Veteran Speed Promotions Racing star Scott Taylor earned his third career Outlaw 32 no-prep invitational victory Saturday evening, driving his fresh new “Lil’ Goldie” 1969 Chevrolet Camaro past Chris Rankin at the National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio.

It was Taylor’s second final round appearance in the season’s first three races — he runnered-up to Nate Sayler at the season opener in Bakersfield, California — and put him all alone atop the Outlaw 32 points standing as the series nears the mid-point of its seven-race championship schedule.

For the Mississippi native, the win was perhaps his hardest fought yet; during Friday evening’s makeup edition of the Bakersfield Beat the Champs competition, Taylor broke a rod and windowed the block, forcing his team into an all-out thrash to drop a fresh engine between the framerails. Working through the night, Taylor and company finally rested after the sun had already risen on raceday.

Taylor opened Saturday’s main event with a win over Cole Pesz and his supercharged Mustang, then, after a competition bye in round two, bested Paige Coughlin in the quarterfinal round. He then overcame a tough opponent in Kye Kelley to punch his way into the $40,000 final round that would pit two ProCharger-boosted cars against one another.

For Rankin, it was also his second final round of the year, and second straight, after he fell to Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington in the finale at the most recent event in Virginia. Rankin, driving his late-model Chevrolet Camaro, defeated a returning Brad Eglian in round one, Dave Mendez in round two, Carson Baker in the quarterfinals, and carried a competition freebie into the final round.

In a great drag race decided by just a car length, Scott Taylor powered tripped the win-light first, adding to his impressive 14-3 round record for the year in the process and claiming the event’s top prize.

California Mike Bowman earned the event’s Beat the Champs crown and the $10,000 winners purse that came with it, as he defeated Ellington, Ryan Martin, and Kelley in the three rounds of racing of the eight-car race-within-a-race competition.

“Daddy Dave” Comstock was also victorious on the weekend — and is well primed for this weekend’s big-money, small-tire Speed Promotions event in Kentucky — as he took the $5,000 small-tire victory in his Audi over longtime heavy-hitter Phil Hines.

The Outlaw 32 championship series will return to action at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire the weekend of June 27-28.