2025 was an exciting season in NASA’s Teen Mazda Challenge. As they are every year, the Mazda Shootout nominations and selection are a big highlight, and we offer our congratulations to the scholarship winners. Watch for a feature story on those drivers in January.
New for 2025 is a national points championship among all TMC competitors from all NASA regions. The TMC designation lets drivers compete against all other Spec Miata drivers and other TMC competitors in that region as one class. TMC season points in a given region are calculated as a regular part of regional SM season points.
Points toward the national championship in Teen Mazda Challenge accumulate from drivers’ best eight finishes in contingency-paying races, from March through December. In all NASA regions, there are two contingency-paying races per weekend. In the event of a tie, the NASA CCR outlines the tie breakers, but that wasn’t necessary this year.
We have just calculated the final points for the national points championship for all Teen Mazda Challenge drivers nationwide.
NASA Arizona Teen Mazda Challenge driver Eddie Yakin Vazquez took first place with a score of 800 points. That’s eight first-place finishes from the 2025 season in his region.
Yakin Vazquez credits competition from fellow Spec Miata competitors Dean Busk and Jason Griepentrog, who finished just behind in him in regional points. He also was quick to thank NASA NorCal veteran team owner Ron Gayman of RA Motorsports, who had been attending events to look after the car while Yakin Vazquez focused on racing. Yakin Vazquez spent a more time on the simulator this year and more time preparing the car and himself.
“I’d like to thank my sponsors Trident Aerospace and Firestar for their support this year. None of this would’ve been possible without them,” he said. “It was a great year. The car held together all year long for the first time and it just felt like it all came together in terms of race craft and pace. I was able to just consistently be up there, whereas in previous years it was a bit inconsistent. I think more prep work, more time on the simulator, more video and I think just overall putting in more work and effort and it definitely paid off. Ron helps with the setup. I think his work at the track is invaluable, and you definitely can’t put a price on it.”
Second place was awarded to NASA NorCal’s Lincoln Larson, who finished with 770 points. If you recall, Larson edged out the closest win in NASA Championships history at Ozarks International Raceway in 2025. After battling with NASA Rocky Mountain’s Vaughan Weber all race long, the two had built a 2-second gap over NASA Texas’ Vinnie Meskelis. In the end, Larson won by just .018 seconds. The NASA NorCal Spec Miata field is one of the most competitive in the nation.
“RA Motorsports all year long, he was super competitive. And then toward the end of the season, having Casey Moyer and Nate Spitz, they were both up at the top two,” Larson said of his NorCal competition. “And so it was all year long, it was really competitive throughout the year. Casey got really quick at the end of the year and he improved a lot in the season. And yeah, the competitiveness was great.”
Third place went to Vaughan Weber, who finished with 740 points in the TMC national points chase. He also captured the NASA Rocky Mountain Spec Miata regional Championship over Dan Williams, a Spec Miata National Champion in his own right. Fellow TMC competitor Porter Woita finished sixth in points in the Rocky Mountain Region.
“It was me and Dan and then the only other TMC driver that was consistently there in Rocky Mountain was Porter Woita,” Weber said, adding that he had to borrow his father’s car when his overheated one weekend and broke a subframe on another. “So yeah, it was mostly me and Dan that season and we were pretty much neck and neck, really. He couldn’t make it to some of the crossovers, but at all the home races, we were basically trading wins.”
Congratulations to the 2025 Teen Mazda Challenge national champions.
