TayloR Mccoy

By VIRgIl KNapp

Winning a championship at the professional level of any sport is a major accomplishment. Winning one in a sport like snowcross is even more impressive because so many factors have to align that aren’t necessarily in control of the athlete (weather, avoiding mechanical breakdowns, being taken out by other riders, avoiding injury, etc). When you get into the category of winning consecutive titles year over year that truly falls into special territory. Taylor McCoy accomplished this feat with some amazing and consistent riding over the course of the 2021 and 2022 seasons taking home the trophy in The Pro Open class. Don’t expect Taylor to be resting on his laurels, as he looks for an unprecedented ‘threepeat’ in the rapidly approaching 2023 season.

Taylor, back-to-back titles in the Pro Open class! Congrats.What is behind this prolonged run of success?

It’s been a long run, but it couldn’t have felt any better to go back-to-back. As cliché as it sounds, a lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone in to this sport as well with training and having the tons of support behind me.

One of the perks for winning is getting your name engraved onto the 7C Blair Morgan Cup. What does that mean to you and what kind of impact has Blair had on your racing career?

Yeah it’s very honoring to have my name added to a trophy with such in inspiring athlete like Blair. He was one of the best in the world, and to have my name on an item with his, feels incredible!

You also were the lucky recipient of a brand new GMC Denali Truck (the second in 2 years), do you keep both and just build a bigger garage or?

You know, this has been my third truck I've won as a prize through CSRA (2017, 2021, 2022) and I've been so lucky to have Gren from Tom Smith GMC/Chevrolet award me with these trucks for winning. A lot goes in to this sport and it’s amazing to have awards like this. Hahaha, yes I wish I got to keep all 3 trucks, but I'm fortunate enough to have each one for a 1-year lease; Gren has a great program!

Did you race any CMRC Nationals this year on the moto side of things? If so what were your results like?

This summer I honestly didn’t race anything besides the MotoPark Cup, I really just focused on having fun, riding every weekend and staying in shape!

Do you think winning the title two years in a row will cause complacency? How will you ensure a chance it going for 3 in a row in 2023?

The plan is to start off right where I left off last season. The program I've figured out has clearly been working and there's no reason to change it yet. Last season I had a lot to prove, and I'm ready to still prove a lot more this season.

I stumbled upon a Swedish riders Tik Tok page (Andreas Bergmark) and he has some insane free riding posts hitting massive natural kickers. Do you ever make time to freeride or is it too risky to your race season? Freeriding is an insane type of riding! Those guys are crazy. As much as I would love to freeride and hit gnarly jumps in the mountains, it is a huge risk for me during race season. However I would love to try it out when our season is over.

How did your off-season go? How did you spend the majority of your time?

My off-season was great! Lots of riding my dirt bike and I trained a ton on it! I find there's no better way to train for our sport then transferring to a bike on similar tracks in the summer to keep that race mode in you so you still know what a track feels like come winter. Most of my summer was riding, work, family and friends; the usual!

What is the best advice you can give someone just getting into snowcross that has aspirations of becoming a champion?

The biggest thing I learned, is that you need to be unique with how you ride, and how you attack the track. There are so many things that add up to becoming a champion, but being able to focus on making the best lines, corners and passing choices are one of the BIGGEST things. Do your thing and if you want to win, you can.

From a racers perspective what are the most difficult things about racing snowcross? Also what are the most rewarding?

I find that you have to be in amazing shape as well with great endurance. Also being able to have lots of track time on the sled is a big priority, knowing that some people don’t have the same access to that. Consistency is key in this sport, and that’s a very difficult thing to balance. There is no better feeling in the world then winning a pro race or championship. Absolutely nothing can compare to the feelings you get after putting so much work in to the sport.

Feel free to thank sponsors and anyone else who has helped you get this far in your career I just wanted to give a huge thanks to my whole family. My dad has been a huge inspiration with this including having my sister and mom being there to support me along the way. There's so many people that have gotten me to where I am today including my girlfriend, Tim and Liam from Prostreet Powersports, Bill Fullerton (for getting me on Ski-Doo’s radar), TEAMLTD, Scott Goggles, Steve from St Onge Recreation, SKIDOO, FOX, Rox Speed FX, Stud Boy, and all the OG’s from day 1, you know who you are.