Max Taylor’s rise: From pandemic fandom & karting rookie to Andretti NXT in five years
- Archie O’Reilly
- 2 minutes ago
- 12 min read
This time six years ago, it was not in his wildest dreams. How could it be?
Twelve years old at the time, one of the United States’ finest current open-wheel racing prodigies was leading an ordinary life in the depths of the nation’s most populous city. To inform him of his future trajectory would have been met with bemusement.
For a child growing up in the New York City area, as much as he grew up a car-loving youngster, the idea of motorsport had been foreign.
But at the turn of the decade into 2020, with the world thrust into a state of standstill by the global pandemic, there grew a yearning for connection to something in a time of such uncertainty - a desire so often satisfied by sport.
In these times, though, barred from competition, much of the sporting world was cast under a shadow of turmoil. But somehow, one rose above the tumult.
Amid the worldwide halt, Formula One found a way to put together a complete season. And coinciding with its Drive to Survive Netflix docuseries - a tremendous entry-level spotlight of the sport’s drama and personalities - just having released its second season, it was a perfect storm for a high-octane sport bound for a breakthrough.
In the void vacated by the pausing of many of America’s favourite sports, the ESPN-broadcasted championship rose to prevalence. Motorsport entered the mainstream, owing to which F1 fandom has risen dramatically in the US in recent years.
For Max Taylor, a bored pre-teen at the time, it went a notch further. After watching the Netflix series, a passion was ignited. A passion beyond simple fandom.
“Until I was 12, I really didn’t know anything about the motorsport world,” Taylor recalls. “I barely knew what F1 was. Or IndyCar. It’s pretty incredible for me to look back on that and see how different it was. I had no idea what racing was then. It’s pretty crazy.”
By the time he turned 13 years old that October, Taylor had a new dream. Unequivocally so.
Inspired and captivated by racing, by the end of the year he had started karting - increasingly seriously, very quickly. And in the five years since, his life has changed to no end in a manner he could scarcely have foreseen. From his first press of a pedal, things went from zero to one hundred in nigh on an instant.
His teenage years have since been consumed by racing in a rapid half-decade ascension.
“It started off just as a hobby,” Taylor explains. “I’d go indoor go-karting with my dad. I think half-a-dozen of my birthday parties were there at one of the indoor karting places. But then it quickly turned into something I happened to be pretty good at.
“It was really fuelled by my passion for it. I love racing so much and that’s really what’s fuelled me this whole way. It quickly turned [from] a hobby to something really, really serious, where I had to start doing online school and start making a lot of sacrifices.”
Casual karting promptly became competitive. By 2021, Taylor was already competing on the national stage in SuperKarts! USA and the United States Pro Kart Series. And he was winning regularly, too, within little over a year.
Without a racing background, it took commitment to sustain. But clear that he had a racing gift, Taylor had a one-track mind.
“I found out I could do this at a really high level, at a really competitive level,” he says. “I just kept on begging my dad. I did the research about what teams there are nearby, what tracks, what series. So it was really all me fuelling it. And it shows.
“It’s still the same today, where it’s my passion fuelling me forward to hopefully IndyCar.”
Towards the back end of 2022, Taylor gained a first experience of driving in cars, testing in both USF Juniors and USF2000 machinery. His maiden outing in the former of the two cars at Atlanta Motorsports Park ended in the wall. But Taylor was undeterred by the crash.
Come November 2022, plans were unveiled to step up to car racing for 2023 - an ambitious move for the then-15-year-old after only two years as a racer in any capacity.
Taylor joined forces with VRD Racing, with whom he had tested, for the complete USF Juniors campaign. He finished the season a respectable fifth, picking up three podiums, including a victory in the third race of the penultimate weekend at Road America.
But such was his late entry into the sport, a blueprint was laid out to fast-track Taylor’s development by racing in multiple series in a singular season. In 2023, also with VRD, this included three US Formula 4 outings but chiefly an 11-race part-season programme in USF2000 - the third rung on the IndyCar feeder ladder.
He picked up four top-10 results in his USF2000 foray, finishing a best of sixth, but most importantly laid the foundations to return with the same dual programme in 2024.
“It’s all to maximise the time that I get because I started racing quite a bit later than a lot of other drivers,” Taylor divulges of the conscious decision to race in several series in the same year. “So we [have] just tried to maximise the time I had in a race car.
“It’s the best learning experience that you can get. The seat time is so important [and] getting laps in a race car is so important, especially when you’re first starting out. So that’s what we saw from people that we asked; that’s what can help you a lot.”
Indeed, after a year of experience in both USF Juniors and USF2000, a second season was incredibly fruitful: a three-win, nine-podium championship run in the former and a four-win, eight-podium run to third in the higher of the series.
The investment from and continuity of running with the VRD team paid dividends, primarily stemming from the support of team owner Dan Mitchell and head engineer Jacob Loomis.
