SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR RISING STARS
Gary Rodrigues, founder and President of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, will travel to Indianapolis and the Autosport International Racing Car Show to meet with young drivers
In response to the international excitement generated by the announcement of the new Mazda Road to Indy program that will provide scholarship funding for the champions of each series (USF2000, Star Mazda and Indy Lights) to move up and compete at the next level, Gary Rodrigues, founder and President of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, will travel next week to Indianapolis and England to meet with top young drivers from around the world.
"There has been huge interest from drivers around the world, and they all have questions they'd like answered about the Star Mazda Championship and the Mazda Road to Indy," says Rodrigues, who founded the Star Mazda Championship in 1990. "Mazda and INDYCAR have been advertising the program in Autosport, and we have a lot of information up on the StarMazda.com web site, but we're asking these young drivers and their sponsors to make a major decision about the direction of their future. We want to do everything we can to help them make the right decision, and give them the information they need to put a good program together, whether it's for Star Mazda or another Mazda Road to Indy series. So I'll be scheduling meetings with drivers next week in Indianapolis at the 'State of INDYCAR' meeting and in England at the AUTOSPORT International show; any young driver or sponsor interested in meeting should call my cell phone at (818) 620-2283. If you can't get through that way, send me an e-mail at Gary@StarMazda.com and I'll get back to you."
Rodrigues will be in Indianapolis on Tuesday, January 11 at the Westin Hotel. The State of INDYCAR meeting takes place from 4 - 5:30 pm ET and will feature presentations by INCDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard, top INDYCAR marketing and competition officials, IZOD representatives. The AUTOSPORT International Racing Car Show takes place January 13-16 at the NEC in Birmingham, England. Rodrigues will be available all day Thursday, Jan. 14 and Saturday, Jan. 16.
The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, now entering its 21st season of competition, is the longest continuously-operating road racing series in North America. The momentum of the 2010 season, where fields for road- or street-circuit races were as high as 26 cars, continues to grow with more than a dozen top international drivers planning to compete in 2011. Several new teams have announced they will join the series in the coming season, including Andretti Autosport, the first organization with teams operating at every level of the Mazda Road to Indy, including the Cooper Tires Presents USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, Firestone Indy Lights and the IZOD IndyCar series.
And the reputation of the Star Mazda Championship as a premier open-wheel driver development program continues to shine. Star Mazda drivers have won European racing's prestigious Walter Hayes trophy the last five years in a row. In North America, two drivers from the 2010 season have already announced full-season Indy Lights programs, Norwegian racer Anders Krohn and Canadian David Ostella. Additionally, three other current Star Mazda drivers have tested Indy Lights cars, including series champion Conor Daly, American Nick Andries and French racer Tristan Vautier. And at least two other Star Mazda drivers, Texan Rusty Mitchell and California racer Joel Miller are expected to make the jump to Indy Lights in the coming season.
Drivers interested in familiarizing themselves with the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear should visit StarMazda.com. A bullet-point overview of the series with links to many other resources, including team contact information, videos, etc., can be found here. The 2011 Star Mazda marketing kit is located here. Information about the Mazda Road to Indy can be found here and here.
