NASA SoCal’s James Brown started as director of the Teen Mazda Challenge in 2018, after TMC founder Ron Cortez died suddenly last January, and the program has grown in 2019 to include more regions and more benefits to the young drivers who participate. Brown got his start in racing in karting with his son, Nova, who advanced into the Teen Mazda Challenge in 2012 and picked up his first win at Auto Club Speedway in 2013. Tragically, Nova was killed in a motorcycle crash his hometown of Ventura, Calif., in September 2014. James began racing Nova’s car in 2015 and [...]

It can be difficult to get things to turn out the way you envision them at the beginning. Whether it’s a remodeling project at home, a single issue of a magazine or the conversion of a production car to a racecar, things don’t always turn out exactly as you had imagined. The 1999 Spec Miata Brett Becker just finished over the winter of 2018-19 came about as close to what he had envisioned as he’s ever come with a racecar build. “I wanted to give it a theme to make it interesting, but I didn’t want to do a wrap [...]

It was a record setting weekend in NASA NorCal Spec Miata, with 41 participants taking a checkered flag! Tristan Littlehale found his way to pole position, with a blistering lap of 1:54.9 in qualifying for race one. His excitement was short lived when NASA officials inverted the top 10 for race one to begin the season. As might be expected when a grid is inverted, the drop of the green flag found a lot of cars trying to occupy a small space in turns 1 and 2. To the credit of all, lap one was filled with many position changes [...]

When the Spec Miata field converged on Willow Springs International Raceway in March, the question was what effects the recent refurbishing of the racing surface would have. The answer was: not much. Justin Crickenberger qualified on pole, followed by Hannah Grisham and Rob Burgoon. At the start, Turn 1 was a little chaotic with 16 cars jostling for position, but they all came through cleanly, and the race was on. Burgoon, Grisham and Crickenberger established a gap on the rest of the field and battled among themselves. Grisham and Crickenberger began drafting to get away from Burgoon. “About halfway through [...]

Contingency prizes are a big part of amateur racing. Now, drivers in NASA’s HPDE program can take advantage of contingency prizes, too. NASA’s new HPDE Awards Program lets drivers who advance from one HPDE level to the next to collect awards good toward the purchase of Hawk Performance brake pads. “NASA is the only sanctioning body ever to offer contingency prizes for track-day drivers,” said NASA Vice President Jeremy Croiset. “With this new program, people who drive their car to and from work, and to and from the track, can take advantage of this great new contingency awards program.” Here’s [...]

NASA racers interested in getting a jump on the competition can register beginning Tuesday, April 9th for the 14th annual NASA Championships Presented by Toyo Tires at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which takes place Sept. 18-22, 2019. For the sixth time since NASA held its first Championships event in 2006, the NASA Championships are returning to Mid-Ohio, home to such marquee races as the IndyCar 200, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Acura Sports Car Challenge. “Mid-Ohio is a track racers love. It has everything from long, fast straightaways to corners with tricky elevation and camber changes, and lots [...]

Saturday’s qualifying was dry enough for slicks but damp enough to keep the times rather high at Road Atlanta in March, with Aiden Crouse taking pole position with a 1:59.660 followed by Brad Miller in P2, Jarrett Jones P3, Grant West P4, Keith Williamson P5 and Scott Carlisle P6. By race time, the track was drying rapidly and showed a wide, dry line. After the green flag, Miller got a run going up the hill after Turn 1 to beat Crouse to Turn 3 and was followed by Jones, West, Carlisle and Williamson. On the back straight, Williamson pulled Carlisle [...]

Toyo Tires has announced a new set of guidelines for decal placement on spec-tire classes. For 2019, the guidelines are not mandatory for regional racing, but they will be mandatory this season for competitors at the NASA Championships at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Sept. 18-22, 2019. Beginning in 2020, these guidelines will be mandatory for all spec-tire classes, and will be strictly enforced. Drivers of cars with decals not in compliance with the new guidelines in 2020 will be denied claims for contingency prizes from Toyo Tires. Cheating will result in a permanent ban from the program. Classes affected by [...]

The brilliant simplicity of the suspension on a Mazda Miata has been made even better with the use of the new Penske shocks. We highlighted how to assemble the new shock packages in the March 6 release of Speed News. You can find that story HERE. In this installment, we will highlight how to install them on the car. Like most jobs on a Miata, you’ll need a 14 mm and 17 mm sockets and spanners and a torque wrench. You’ll also need some 21 mm wrenches for the upper control arm pivot bolts, but we’re probably getting ahead of [...]

Late winter in North Carolina meant qualifying took place on a damp track at Carolina Motorsports Park in February, and Aiden Crouse claimed Pole with a 2:04.383, followed by Pat Smith, Grant West, Brad Miller and Keith Williamson. At the start, the front of the field got through Turn 1 clean, but at the back one of the racers had a big lock-up, thumped the car ahead, and the resulting chain reaction culminated with Yan Dia having his differential housing broken and limping off the track. Crouse got out to about a two- to three-car lead by the Kink followed [...]