Wayne Taylor on his IMSA legacy and Le Mans dreams

Many remarkable names in racing have graced the IMSA paddocks since the series’ inception in 1969, but few of the legends have been a presence so consistently, for so long — and so good at winning — as Wayne Taylor.

“Mark Raffauf, who works for IMSA [as its Senior Director of Race Operations], reminded me that he and I are the only two people that have actually been to every single sportscar race since the end of ‘89,” Taylor says. “But in those days, it was just about driving, and I couldn’t think of anything else.”

If you know IMSA, you know Wayne Taylor’s name and the success associated with it. There’s the legendary No. 10 Konica Minolta car and its incredibly IMSA run with him at the wheel. His team, Wayne Taylor Racing, boasts two IMSA driver championships, back-to-back Michelin Endurance Cup Championships, and wins at crown jewel events like the Rolex 24 at Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. His legacy includes two sons, Ricky and Jordan, who’ve kept the Taylor name on the podium. 

And that legacy continues. This weekend’s Rolex 24 kicks off Wayne Taylor’s 37th season in the American sports car series, and while his mind is no longer consumed with driving (he doesn’t miss it, either), racing is very much still his life. 

But Stateside racing wasn’t the life he had originally intended for himself. In fact, his arrival in IMSA’s paddock was somewhere between a pivot and a coincidence. One that’s turned into a permanent residence, with no signs of slowing.  

“Everything here just works”

Back in late 1986, Wayne Taylor was a 30-year-old South African fresh off winning the South African Formula 2 championship. He had one target in his sights: making his way to Formula 1. So he did what every F1 hopeful knew to do back then, and relocated to England with his wife.

Then, reality set in.

“It was going to require enormous amounts of money [to get to F1] and there was no way I was going to be able to raise it,” Taylor says. “But I was never going to give up — I [was] going to be a racing driver for the rest of my life.”

Looking around for a fallback, he noticed sports car racing’s popularity, particularly in Europe, where the late ‘80s played host to the Group C World Championship. Boxy, wedge-shaped prototypes with imposing wings, like the Porsche 956, ruled the endurance series. Taylor figured it would be an easy leap. 

“Not only could you change from Formula 1 to sports cars, but sports cars have a longer shelf life for drivers,” Taylor said. “In Formula 1, when you’re done by the end of your thirties, you’re sort of done. Whereas, guys are now racing until… well, I was racing until I was 51.” 

The Porsche 962 C driven (in part) by Wayne Taylor leads a fellow Porsche 962 C in 1987’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It was an easy pivot for Taylor: he took 4th in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1987, then shifted to the World SportsCar Championship, moving up the ranks in Group C. At the time, IMSA-sanctioned cars could participate, so Taylor jumped at the opportunity and took on a few races across the pond. His now-37-season streak with IMSA began at Tampa, Summit Point, and Del Mar late in 1989. In Del Mar, he put the Chevrolet Spice car on pole, and Taylor says that’s when the calls started coming for him to drive for other teams. But time and resources dwindled in Europe, and without a definitive drive, his small family returned to South Africa.

The U.S. came calling again soon, with Jim Miller bringing Wayne on for a full season — 10 races — in the 1990 IMSA season. “Everything happened. Everything here just works,” Taylor says of the United States. “You know, no matter what you want, you can get.” Taylor wanted to compete, and so he and his family moved Stateside to become a mainstay in the IMSA paddock.

“We really didn’t have any money, and it was a real struggle when we first got here,” remembers Taylor. “But I realized a couple of things: that in America, everybody loves winners, so I needed to win a championship — and did that with Jim Downing.” 

That first IMSA title came in 1994. The wins kept coming: Taylor took three more Exxon World SportsCar Championships, two wins at Daytona in the Rolex 24, and a win at Sebring. In 1998, he clinched a Prototype-class win at Le Mans with a Ferrari and became the first driver to win at Petit Le Mans in its inaugural race.

The first half of the new millennium saw Taylor split his time between IMSA and working closely with Cadillac in its Le Mans effort (until it pulled out of the competition). His last big podium came in 2005, when he won his second Rolex 24.

Wayne Taylor with his team members in Victory Lane in the 2005 Rolex 24

Photo by: F. Peirce Williams / Motorsport Images

Wayne Taylor hung up his helmet after the 2006 season. But his story only turned a new page: Taylor joined with his longtime driving partner, Max Angelelli, to lead the Wayne Taylor Racing team. And soon racing became a family affair.

Wayne Taylor & Sons, Inc.

According to their dad, Ricky and Jordan Taylor — Wayne’s sons — didn’t much care for racing as kids. He would take them go-karting, though, if only to get them away from the television. He could see their talent, but wasn’t going to pressure them into the sport if their heart wasn’t in it. That all changed when Ricky and Jordan watched their father win at the Rolex 24 in 2005. 

