Meet the #PEAKSquad: Alex Taylor, The Fastest Woman in Drag-and-Drive

Picture this: You’re pinned back against your seat behind the wheel, foot on the pedal, fighting to keep the steering wheel straight as the engine roars. At over 200 miles per hour, your peripheral is a blur, but somehow your mind slows down, taking it all in as you push the limits.
 

“It’s like being on the fastest roller coaster you’ve ever been on, but multiplied by three,” explains Alex.

Most of us will never get the chance to experience that kind of speed, but for Alex Taylor, it’s just another day at the office. Since she was a teenager, Alex has been breaking speed records in the drag-and-drive circuit — often as the youngest person at the event. 

We caught up with Alex leading up to Speed Week 2024, where she aims to surpass 224 miles per hour on the Bonneville salt flats. Of the 860 drivers that have hit speeds over 200 mph on the flats over the years, fewer than 30 are women. It’s been a wild ride to get where she is today, and Alex is loving every second of the journey.

Fueling Her Need for Speed

Alex has been in the shop alongside her parents since she was just a few weeks old. Her dad, Dennis Taylor, grew up in drag racing, and young Alex fell hard for his ‘67 Camero lovingly dubbed “Badmaro.” Alex’s heart was broken when the Badmaro was sold, but her parents soon gave her the opportunity to rebuild her mom’s ‘68 Camaro and make it her own.

Before they knew it, the car that was meant to drive Alex to high school was ready to race, and at age 16, Alex was ready for her racing debut at Drag Week. 

An Early Debut 

While social media wasn’t as omnipresent as it is today, Alex found a way to connect with her fellow racers ahead of her first Drag Week. She spent time on forums like Bangshifts, where she could meet other people who were going to Drag Week. Her posts on the forums drew plenty of attention. 

Much to Alex’s surprise, people took notice of the 16-year old girl who had been posting about her build online, and were thrilled to meet “the girl with the Camaro!” 1320Video filmed her run and jump started Alex’s career, which now spans over a decade and includes racing, content creation, running Alex Taylor racing, and co-hosting Motor Trend’s Hot Rod Garage.

Finding Inspiration 

Despite racing being a male-dominated industry, Alex had some pretty amazing role models to look up to. Growing up in the nostalgia scene of drag racing with her dad, Alex idolized Barb Hamilton, the first woman to get her NHRA license and a staple of the drag racing world in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
 

Before she ever entered her first race, a 15-year-old Alex got the opportunity to meet Barb at an event, where she got some advice she’ll never forget. Barb told a young Alex, “Whatever you do, make sure you’re hands-on. No one can stop you if you’re hands-on and you have the skills” — advice Alex still carries with her.  

Growing up, she also watched Jessi Combs take on great challenges and break records while building an on-camera career — something Alex can now relate to. She credits Jessi with validating her dreams of taking on the entire driving world. 

“People would ask me what I wanted to do with my career, and they were always looking for a definitive answer,” she explains. “I wanted to go land speed racing, drag racing, dirt biking, and all of these different paths, and people had a hard time digesting that. But I knew I could point to [Jessi’s] broad resume and say that’s what I want.” 

Risk & Reward

Of course, when you talk about Jessi Combs’ amazing accomplishments, you also have to acknowledge the impact of her unfortunate accident and untimely passing. Alex remembers watching the documentary about Jessi and seeing the accident footage the night before her first trip to Bonneville in 2023, which gave her cold feet heading into the event.

Wracked with nerves as a Bonneville rookie, heavy rains and terrible conditions made Alex second guess driving the salt flats. But instead of letting her anxiety take over, she put her trust in her team and the comprehensive safety protocols in place at Bonneville, which she admits “is actually much safer than I ever realized.” 

She now looks at Jessi’s impact on the land speed world through a different lens. Rather than letting her tragic crash take over the narrative, Alex focuses on the people whose lives Jessi touched and all of the young people she inspired to chase their dreams. 

Driving fast comes with inherent risk, but it’s simply what Alex Taylor loves to do. In her own words, “high speed is what makes me feel alive.” 

Hitting High Speeds

Alex had a lofty goal of hitting “the sixes,” or finishing a run in under seven seconds, as she worked on her ‘55 Chevy. And while it didn’t come easy, back-to-back wins and steadily improving times built her confidence in the car. With plenty of hard work under her belt, Alex soon hit two major milestones in the Chevy: breaking 200 miles per hour and hitting the sixes.  

Achieving these milestones is what keeps her going despite a constant slew of challenges. When everything is going wrong and she starts to question why she’s doing all of this, making a pass puts all of that negativity out of her mind. 

“It’s expensive, we’re not sleeping, we’re breaking things, and sometimes we ask, ‘Why are we doing this?’ But those six seconds show me why every time. I do this because it makes me happy.”

The drag racing community is as much of an inspiration as the feeling she gets behind the wheel. Being able to impact and inspire others, including young girls and boys, is a powerful source of motivation that fuels all of Alex’s pursuits.

Ambitious Goals for Bonneville

No longer a Bonneville rookie, Alex knows what to expect at the salt flats her second time around — including the amazing community. 

Respect, honor and tradition play a big role at Bonneville, and Alex went into her first year humble and eager to learn. A supportive community of “incredibly helpful, nice people” gave her the advice she needed and walked her through the whole process, which made her rookie year “one of the most rewarding and satisfying experiences.”

This year, Alex has her eye on a red hat, proudly worn by members of Bonneville’s 200 mph club. In August, she’ll be behind the wheel of a well-known car with the goal of surpassing 224 miles per hour to beat the class record. She hopes that Keith and Tonya Turks’ record-setting Camaro will help her get a red hat of her own. 

At Home on the PEAKSquad

Alex is committed to partnering with brands that she actually uses — that also align with her personal values. She’s built a strong following on social media by being authentic and showing her real process for builds, which makes her a perfect fit to join the #PEAKSquad. 

“The PEAKSquad is like family,” says Alex. “The team truly has a passion for automotive that extends from people like me who love racing all the way to the daily driver. They promote products that they really believe in, and hold the same excitement and passion that I do about the industry that we love.”

Don’t expect Alex to slow down anytime soon. She has big plans to expand her personal brand and grow Alex Taylor Racing while achieving unparalleled success both out on the course and in front of the camera. Find out more about Alex Taylor Racing and catch her chasing her dreams at Bonneville Speed Week 2024 on her YouTube Channel followed by Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week.