Taylor Hoar etched her name into Thunder Road Speedbowl history, 1st female in 23 years to win in late model

Thunder Road International Speedbowl, with decades of history for late model racing, with legendary names  passing through the pit-gates over the years. This past weekend, Taylor Hoar etched her name into the history books, as a Thunder Road late model winner, joining Tracie Bellerose as the only two female winners in the late models at the historic Vermont oval and the first in 23 years.

The win was hard fought, as it came down to a late race restart against Christ Pelkey, but it was Taylor Hoar who was able to get out ahead on the restart and drive away in the final few laps to score the victory.

For the 24-year-old Taylor Hoar, grabbing her first career win and being the second female in the history of Thunder Road to win, has been an emotional roller coaster these last few days.

“It’s hard to put into words how it means, or what it means to me, just because there’s so many ways I could go with it. It means so much, in so many different ways being a woman in motorsports, but also just for our hard work to finally pay off after 3 years of trying and then to win alongside my brother’s who’ve won at Thunder Road, my dad’s won, my grandfather’s won there,” Hoar explains with appreciation and emotion.

“Then also to be the 2nd female ever on top of all of that is really cool and to be the 1st female in 23 years to win, it’s really special. There’s so many important things that make it mean so much to me. It’s really hard to describe really, but it’s pretty special and definitely something I’ll remember forever,” Hoar says with so much happiness.

Ahead of the racing action on Sunday at Thunder Road, it was noted on social media that it was Tracie Bellerose’s birthday, the only other female to win in a late model at Thunder Road. Bellerose had a special request through a Facebook post for Taylor, that all she wanted for her birthday was a win from Taylor Hoar at Thunder Road.

“I saw her post early that morning and normally I wouldn’t try and jinx myself and I was like, ‘What the legend wants. The legend gets you in Victory Lane’. And there’s plenty of things that could have stopped that from happening, but luckily we had a really good car, and made it happen, and it’s really cool to have Tracie’s support. She has every right to not want somebody to come and get closer to all of her accomplishments, and join her as being one of the only females to do anything at Thunder Road,” Hoar says with great appreciation for the support.

Having support from the 2000 Thunder Road late model champion, it means a lot to Hoar to have her in her corner as a mentor.

“It’s really cool that she’s supporting me and she coaches me and is just so behind me and in my corner and wants me to win. It’s pretty awesome because 25 plus years ago. There weren’t any females racing and now there’s still not that many, but for her to have been such a trailblazer of the time. It’s really cool and she’s just such a great support person to have in my corner,” Hoar says with gratitude. 

Last fall, Hoar did a special throwback paint scheme which honored Bellerose and her 2000 championship season. Hoar ran the paint scheme  from the Milk Bowl through the end of the season, to honor her championship and impact on the motorsports world for females.

“I’m not sure I could ever top that throwback scheme. It was pretty cool to be able to do her championship winning scheme. She was with us all at Milk Bowl weekend. We’re always making sure to take pictures and promote. We’re always wanting to promote the ladies in motorsports, and I’m always reaching out to the girls at the track or anybody local really, because I want to support those that are around me, because there’s just not many females that are racing locally. So, anyone that I can support, I love to support, and Tracy is the same way,” Hoar explains. 

Tracie Bellerose, who was the first female to ever win at Thunder Road International Speedbow and also the 2000 late model champion, couldn’t be prouder and has been waiting for this moment for Taylor and the Hoar family.

“I knew this day was coming! And all I can say it’s about time! I raced against Brian Hoar for years and learned a lot from him so having him as your dad, Taylor already had it in her blood. She has so much talent behind the wheel I truly believe the sky’s the limits depending on how far she wants to take her racing career! She has a stellar team and a family that puts her best interests first! It’s been a privilege just being able to watch her progress and grow in a sport that was always considered a man’s world,” a very proud Bellerose explains.

The Hoar name is a well known name across New England and the ACT Tour landscape, as Taylor’s dad Brian Hoar is an 8-time ACT Tour Champion and Thunder Road late model champion. For Brian Hoar, it was a very special and emotional victory, not just as a driver, but as a father of his daughter being successful and making history on the track.

“I think we’re all overrun with emotions, I think, no matter much how we much want to pretend that we try to forget it’s a girl driving, I feel it was extra special for all for all of us, but I don’t think there was a single team member that didn’t give her a big hug and I made sure I was the 1st one to the car and it was just super emotional for everybody. I don’t think there were too many dry eyes on the race team. It was really awesome,” a very proud and emotional Brian Hoar says.

