I’m here to talk about climbing the Mazda Road to Indy ladder.
You know, the one where you start off in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, win a $350,000 scholarship to move up to the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Once you have gotten your feet wet in Pro Mazda and win a $600,000 scholarship, you then move up to Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires. Again, you win another $1,000,000 scholarship and in no time, you’re a Verizon IndyCar Series driver.
While I do love the Mazda Road to Indy and its massive career-enhancing prizes, I’m here to talk about something a little different. Something I like to call the “Hidden Mazda Road to Indy.”
You see, for every driver that climbs the MRTI ladder, there is a mechanic, engineer and driver coach or team manager doing the exact same thing. MRTI is not just the ideal springboard for drivers – it’s the ideal springboard for anyone wanting to forge a career in racing.
My good friend, David “Rotor” Lehman, initially got a chance with Liberty Motorsports (now Belardi Auto Racing) in USF2000 back in 2010 as an apprentice mechanic.
A short four years later, he had experience with the Indy Lights car and was a crew chief in Pro Mazda. This year, you can go say hi to “Rotor” at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, not in the Mazda Road to Indy paddock, but as a full-fledged crew member for Dale Coyne Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series paddock. Hidden Mazda Road to Indy: Completed.
California-native Tyler Sasseen, got a chance from Dan Andersen (CEO of Andersen Promotions, owner of MRTI) with Andersen Racing in 2010 and quickly went on to work for Dragon Racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series. He now works on Dragon Racing’s FIA Formula E team as well as a fly-in mechanic for Mazda Road to Indy teams. Hidden Mazda Road to Indy: Completed.
Even my own career, post-driving, has been greatly helped by the MRTI. In addition to my current sporting duties within the MRTI paddock, in 2014, I was given an amazing opportunity from IMS Productions and NBCSN to commentate on all USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights races.
As a result of this great experience and exposure, I was able to commentate on most of the Red Bull Global RallyCross races in 2015 with NBC Sports, which again, has led to lots of other opportunities.
There is a long list of mechanics, drivers and engineers who credit their career paths to the Hidden Mazda Road to Indy.
The ladder system works, it truly works and I am a testament to its credibility. You might be wondering, who will move up in 2016 or when will Rob Howden create a tab on his website (RoadToIndyInsider.com) to highlight the mechanics and engineers moving to other teams?