It’s No ‘Gray Matter’ that Taylor Hedrick is Coming to Win the Stick Shift Class
A guy who bangs the stick shift lever so hard he’s broken off the handle, Taylor Hedrick also shows the grit and determination that’s usually necessary to deal with the demands of drag-and-drive events.
His 2002 Ford Mustang is one of the quicker 2-valve cars that regularly participates in drag-and-drive events, as well as the annual ModNationals (an event designed around Ford’s modular engines).
Taylor was participating at the 2022 Hot Rod Drag Week in the Super Street Small Block Power Adder class, and completed the third day with his third-straight 8-second pass. “After a decent pass, I realized it was definitely hurt,” said Taylor.
A compression check revealed cylinders 4 and 8 had zero compression, but Taylor wanted to finish the week. So he overnighted the parts to fix it to the next stop, unplugged the fuel injectors on those cylinders, and made a 200 mile trip on 6 cylinders.
Taylor staged the car to get a 20-second time on day four to stay in competition, then spent 15 hours tearing the engine apart, fixing it and getting it back together again. Taylor made it to day five, but unfortunately rain ended the event.
Sick Week 2023 Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive will feature hundreds of America’s fastest street cars, racing and cruising through Florida and southern Georgia.
Sick Ward tickets / Individual day spectator tickets are available here.
Taylor entered the new drag-and-drive event Southeast Street N Yeet a few months later, and averaged out a 5.38 at 141 mph to pick up the Stick Shift title. Now three months later, Taylor is looking to continue his success at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in the Stick Shift class.
He put the single-turbo Mustang on the chassis dyno recently for final prep before the trip from North Carolina to Florida.
- Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Taylor Hedrick.