For the proud Brian Hoar, it has been an impressive journey for his daughter. 

 “She started this deal at 18/19 years old, she didn’t have a background driving motorsports. She did ride snowmobiles and stuff growing up, but racing wasn’t her background. To see where she started from and how much she’s grown and how much talent she has and how quickly she’s been picking up and learning from mistakes, it’s just awesome,” a very proud Brian Hoar explains.

 “There’s a lot of heartbreak involved, a lot of hard work, and a lot of time and effort, but she hasn’t given up and this year it’s really been showing and she’s been shining and really has put together a bunch of really great races and Sunday was amazing,” Brian Hoar explains proudly of his daughter.

“It’s her third year in a late model, and it seems like we’ve lost these races, just about every way we can. She’s been paying her dues for 3 years now and she keeps getting better and learning from her mistakes, and that’s all we can ask for her,” a very emotional Brian Hoar explains.

For Taylor, it means just as much to be sharing these moments with her father and having him there through it all.

“My dad is a dad, 1st and foremost. Being a racer, businessman, and all those things come after. I think for him to get to see his daughter, be successful at something that we’ve been working so hard for, and then along on top of it, something that he was so successful at. Then for him to see me finding success. I think it just means so much to us. We’ve had a lot of close races where we could have won or had a flat tire or something. So to finally see it all come together, and it means a lot for the team all together, and was definitely a more emotional victory lane than most people for when they win their 1st flight model race,” Taylor Hoar explains. 

Taylor Hoar has now etched her name into history and continues to look up to Tracie Bellerose, but she also wants to pave the way for future females, and be a role model to other girls watching from the stands and hoping to one day drive a racecar.

“I think that for any young lady looking up to the late model division or the tiger division for that matter, there’s no female that’s ever won a tiger. It almost looks like it hasn’t been possible because nobody’s seen it done in 23 years. You’ve seen a few people try and get close. I think now that people have finally seen that it’s possible again, it makes them all believe that it’s possible too, because how can they believe in something they’ve never seen really? So I think for them to be able to see that it’s possible and a girl can do it, I think it just makes everybody else think that they can reach their goals and their dreams and do the  hard things with a lot of effort put into it,” a proud Taylor Hoar explains.

For Brian Hoar, it’s a special type of feeling seeing his daughter go out and be successful in racing, while also being a great role model for women and for the sport of racing.

“From day one, we’ve always said you put your helmet on and you’re the same size as all the boys, and that the car doesn’t know the difference. You just go out there and you race. Her goal has always been don’t necessarily want to be the girl racing. She always wanted to just be successful but it’s hard to deny that there is, I think, more pressure on her in some ways, and she’s made the most of it.  It was pretty special that Tracie Bellerose had posted yesterday on Facebook that it was her birthday  and she’s a big fan of Taylor’s and how Tracie posted saying you know all I want for my birthday is a Taylor Hoar win. Taylor responded back to her and said, done deal. Then she made it happen. That was pretty awesome,” a proud Brian Hoar explains. 

Now with a late model victory is under the belt for the young driver out of South Hero, Vermont, she’s hungry to get more wins and continue her success, with bigger goals in mind.

“I want to keep winning as every racer does. I think it’s a really good confidence booster now knowing that we can do it. We’ve had a really bad fast race car these past few weeks. With  all of those things being combined, it gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season. Championship is out of the question for this year, but I think for the future, a championship at Thunder Road would mean a lot to me and then trying the tour just because my dad was so successful on the tour. I would love to give that a try one day and see where we could end up on the tour,” a confident Taylor Hoar says. 

Taylor is very grateful and thankful for her supporters, whether its family, friends or her sponsors.

“Just so thankful for everyone, my sponsors are so important and my crew, my SRT Motorsports crew is just absolutely amazing. People don’t understand that are sitting in the stands, how you genuinely will not make it to the track if you don’t have a crew and sponsors behind you. You need so many hands, you need that financial support. You just need so much support all around. So I’m just so incredibly grateful for all the amazing sponsors and the team that I have backing me every time I’m on and off the racetrack,” a very grateful Taylor Hoar says. 

You can catch Taylor Hoar racing every Thursday night at Thunder Road Speedbowl as she continues to trophy hunt through the end of the season.