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Written by:
David Phillips
03/19/2007 - 07:00 PM
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Formula Junior and Formula Ford; Sports Renaults and SCCA Spec Racers; American Racing Series and Indy Lights; Infinity Pro Series and Indy Pro Series; Camel Lights and IMSA Lites; Super Vee and Mini-Indy; Players,Toyota and, now, Champ Car Atlantic; CART's Stars of Tomorrow and Champ Car's Rotax Kart Challenge; the IRL's Snap-on Stars of Karting; Skip Barber; Bob Bondurant; Paul Tracy; Bryan Herta; the Team Green Academy; the Team USA Scholarship; the Red Bull Driver Search; Ford SVO bosses from Michael Kranefuss to Dan Davis.
All these and more have tried to nurture and guide emerging American racing talent through the financial hurdles and political minefields standing between them and legitimate opportunities to compete in the upper echelons of the sport. Sure the programs' success rate has been mixed . . . at best. But can anyone say with certainty that Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne would have enjoyed anything like the success they have absent Ford's support during their formative years? Would A.J. Allmendinger have had a chance to go from Champ Car winner to the best Nextel Cup driver currently on the outside looking in absent the helping hands lent by Tracy and Barber, the Team USA Scholarship and CART's Stars of Tomorrow? Would Scott Speed be in F1 but for Red Bull?
Mazda's wide-ranging commitment to U.S. motorsports' future is unprecedented. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos
We'll never know, of course. But one thing is for certain: no matter how well-intentioned, no matter how well-run, even no matter how well-funded, there have always been critical gaps in the driver development programs; points where even the most talented and successful young drivers inevitably found themselves staring into the financial abyss without a clear path forward.
Thanks to some enthusiastic, ambitious and forward-looking folks at Mazda, those gaps have now been bridged. At the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Mazda announced plans to "connect the dots" by providing a series of funded rides that will take drivers from karting and driver schools all the way through to the top rungs of its open wheel and sedan racing ladder systems. What's more, the Mazda ladder has two distinct paths: open wheel and sedan racing.
"We are committed to developing the next generation of racers with a ladder system that provides drivers with Mazda and Mazda-powered open and closed wheel cars throughout their careers," said Robert Davis, Mazda senior vice president and the man responsible for overseeing the auto maker's North American motorsports programs, aka MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development. "Too often the cost of racing has meant that a promising career stagnated due to a lack of budget. With this initiative, Mazda will change that."
Mazda's ladder starts with more than $100,000 worth of partnership agreements with a bevy of kart sanctioning bodies and events including the World Karting
Catch up on the latest Champ Car racing developments each month in RACER. Check out David Phillips' look at the new Pacific Coast Motorsports Champ Car team in our April issue, on sale now!
Sedan racers take heart: similar opportunities await fender-oriented youngsters, including the Skip Barber Mazda MX-5 Cup Three Day Racing School which features cars identical to those used in the SCCA Pro Racing Sirius Satellite Radio Mazda MX-5 Cup. Moreover, one winner of an '07 SCCA Club Racing National Championship will be awarded a Mazda MX-5 and the parts to build a Sirius Satellite Cup car for '08, while the '07 Sirius Cup champion gets a ride in the '08 SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship.
That's a lot of Presented bys and Powered bys, but the bottom line is, for the first time, a major auto manufacturer with a major commitment to motorsports in North America has stepped up to the plate with a clearly defined, well-supported path taking aspiring race drivers to the doorstep and perhaps beyond of the top professional racing series in North America, be they open- or closed-wheel.
Thanks to its long-term commitment to grassroots racing, Mazda can already claim, with oodles of justification, there are more of its cars on the road courses of America on any give weekend than any other brand of vehicle. Through its ALMS LMP2 team, its newly formidable Grand-Am GT RX-8, co-sponsorship of the Champ Car Atlantic series and badging of Cosworth's Champ Car Atlantic engine, Mazda is quietly emerging as a force to be reckoned with in the upper levels of professional racing. Now the company's unprecedented commitment to developing future generations of driving talent only adds to its growing presence as a major player on the North America's professional motorsports scene one planting the seeds, connecting the dots as it were, for Mazda to become an even bigger player in years to come.
David Phillips is a Senior Writer for RACER magazine. To learn more about RACER, click here for subscription information.
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