“It was like a lightswitch,” Taylor says. “And that’s all they wanted to be, was racing drivers.”

The Taylor boys joined the family business for real in 2007. “I got them started — but really, truly, they had to earn the right to do what they’ve done,” says Wayne Taylor. “And I think they’ve done that.”

Within a decade of joining their father’s team, Ricky and Jordan would celebrate winning their own Rolex 24. “We had 2017 where we had the whole family, Ricky and Jordan, together with Max [Angelelli] and Jeff Gordon at Daytona,” remembers their father. “We won out of the box. We won five races in the championship.”Jordan would eventually move from Wayne Taylor Racing to the factory Corvette GT program. Ricky left the nest to drive for Roger Penske and his Acura Team Penske prototype entry.

Race winner Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli, Jeff Gordon at the 2017 Rolex 24

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Get Wayne Taylor talking about his sons, and he sounds more proud of them than what he’s accomplished. 

“Jordan has had a great career. [He] won Le Mans. Won many championships,” says Wayne Taylor. “Ricky’s had an incredible career for Roger [Penske]: won championships, won the Rolex 24, won Sebring. They achieved all of this before the age of 35, and I was doing this until 50. It’s been fantastic.” 

Taylor’s also aware that in making racing a family affair, it probably hasn’t been easy for Ricky and Jordan.

“They probably hate driving for me,” Taylor says. “In fact, I’m serious. They really don’t like driving for me, I think, because they say I never leave them alone. I’m always on the phone with them, and so it’s a constant battle for them. I can’t even call them and say, ‘I think you should do this in the next race.’ But I really like it.”

After exploring IMSA life outside of the Taylor-family garage, Ricky and Jordan rejoined dad to race the No. 10 and No. 40 Acura GTP cars in 2024. This year, they have one new addition to the team — although it’s played a huge part in all of their careers: General Motors. Specifically, Cadillac.

Winning isn’t everything…it’s the only thing 

As the 2025 IMSA season kicks off at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Taylor talks about it like a family reunion.

“You know, with the new program coming on board with Cadillac, it’s like, I’m going back to my old family,” says Taylor. “I won the championship in 1996 in an Oldsmobile Aurora. I won the Grand Am championship with a Pontiac with Riley & Scott. And then came the Corvettes. We won races in Corvettes. And then I went over to be team owner.”

As team owner, the GM, Cadillac partnership continued, leading to two IMSA championships in Daytona Prototype International (DPi) competition. As the DPi and Prototype category was retired to make way for the now-running Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, Wayne Taylor Racing partnered with Acura for a brief stint, before announcing at the end of 2024 a return home to Cadillac.

The #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V- Series.R at this year’s Roar Before the 24

Photo by: James Gilbert – Motorsport Images

Their shared history has made the reunion a palpable moment of excitement at the 2025 Rolex 24. Sights are set for getting back into groove with Cadillac — and not just here in the States with IMSA. Both have their sights set on Europe and the potential for a win that neither Wayne, his family, nor Cadillac have managed to achieve.

“One thing we haven’t done is win Le Mans overall,” says Taylor. “Both Jordan and I have won classes — he’s won the GT class; I won the prototype class in the Ferrari. With the current rules and regulations [Ed note: both IMSA and WEC GTP cars share the same cars and similar regulations], it’s possible that we will get an invitation.”

Bringing home IMSA championships remains the day-to-day focus, Taylor explains. Adding in a few WEC races, too. But getting that Le Mans invite — and then, ideally, overall win — is the dream he and the rest of the Wayne Taylor family (literal and otherwise) have in mind.

Until then, Wayne Taylor will keep doing what Wayne Taylor’s done so well: racing.

“As long as I stay motivated, and I have the passion, and I have people focusing on this team and wanting to win, I’ll keep doing it until whenever, because what else am I gonna do?” says Taylor “I don’t play golf. I don’t play tennis. I don’t play snooker. I don’t have girlfriends. I don’t have any other sports. I don’t know what I’d do, to be honest.”

#10 Cadillac DPi, P: Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Wayne Taylor

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Since Wayne Taylor Racing’s IMSA Drivers’ Championship title in 2013, the team has racked up 25 wins — many at the great endurance races, like the Rolex 24, Sebring, and Petit Le Mans. When Taylor hears those numbers, the relentlessly successful South African driver perks up. “Since 2013? 25 wins? Wow,” he says. “Yeah, I guess we’ve done okay.”

“I do wish I would enjoy it more than I do,” says Taylor. “My wife, she always said, and my kids, ‘Dad, you’re never happy. You’re never happy, Dad.” And I think to myself, ‘You know what? That’s bloody true.’ The only time I’m happy is when we’re winning races. Outside of that, I don’t know how the rest of the world lives.”