Taylor Doggett

The story of how the Doggetts got involved in racing is as inconspicuous as probably anyone's. A family friend from church gave Taylor the opportunity at a racing career, which has featured impressive stats and a fairly quick climb up the racing ladder to date.

"A friend named Steve Brightwell got us involved," Taylor recalled. "One day he had his go-karts in his trailer at church. We got talking with him and he offered to let me test one of his karts at a local dirt track. We remembered his offer and took him up on it a couple months later, and I guess that's how I got started."

Following the test, Todd bought a Phantom dirt-kart chassis from Brightwell and the Doggetts embarked on a 2004 racing season at Capital City Speedway, a quarter-mile banked dirt oval in Ashland, Va., where Denny Hamlin got his start.

"We were always big (race) fans," Taylor said, "but we never really tried to get involved until the opportunity basically fell into our laps."

When the 2004 season began at Capital City, the Doggetts shed their fan-status in the sport and immediately became contenders at one of the most competitive dirt kart tracks in Virginia.

"I'm pretty proud to look back and say we finished second in our first race ever," Taylor remembers, "and the only guy who beat us was a top racer from Florida who was just passing through the area. We won nine races in my first year, and I think we had seven or eight second-places. We actually won the Jr. Sportsman 2 championship in our rookie year, so it was a pretty cool season, to say the least."

Taylor admits the immediate success came as a surprise.

"I really couldn't believe it. When I started testing the kart in the winter I didn't know anything. I thought the fastest way around the track was to run on the inside of the straight-aways. It was pretty funny, looking back now," Taylor laughed.

Throughout 2005 and 2006, Taylor's success in karts persisted. He accomplished multiple victories each year, and won three races and two championships in 2005's prestigious North-South Money Series.
After just three seasons racing karts, Doggett moved to the late model sportsman division late in the 2007 season at the popular half-mile Virginia Motor Speedway (VMS) dirt track. The Doggetts bought a car from former racer Robert Marshall and made their late-season debut with Taylor having no practice or experience racing a full-sized late model.

"I'm not sure we realized what we were getting into going into that first race at VMS," Taylor admitted. "I had to drive the car up and down the driveway just to learn how to drive a stick shift. I guess I figured that out OK and we went to VMS with no practice, qualified last, and finished fifth in our first race out of about 20 cars."

And when Doggett says "no practice," he literally means no practice. A practice session is not on the schedule card at VMS. On every race night at VMS, the first time drivers hit the track is for their qualifying session, followed by the feature race.

"It took some getting used to," said Taylor. "I mean, there aren't too many tracks out there that don't run at least one practice before the heat or qualifying. At VMS, you better have your stuff together when you unload the car because the only time you get a chance to make a change is after qualifying."

The remainder of 2007, and 2008, was a successful learning curve for Taylor and Todd Doggett. While not yet accomplishing a feature win in the late model sportsman class, Taylor is consistently one of the top-five fastest sportsman cars at VMS and has a number of top runs to his credit at the half-mile.

"It's been a real transition for me as a driver," Taylor said, speaking of his move from karts to a dirt late model. "Just the speed and learning how to run the thing sideways in the corner naturally have been a lot to learn. But we've done really well, I think. We've had good people helping us. I've had help with learning the line and where to get off and on the throttle. I've listened to the right people and we've been one of the fastest cars there."

While proud of his son's success at VMS, Todd Doggett isn't planning on sitting on Taylor's accomplishments on the dirt. Plans for moving Taylor to a pavement limited late model stock car are already in the works for the 2009 season.

"We joined forces with Mike Calinoff (Activ8 Development) at the beginning of this (2008) season and they've helped guide us to where we need to be," Todd explained. "We'd like to see Taylor get the most he can out of this sport, and we think he has the talent to do a lot of great things. Joining the program was a good step for us because with their help we can put the right people around Taylor in the right places and hopefully run well." For 2010, Taylor will be competing with DA Motorsports in the Late Model division at South Boston (VA) Speedway.

"The right place" for Taylor appears to be on the pavement. "We'll do all we can to get there," Taylor said, referring to his NASCAR dreams. "My dad is behind me and now we have a great development program with Mike Calinoff on our side. With Activ8 Development, we're giving ourselves the best opportunity to make a run at NASCAR. If I don't make it, then the qualities and skills I learned while in the program will surely help me somewhere other than racing. If I have the talent, then all we can ask for is the chance. With Activ8 Development, we're getting that chance."