NEW BRAUNFELS -- Hill Country Kart Club has been a racing haven in New Braunfels for 25 years. In all those years, though, few things have been more eye-catching than watching a nine-year-old newcomer rip around the track's corners.
Hailey Taylor's been racing for just two years, and already, she's leaving the almost all-boy field in her dust.
"I'm probably the most competitive in my school," Hailey said.
She finished third overall the past two years. This year, her dad Chuck says they're aiming higher.
"We got a couple shelves full of trophies up there, but we're always looking to get faster and get better," Hailey's father Chuck said.
Watching her speed around the track, it might be hard to think that there's anything Hailey can't do. But her time out on the raceway is time away from something that gives her much more trouble.
"Yeah, I got really frustrated. Like, I had to call my mom to get help with reading questions," Hailey said.
She was diagnosed with dyslexia in 2014. Since then, she's been getting extra help in school and her grades are spiking. She even has a new favorite class.
"I think now that I understand reading, and reading is a lot easier to me, I think that's my favorite subject now," Hailey noted.
But dyslexia wasn't Hailey's only problem at school.
"I would almost to go the nurse every day, because my stomach hurt," she said.
Those stomach aches are gone now. She was diagnosed with celiac disease last year. Her family threw out everything in their pantry with gluten. And Hailey watches what she eats more closely.
Back on the track, her dyslexia, her celiac disease, they're the furthest things from her mind.
"I don't think about them when I'm out there," Hailey said. "I just concentrate on the track."
Nothing else is on her mind out there. She doesn't race to escape her problems. She races because it's fun. And it gives her a great excuse to spend time with her dad.
"Truth of the matter is it's bonding time for me and her," he said. "I travel a lot. We don't have time for little league or soccer or anything else."
This father-daughter team thinks big. Dad says the sky's the limit.
"Whatever she wants to do, we're going to go out and race," Chuck said.
And that is what she wants to do: race.
"When I'm on my last lap, I see the white flag, when I see any flag, I'm just smiling the whole way," Hailey said. "Doesn't matter if I'm winning doesn't matter if I'm losing."
Who knows? Maybe one day, Hailey will be leaving even more boys in her dust, chasing checkered flags in a Sprint car.
