Dale Taylor’s auto racing involvement has spanned his entire life to date, it having begun with his travelling as a young child with his parents Stewart and Judy and sister Elaine to various Victoria Motor Sport Club events around Vancouver Island.
Starting to get the itch to get behind the wheel at the age of nine, Dale begged his Dad for two years for a gokart until his father finally caved in and got him one. Dale began in 1971 and was soon winning which included a Championship. At the age of sixteen he piloted a Dune Buggy and also his Dad’s modified Volkswagen which he drove in VMSC competitions.
Following his graduation from high school, Dale began a metal fabrication career with David Smith building various racecars including a NASCAR Late Model Sportsman which was driven by Bill Hitchcox.
He started racing in Western’s Stockcar class in 1978 in a 1967 Firebird which he and his Dad, who served as his Crew Chief, had built from the ground up including the engine. Dale quickly learned the ropes of oval track driving and became a solid contender each night out. He placed third in the 1979 Stockcar points standings and scored a clean sweep at the first race of 1980 and by mid-season was the points leader also that year winning the Best Looking Car award. In 1981 he competed with twenty-eight other cars and by the Championship Race night was seventh in the standings, his Dad also being awarded Mechanic of the Year.
In 1982, Dale competed in the Late Model class in a 1981 Camaro which unfortunately developed a rear main seal leak and had to be parked for the evening. Winning a trophy dash on his twenty-second birthday, his award was a cream pie in the face courtesy of Robert Carlson. His excellent driving skills propelled him to a second place in the Fun 100 on September 4th and a main event win on September 11th. The year of 1983 was Dale’s best to date with his winning of six main events and leading the points race for most of the season plus competing in the Canada 200. He won the VITRA Late Model Championship and also received a free trip to the Daytona 500. Sporting the #1 on his yellow Camaro the following year, Dale had a close battle with Jim Matthews with just a nine point lead at mid-season which was the closest in the track’s thirty year history. He then moved up to the Pro Stock class and won the July Cup in 1985 with his Dad also winning Member of the Year.
At the 1986 Championship race in August, Dale took the lead on lap five and held it to the end. In 1987, NASCAR star Bobby Allison chose Dale’s car to race at an appearance at Saratoga. Deciding to let Bobby behind the wheel instead of competing against Bobby himself, Dale’s comment to Bobby was. “Try and keep it out of the fence” which Bobby did but didn’t win the race. Dale then wheeled the #00 IMCA Modified for Howie Hilton for quite a few races and was the recipient of the Molson Pro Stock Sportsman of the Year award in 1993 which was his last full year of racing after which he sold it all to concentrate on building a new home in Cobble Hill and the following year opened Taylor Metalcraft using his superior skills to create and repair anything metal.
Although retired from being behind the wheel, Dale assisted his fellow racers as a crew member and relief driver as well as lending his metal fabrication expertise for repairs when needed. On June 18, 2011 Dale donned his old racing suit to drive for Cody Aumen for whom he had been crewing which enabled his partner Wendy to see him race for the first time. He earned some points for Cody who went on to be awarded Rookie of the Year. In 2014, Dale joined Rendle Brothers Racing and their very competitive driver Matt Mansell as Crew Chief. The team competed at Western as well as all over the Pacific Northwest in the NSA Winged Sprints and King of the Wing events with Matt and other drivers including Mike Haslam, Robbie Price and Aaron Willison. Dale also crewed in 2017 for David Smith in the Shockwave Motorsports cars when they ran at tracks in Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon and Arizona. With the Rendle Bros. in 2019, Dale won the prestigious Denny Rand Memorial Award for Sportsmanship.
- May 29th 1971 – An airborne Stu Taylor in his VW-powered “Baja Buggy” at the Victoria Motor Sport Club’s “Swiftsure Gymkhana”. Dale also drove this car in VMSC competitions (Burton K. Smith photo).
- 1978 at Western – Dale in his #68 1967 Firebird Stockcar with fellow competitors #23 Jim Smith, #54 Al Miller, #56 Gordy Stone, #16 Wayne Atkinson and #11 Pete Yarmoluk (Barrie Goodwin photo).
- 1983 at Western – Dale in Victory Square following a Hobby Stock main event win (Barrie Goodwin photo).