“It was honestly thanks to VRD,” Taylor asserts. “They’ve taught me so much [and] they’re such incredibly hard-working and smart people and people that I’ve really become really, really close to. I’ve worked with them very, very closely and they’re a massive part of my career and making me the driver and the person I am today.”
The commitment of juggling multiple series was not a straightforward exploit. Even within race weekends, Taylor was having to switch between the USF Juniors car and quicker USF2000 machine multiple times, competing in multiple races across multiple days.
But as tall an order as it was, the adaptability it has built is a massively beneficial asset for the long-term.
“In 2024 especially, switching between the USF Juniors and the USF2000 car was not easy. They’re two very different cars,” Taylor describes. “I’d be racing one and then 10 minutes later I’d be racing the next class, so it was very difficult - it was a big challenge.
“But that’s helped me to become a better driver.”
After a successful 2024, featuring his USF Juniors crown, things were notched up again in 2025. After two years with the stability of running the two same series as his main programmes, a deal was put together to step up to USF Pro 2000.
But in keeping with their philosophy, they also wanted to explore beyond the sole series.
In the aftermath of the 2024 season, Taylor also had the opportunity to test Indy NXT machinery at Barber Motorsports Park with Juncos Hollinger Racing. He placed safely mid-pack and, despite the jump in machinery, was by no means out of his depth.
By the new year, plans were set in motion to run a partial, six-race season in IndyCar’s premier feeder series with HMD Motorsports, alongside his full-time commitments in USF Pro 2000. For a driver who had only debuted in cars two years prior and had barely been racing for four years, the jump to the series one step from IndyCar was sizable.
“It was a really massive step up, going from the Juniors to the Indy NXT [car within months],” Taylor admits. “And even from the 2000 or even the Pro to the Indy NXT car, it’s such a massive jump up. Compared to the Pro, the Indy NXT car is almost double the horsepower; it’s so much more downforce and it’s a massive step. But VRD prepared me very well.”
Continuing with VRD in USF Pro 2000, Taylor was able to tap into the team’s running of a programme in Europe as part of his training. The outfit joined the British-based GB3 Championship in 2022 and, to aid his development, Taylor was invited to join their squad for the Donington Park event in 2024 - and again in 2025.
Beyond that, he also tested the Formula 3-level GB3 car as part of the extensive regime to accelerate his progress through the ranks after a belated entry into the sport.
This was primarily geared towards aiding his performance in the US-based series, though there did become a point where Taylor contemplated diverting to the F1 route which had inspired his pursuit of a career as a race car driver.
“It definitely started off as training,” he says. “I did a full off-season schedule [at the] end of 2023, travelling to Spain, Austria, Italy, testing all these really, really cool tracks, which helps me a lot going into the NXT car and the Pro car, to understand how a downforce car works.
“There were definitely times, especially last year, where we were considering going to that F1 route, starting maybe in GB3. But everything was going so well in America, so for now we’re staying in America. But it was definitely on our minds.”
When first entering the motorsport realm in the early 2020s, it was a case of Taylor finding places to compete close to home, without having to upend his entire life. After success karting domestically, the opportunity had naturally arisen to step up to USF Juniors.
The prospect of Europe was never something initially considered. And compared to the system across the pond, there is an allure around the rewarding nature of the US ladder.
“I was so new to this whole motorsport world that I didn’t really know how everything worked about F1 and IndyCar,” Taylor concedes. “The budgets over there in Europe are much higher than here in the US. And what the Road to Indy offers is really incredible, where if you win the championship, they give you a massive help in budget for the next year.
“That was definitely the reason that we chose here.”
Still, even staying home in the US, with every year, the chasing of Taylor’s newfound dream intensifies and the nature of the sacrifices made within his teenage years grow. It has been an all-in five years of unwavering dedication to make up for the lost time versus those who may have started racing as early as at four or five years old.
With that, the notion of leading the life of a regular teenage life quickly evaporates.
“A lot of viewers don’t realise some of the sacrifices that you do have to make,” Taylor explains. “You can’t really have a normal childhood when you’re traveling over 200 days a year. You can’t go to a normal school mostly, so I do online school now.
“I don’t have a normal childhood where I’m going out - playing with my friends or hanging out or going to parties - as much. Everything is about racing. Every second, I’m thinking about it. I’m breathing, living racing and being a race car driver.”
Still valuing his education, Taylor attends the esteemed Dwight Global Online School, where he enjoys history as his favourite subject.
But given the amount of travel within the vastness of the US, plus essentially working full-time across multiple racing series, it takes dedication to stay disciplined and on top of school work. Especially within the racing season, there is little time to breathe.
