With the passing of Terry Taylor, we have once again lost one of the cornerstones of our Tiger world. (We lost our own Larry Young just a few weeks ago.) Although Terry was a CAT member, and obviously went to as many Tigers Uniteds as any CAT member, (he went to all of them), he was one of the key members of STOA and an STOA guy to the end. I first heard of Terry in the early '80s. The late Howie Shoenfeld used to tell tales of how Terry had a "boatload" of LAT parts in his attic. I would see Terry and Maria at the handfull of TUs I attended in the '80s. But I really first met him and the other STOA guys (Stan Clarke and John Peterson) at a Shelby mini-national event at Sears Point. I don't remember if I was even running on the track or just that I'd driven up to watch my mechanic, Dan Walters. The STOA guys were flying around the track in street cars. In those days, most people didn't have trailers. Hell, some didn't even have roll bars. At some of the tracks, you could have passengers at full speed. Watching Terry and the guys run their Tigers that fast and then use their cars to drive to the event banquet left a major impression on me. I remember seeing Terry and the STOA gang in 1989 at the first SUNY in Snow Mass, Colorado. Again, no trailers. I think I first ate dinner with these guys at another mini Nat event at Laguna Seca. I was sitting between Stan and Terry, not saying a word--just listening to them talking about going back to the Virginia City Hill Climb--and how that was the event to really prove yourself in a Tiger. Sorry, the idea of running a Tiger off the side of a mountain was nuts. I left dinner thinking that these guys were either Tiger Gods, effin' crazy--or both. It was in the last 30 years that I realized how competitive Terry was. When I ran the Monterey Historics in '97 with my red Tiger (it was a Shelby year), Terry and his family were there to roote on the Tigers. He wished me luck, but made sure I knew that he could turn laps three seconds faster than me. When I was helping the late Dick Barker with the LM coupe, Terry would always remind me that he'd had a chance to buy it first. No love lost between those two Tiger legends. It was great to see Terry and Maria a few weeks ago at TU Monterrey; to hear about Terry's new black Tiger and hear the stories behind this year's Lord Rootes winner. However, it was at last year's event that I realized how Tiger-tough Terry and Company were. United was over, and the three Tigers were heading down Big Bear Mountain and up to the Bay area--again no trailers--with everything they needed for a four-day event packed into the Tigers. Except this time I realized that these drivers were all in their late 70s. Just amazing stuff to me!
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