. He is notable for his outspoken personality (which has been tempered somewhat in recent years) as well as his abilities to finish races stronger than he starts them.

Early life
Cameron Taylor is a second generation driver. His father is a sports car driver with a number of wins in American road racing. Taylor grew up in the Cleveland area.

Racing Career
After a successful run in Ohio region karting and road racing, Taylor entered stock car racing in the VSCC (now known as the National Racing Championship. His campaign was notable for his surprise debut victory at Brands Hatch where he took the lead on the first lap and despite a late charge from Ivan Nikolayev (who drove for the much higher budget Derek Cash Racing operation) he was able to win. Although his subsequent runs did not see him rack up any additional victories, he finished third in the VERC standings. Following Leslie Riggs' injuries at the 2011 Round of Daytona, Trevor Carrington Racing searched for a driver. They found two: Erik Olson and Cameron Taylor. Taylor ran the newly renumbered #99 Calton Morel for three races. His debut at his home race, the 2011 Round of Ohio was a disappointing one, and he was by far the slowest car in the race, falling several laps down. This performance led to him being confronted by Tony Durbin, who advised him to keep out of the way of the leaders. The conversation was described as friendly, and the two remained on good terms.

His next race at Road America was considerably better. He was no longer the slowest car in the field, outpassing AJ Young, who he lapped several times. While outpaced by his teammate Dan Mackay it was a considerable improvement over the previous race. He failed to qualify at Indianapolis, but returned to the series for the Round of Decatur and qualified well for the qualifying race, alongside Tom Delgado. Going under the museum and hotel heading toward turn three, Delgado spun Taylor, who hit the wall hard, taking him out of the race. Both Delgado and Taylor failed to qualify, and the two developed a rivalry that lasted well into the following season

Cameron Taylor has been reported to be the new driver for Team Thunder, should it enter the Independent's Trophy again in 2012. Team Thunder is based in Taylor's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. These plans never came into fruition. However Taylor's old VERC team, RTR Automotive Engineering entered the Independent's Trophy in 2012 and made it on to the entry list. Their provisional schedule includes West Midland Bullring, Brands Hatch, Ohio Motor Speedway, and Road America along with the Karjala Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Decatur Raceway. In the 2012 Round of England, Taylor ran a smooth, mistake free race while many other driver experienced spins and crashes. He finished tenth after a hard fought battle with Divina Henton for the ninth spot in the closing stages of the race. He commended Henton after the race for a hard fought, clean battle. He made his next appearance at the 2012 Round of Michigan where he finished 7th, his best career finish. This was overshadowed by the mass boycott by the Master Cup Manufactures Association. His strong campaign was slowed by an unremarkable drive at 2012 Round of Ohio, Taylor entered his last Independent's Trophy race of the year at the 2012 Round of Wisconsin. He finished 16th, ahead of Peter Short, an achievement Taylor said was one of his proudest moments.

TM Lights and Career with Team Timothy
Following the 2011 TM Lights @ British Columbia, Bruce Wilkinson was suspended indefinitely after testing positive for heroin. Team owner Packer Carroll chose Taylor to drive the #171 Volpi for Gravity Racing, Inc.. He persued a deal with the team for 2012, but was not hired by Gravity. JJoining forces with Team Timothy in 2012, Taylor had a slow start to the season but my midpoint was running competitively As of the race at the New York Autoring he had three second place finishes but no wins in the series. At HLR Circuit, he won his first race and achieved a Perfect 70. Despite this, he fell short of the championship, which went to Australia's Troy Adams. Team Timothy retained Taylor for the 2013 TM Lights season

2014 - present
Team Saar USA returned to the Master Cup Series in 2014 after a one year absence. The team hired Joe Olenik and Taylor, who had raced each other in TM Lights. Neither mounted a serious championship campaign, but there were a number of strong runs for both driver. Taylor's came at the Round of England, where he finished 12th. He found the race to be encouraging, and added that Brands Hatch was his best track, having won there in the VSCC and been competitive there in 2012. Although he had a points finish at Gravis City, Taylor was dropped by the team for the Round of Brazil. He quickly bounced back, however, after Lenard International chose to hire him to replace the injured Jacob Kard for the remainder of the season, with the possibility of returning to the #6 car in 2015.

Other Racing
After failing to qualify for the 2011 Rockford 200 he made a comeback in 2013 with a one off appearance at Pocono. There he drove the #34 Saar sponsored by Blunt Instruments, a company that had been an associate sponsor of his for many years. He qualified for the race and ran competitively in it but mechanical troubles ended his race early. Taylor entered the ill-fated 2012 Hamnore World Championships as a one off. The series invited star drivers from other series to run the event, and he was one of them. The race was marred by the deaths of Cody Keaton, Tyson Lautenschlager, Tiffany Matthews and Peter Kreamer.

Taylor also competed in the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, held on an off-weekend for the Master Cup Series. Competing in the GT class, the car experienced mechanical difficulties during the night hours, but was able to finish the race.

Personal life
Taylor is an avid outdoorsman and has stated that he enjoys climbing and hiking. He is also displayed an interest in history, and visits notable historical sites between race weekends. While in high school, he competed for his school's track team, but in his words he "was a midfield runner." Taylor enjoys travel and music. For a time he had an intense rivalry with Tom Delgado, although the two make amends following Delgado's medical troubles in 2012. Taylor is also a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.