“It’s not easy,” Taylor utters. “It’s still a very quality education, which is definitely very important - something that I and my parents believe in. But it’s annoying… you get home from a test or a race and you want to just relax and get on the game, get on the sim or whatever, but I do have to remember to do my schoolwork and be very diligent about that.”
Beyond Taylor himself, it has taken significant buy-in and devotion from his family to support the sudden switching of tack to try and become successful in one of the most competitive and taxing sporting environments.
There is a high cost to motorsport - one that goes beyond just the monetary outlay.
“They have to make massive sacrifices,” Taylor acknowledges. “Not just the financial side, which is insanely huge, but also how much time and effort it takes to find sponsors and even just scheduling these things, going to the races with me.
“It’s everyone: my sister, my mom, my dad. It really is massive sacrifices. But I have this opportunity to make it so I’m really grateful for them for pouring everything they can into this.”
On track, Taylor’s 2025 season ended up being a mixed bag - to be expected having made another step up the ladder. But despite his disappointment, he still achieved four podiums, including one race victory, in USF Pro 2000, ending the season sixth in the standings.
Beyond that, he impressed in Indy NXT from the outset, when he was competing with eventual champion Dennis Hauger for pole on debut at Barber before finding the gravel.
Including seventh at Barber, he went on to log four top-10 NXT results, headlined by fourth at Laguna Seca, and qualified a best of fourth in Detroit, only to be taken out on Lap 1. But simply gaining the experience of every track type, including the Iowa Speedway and Milwaukee Mile ovals, where he raced from the rear into the top 10, was invaluable enough.
“The opportunity from HMD this past year was really, really great to get a lot of experience,” Taylor assesses. “We came into it with really no expectations other than just to learn and prepare for 2026, but I showed a lot of what I’m capable of and [there was] a lot of learning.”
Under the surface throughout the year, conversations had been ongoing with Andretti Global’s long-time president, turned head of driver development in late 2024, J-F Thormann, who had kept a close eye on Taylor during his early years in cars.
Talks about joining forces for 2026, initiated at the start of the year by Thormann, progressed well. All the while, the impressive first impressions made by Taylor in Indy NXT - competitive in machinery three steps higher than that in which he had won a championship the year prior - only reinforced Andretti’s interest.
With three vacancies within their four-car lineup, by mid-October the newly-turned 18-year-old was announced as an Andretti Indy NXT driver for 2026.
As a result, only five years after starting in racing and three years spent in cars, Taylor now stands only one step off the heady heights of IndyCar - the crescendo of a barrelling wave he has been riding largely into the unknown for half-a-decade.
“I didn’t know I was going to be a race car driver,” Taylor reacts. “I had no racing family. All this was very, very new to us. We were just going with the flow, seeing what opportunities came up. If I didn’t perform well enough, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
“So it was based off the results and the performance and [if] we have the capability to do it… but am I ready for it as well? I didn’t know that I was going to be in Indy NXT with Andretti. Definitely not. It was not in the plan. It was definitely a dream of mine but pretty unexpected.
“It feels amazing. The pedigree that this team has is really, really impressive and I can see why: the work ethic and just how smart these guys are. It’s really such a privilege and an honour to be a part of this team. I’m very excited for next year.”
Taylor has already hit the ground running in the available test outings, leading the morning session on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he ended the day in second, and topping the time charts by an astonishing 0.7s at Barber in early November.
There is no doubt in his mind that the six outings with HMD earlier this year are already paying dividends.
“It’s massive. It’s showing that what we did this past year in 2025 is helping us and going to help us for next year. It shows that our plan is working,” Taylor evaluates. “You look at another driver coming up from Pro, Max Garcia [as champion]; he was very, very good this year but he’s been not super quick in the Indy NXT car.
“I think that comes down to me having the experience and that leg-up on him. That’s going to be very beneficial for this year, knowing some of the tracks and how this car works. It’s going to be really, really huge for this year to push for a title, hopefully.”
Despite the fast start, Taylor is ready for an off-season of hard work. Although seat time is limited, he is keen to learn from the Andretti squad which has housed the last two Indy NXT champions, Louis Foster and Hauger, planning to study plenty of footage and data.
Taylor also intends to stay race sharp by testing a USF Pro 2000 car where possible. In terms of testing-restricted Indy NXT, a two-day pre-season outing at Sebring International Raceway beckons in the new year, plus “one or two” more days before the season commences on the streets of St. Petersburg at the beginning of March.
And once the campaign does come around, there is only one target in Taylor’s mind.
“Winning the championship - that’s the goal. We’re all working really hard to do it.”
Lofty as it may sound, that is by no means an outlandish claim. From a racing career founded upon pandemic-induced boredom has emerged one of the continent’s most exciting young prospects - a dramatic rise that shows no signs of stopping.
Not long ago, Max Taylor knew nothing of this racing world. But soon enough, that same racing world may well have no option but to get to know one Max Taylor.
