Inside the Fertile Imagination of Jordan Taylor–AKA, Rodney Sandstorm

Story by Steven Cole Smith • Photography as Credited • Illustrations by Sarah Young

“I grew up super shy,” says Jordan Taylor, which may come as a surprise to his social media followers. “I was super quiet, super introverted. I was never comf…

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Thanks and enjoy. 

Jordan Taylor is the only racer who's social media feed I actually care about.

Between his driveway karting Wheel to Wheel shenanigans and the Rodney and Fonzie content it's always fun and amusing.

I am very excited to see him being brought into the Corvette factory team fold.

The time he came up to Darrell Waltrip and the TV crew was hilarious. Darrell had no idea who he was.

So, a little behind the scenes on this. Steven was lined up to do the story, and I said that I could meet him at Jordan's house the day of the interview and handle the photography. Easy. I have known Jordan for a few years, and he's super-nice. 

So I get there, and Steven's running late--meaning I had extra Fonzie time! Steven finally got there, we did the interview, and it all went great. 

As we're wrapping up stuff, Jordan's like, So, wanna see the trophy room?

Sure.

It was one of the bedrooms in his house. (I saw "was" because he was in the middle of moving.) So we all walk down the hall, he opens the door, and we're greeted by all of the major trophies in motorsports: Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring, World Challenge. And he's totally chill about it--almost bashful. He has drawings that fans have made, too. Despite all of the achievements, he was still rather humble about the whole thing.

Then we visited his new house (up the street), and I got to hold the Rodney jacket. It's heavier (weight-wise) than you'd think. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Like David said, we did this story not too long before his move to the Corvette team was announced. That'll start with the Roar Before the 24, coming up, I think, January 4-6, in the brand-new mid-engine Corvette (which, in regular consumer trim, is pretty amazing). Brother Ricky will be back in the Penske Acura Prototype (meaning the brothers will no longer be racing against each other). Jordan is being replace in the family-owned number 10 Cadillac by Ryan Briscoe, one of the drivers who lost his job when Ford and Ganassi folded the Ford GT. Also, me being late is just par for the course.

The latest from Jordan: Fonzie driving CyberKart.

Another 24 Hours of Daytona Win. GTLM with Corvette

miatafan (Forum Supporter) said:

Another 24 Hours of Daytona Win. GTLM with Corvette

 

Yup, another top showing--and congrats to the Taylor family all around. Sadly I never saw Rodney this weekend. 

Didn't know who he was when I first met him June 17, 2009. Rainy day at MidOhio, it was an open lapping track day, and I was a local autocross newbie (at age 49!), trying out an open track day to see what it was like. Two MidOhio School Acura TSXs blew by me nose to tail with each other, in a roostertail of rain. I met the two cars in the pits later, and they were driven by "kids"!  I said you guys look like you are in high school!?  One said I just graduated, and the other said I graduated last year. I said wow, you're fast for just having got a drivers license - so what brings you here? He said just learning the track for the Grand Am race in a few days. I said you are racers?!?!  He said yea, I'm Jordan, this is my brother Ricky.  They still didn't ring a bell with me....Later in the afternoon I was getting some tips from Brian Till, and I asked him about the "fast teenagers", and he said you heard of Wayne Taylor right? I said yea, he said those are his kids. And I said Ohhhhh that explains it. 

In reply to t321sg :

That's awesome. And happy to see them do well. Fonzie, of course, rules, too.