After racing go-karts for seven seasons, Taylor Thring made the next step up in her racing career this past season in moving up to Flamboro Speedway’s Mini Stock division. Consistently working on getting better each week paid off en route to finishing 13th in the season ending standings.

“2016 was an on and off year,” she told Short Track Musings. “I struggled a lot with pressure and meeting others expectations. I learned so much and that’s what I’m grateful for! For me, I think I did decent for my first year, and I’m proud of myself for the things I did accomplish. After I wrecked at the start of my season, it took me awhile to get back up to speed, but competing in Sunset’s Velocity weekend did a lot for me. I gained a lot of confidence and did decent before running into some trouble in the heats, and I thrived the rest of the season meeting my own expectations. So with that, I’m really excited to see what I can do in 2017!”

The season also brought forth a unique memorable moment watching her father Darrin Thring race in Flamboro Speedway’s Frostoberfest event.

Photo Credit: Debbie Jo Zardo

“I haven’t watched my dad race since I was eight years old,” she said. “With him being my biggest mentor I will forever cherish the moments of our roles switching and me playing crew chief. I learned so much watching my dad, people joked with me asking if I took notes and I actually did and it paid off. He ran the outside line all day and made it work really well, he ended up fifth overall. The next weekend for part 2 of Frostoberfest I ran the car, and ran the same line he did, and qualified with my best lap time all year.

“I’ve never been so proud, and I was an emotional, nervous wreck just watching him, so truthfully that was the most fun I had all season, bringing back all my childhood memories.”

Making the move from go-karts to mini stocks, Thring notes there’s not a lot which transfers from one to the other, except for momentum.

“Once you find your ‘groove’ my Uncle calls it, keeping momentum is your goal,” he said. “I would go out almost every Tuesday up to Flamboro to practice. I found my marks, once I hit them, I would stay out for a solid 20-40 laps just running the same line to keep momentum, and watch my lap time’s drop. In a Go Kart, you don’t race on an oval track, so you’re making both left and right turns. Racing against 20-30 guys in a feature, on a track where you can pass almost anywhere, staying in front of the guy behind you is your goal. You need to keep momentum to catch the guy in front of you. You wait for them to mess up because in Karting we don’t get cautions and restarts. So really keeping and improving your momentum is so important. Hitting my marks, knowing when to throttle and when to hit the brakes, to make myself go that much quicker to catch the guy in front of me is what I took away from my go-karting experience.”

Despite being involved in karting for awhile before this year, remarkably the most memorable karting moment came during this past year, racing about 3 WRKC races this year to go along with her mini stock schedule. The last race on the schedule produced a moment to never forget, as she entered the weekend with no confidence in herself after wrecking her racecar the week before.

“I was still so upset and all I wanted to do was race,” she said. “I got cleared from the doctor that week after I told him I wanted to race that coming Saturday. So I then convinced my dad to dust off the Go Kart, and bring it out for an early Saturday morning at Flamboro Speedway. We took it out for first practice, went into the first corner to realize my breaks were gone, came in, dad made the change and went out for second practice and the Kart was on rails. I had always been a mid-pack kart, I had a list of about five pages full of top ten finishes, but I could never crack a top five.

“Years of bad luck with spark plugs, carburetor issues and chains constantly coming off, I finally had a really good feeling. That day, I won my first ever WRKC race and I had never been so happy. For the past 4 years, it was just my dad and I running our go-karting Program, so with it just being him and I there it made it really special. A moment I will never forget, the smile on his face was priceless. Ill cherish that forever.”

Racing isn’t anything new for the Thring family, with a lot of people in the Ontario racing community knowledgeable of Bev Thring in the cars he has built for Matt Bentley, Brandon McFerran and others. However, other members of the family have raced too with Darrin running over five divisions of different cars at different tracks, along with Dion, Cliff and Wayne. Taylor notes having them to lean on has been very beneficial.

“My Dad, Papa and Uncle Dion are my Pit Crew, and honestly I couldn’t have a better team of guys behind me,” Taylor said. “I can ask any question, and they understand that I’m learning and they will know the answer. When my Uncle Bev is around, he is the one who is sweet but straight up with me, and he’s who I go to when I need serious work done on the race car. My uncle Wayne is one of my biggest supporters. He has always seem my dedication to the sport and has never let me down. So with their help, I became the driver I am today, and I will forever be thankful for being able to have some of the most educated guys in the sport as my support system.”

With her rookie season complete, focus has now turned towards the 2017 race season.

“As a driver I’m much more confident in myself then I was last season so I’m more comfortable,” she said. “We made some changes on the car to fit my driving style and I am ready to show people what I have to offer. Starting a fresh season will be good for me, I turned a lot of heads my last race of the year, and I want to go into 2017 with that drive. As a team we aren’t sure of our plans yet, I believe we are splitting the season up to half running at Flamboro and the other half at Sunset, both tracks I really enjoy. I want to get as much experience as I can get before settling down at one track and running for points. I have a lot of exciting things in the works so I’m really looking forward to this season.”

Going into the year, she admits she doesn’t have a single goal, though rather she constantly sets new goals as she goes.

Photo Credit: Debbie Jo Zardo

“By the end of next season I want to have my first win, whether that be a heat or feature,” she said. “I want to make both Velocity events at Sunset Speedway. I also want to be able to know how to fix almost anything on my car. I am a really hands on learner and I love being involved so that’s one of my top priority goals. As for expectations, continue running top ten at Flamboro, breaking out of my comfort zone and not giving up. I want 2017 to be my year. 2016 was one of the hardest years of my life, on and off the track, so my number one goal for myself is to be happy. As long as I’m happy with how I finish, that’s all that matters.”

On top of the success she’s been able to have behind the wheel, she’s also helped raise money for Muscular Dystrophy through partnering with LAPS4MD.

“I am constantly looking for some way to help and benefit others,” she said. “I’ve gone through a lot in my high school years, and the one positive thing I took away from that was helping others not only makes the people your helping happy, but it makes me feel happy. Knowing I can help others with just a small amount of my time and effort makes me feel amazing. So when I heard about LAPS4MD I contacted them right away. My Aunt suffers from MD, I just found out in the last couple years, because prior to that they didn’t think I would understand. I know how she feels, how hard it is sometimes. Being a part of LAPS4MD and knowing I am benefiting the lives of people just like my aunt warms my heart. This year, even though I didn’t lead any laps, I felt like I needed to donate.

“So I partnered up with LAPS4MD to launch the Thring Motorsports Facebook page, where every “like” I received I donated a dollar between Tuesday-Thursday. We ended up raising over $200 dollars for those suffering with Muscular Dystrophy. I encourage other drivers to contact Brad Miller and join the team that is full of some amazing drivers from all over Canada and the States.”

For their support this year, Thring would like to thank her mom, dad, Papa, Uncle Dion, uncle Bev, the Mcferrans, the Gilberts, The Nagys, Randy Spencer and the Bartons, as well as her sponsors – Star Van Systems, ISLIP Flow Control, B&B Decals, Startford Auto Recycle, Scope Racing, and Cabral Racing Promotions.