Category: Pro Mazda

news and commentary on the Pro Mazda Championship racing series in the Mazda Road to Indy

Mazda Road to Indy – Velocity TV Broadcast Schedule

Doug Patterson

The broadcast schedule for the Mazda Motorsports Hour is out! Over the next several months, you can catch highlights of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, and the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear races on Velocity TV, albeit tape-delayed by a month or so from the actual event. Rick Benjamin’s Carolinas Production Group (CPG) are producing the Mazda Motorsports Hour. CPG has worked with the MX-5 Cup and Star Mazda Championship in the past to produce some outstanding motorsports…

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Star Mazda – St. Pete Offers a Mix at the Top

Doug Patterson

Unlike the USF2000 races which saw the same two drivers, Pigot and Brabham, battle for the race wins clear and away from the rest of the field, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear offered quite a variety at the front during it’s opening two races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The car counts for this first race weekend of 2012 were pretty good with twenty-one racers taking to the hybrid airport/street circuit. Race #1 Connor De Phillippi picked up where he left off at last year’s St. Petersburg…

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MRTI – St. Pete Qualifications Summary

Doug Patterson

As Mr. Bob Varsha is famous for saying during the Formula 1 broadcasts on SpeedTV, “Before you can race, you must qualify!” As of this morning, all three of the Mazda Road to Indy series have qualified for their respective races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The USF2000 National Championship and the Star Mazda Championship both qualified yesterday afternoon, and the Firestone Indy Lights series just finished their qualifying session this morning. Let’s take a look at the results series-by-series. Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by…

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Star Mazda – St. Petersburg Starting Grid and Preview

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear begins its 2012 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg this weekend, and it looks like they will start with a pretty healthy grid. While not the 30+ cars they used to have, its still nice to see that 21 cars will take laps in anger around the hybrid airport/street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida for two races this Saturday and Sunday. Juncos Racing looks to be very strong this season with the addition of Connor Di Philippi and the resigning of Martin…

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Star Mazda – Returning Drivers and a Spring Training Recap

Doug Patterson

The season-opener for the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear takes place this weekend on the Streets of St. Petersburg, but before we get to the race, there’s still some business to settle and shake out first. Drivers are still being added to the grid, and it looks like the field is shaping up quite nicely. Twenty-two drivers set times during the two-day Spring Training open test at Barber Motorsports Park including the two newest additions to the Juncos Racing stable, Connor Di Philippi and Martin Scuncio. Martin ran with…

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MRTI – USF2000 and Star Mazda TV Deal Announced

Doug Patterson

We’ve been talking about the possibility of a television package for Star Mazda and perhaps more in 2012 for some time now, but now the deal has finally been announced. The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, the Cooper Tires presents the USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, and the Playboy MX-5 Cup will be featured on 24-episodes of the Mazda Motorsports Hour on Discovery’s Velocity TV beginning this April. “Hardcore fans know that some of the most intense action can be found in the Playboy MX-5 Cup, Star Mazda…

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MRTI – USF2000 and Star Mazda Grids Continue to Grow

Doug Patterson

While we still wait anxiously for announcements of more driver signings in the Firestone Indy Lights series, the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear continue to add new drivers and grow their grid sizes. This past week, two new drivers were announced, Henrik Furuseth for USF2000 and Ryan Tveter for Star Mazda. Let’s take a look at these two new Mazda Road to Indy drivers. Ryan Tveter Joins Team GDT in the Star Mazda Championship Ryan Tveter isn’t…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Juncos Racing Showing the Way

Doug Patterson

A few years ago, Tony George, Jr. and Jason Penix worked on building a clear and proper ladder system, the Mazda Road to Indy, that would enable young drivers to move up through the formula car ranks in the US and Canada, and eventually become one of the lucky 33 drivers to compete in the Greatest Spectacle In Racing. Once a young driver is in the Mazda Road to Indy program, talent combined with business acumen (an unfortunate necessity in motorsports today) have allowed many to rise up through the…

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Inside The Helmet – Jason Penix, King of the Mazda Road to Indy

Doug Patterson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe had the opportunity to speak with INDYCAR’s Jason Penix. Jason was instrumental in the development of the Mazda Road to Indy Program which has grown by leaps and bounds, both in participation and in popularity. Now Jason serves as Director of Grassroots Initiatives, formally, but has been dubbed by Anders Krohn as the “Mazda Road to Indy King” during this year’s WinterFest. He gives us some insight into the history of the program, how it got started, and who the major players were…

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