It has long been said that competition improves the breed, and nowhere is that axiom more appropriate than in racing, and in its drivers.
When the finalists were announced for 2025 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout, the list of names came from all manner of racing and karting and simracing organizations. Mazda named 12 drivers to participate in the 2025 MX-5 Cup Shootout to compete for scholarships valued at $350,000 to participate in the 2026 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup season.
Mazda also named nine drivers to compete for scholarships to form the 2026 Mazda Club Racing Factory Team and receive support to compete in Spec MX-5. It’s worth noting that there have been years where Spec MX-5 racers have been invited back to the Shootout to compete for a scholarship to the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup.
Drivers flew to Circuit Florida, a private track in Auburndale, Fla., to take part in the 2025 Shootout in November. Many drivers had never taken any laps in the car they would be testing. What’s more, none of them ever had turned a lap at Circuit Florida, a track that was not available via any simracing platform.
One of the longest running and most prestigious driver talent searches in North American motorsports — since 2007 — the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout provides aspiring young drivers the opportunity to win scholarships and one fully-funded ride in the professional Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup series.
Drivers from NASA Spec Miata and Teen Mazda Challenge have long been part of the nominees and finalists, many of them winning scholarships and moving up into the ranks of professional racing.
This year all five of the drivers that won scholarships were Teen Mazda Challenge competitors, and one who raced in Spec Miata in the competitive NASA Arizona Region.
Spec MX-5
NASA NorCal driver Lincoln Larson took second place in the national points championship in Teen Mazda Challenge, but he came away with one of two scholarships for the Spec MX-5 Challenge series.
Drivers had four sessions on Saturday, from which the top four were selected. Early Sunday morning, judges announced the top four that would be competing for the two scholarships on Sunday. The other competitors were excused.
“That was pretty nerve wracking to start the day off like that. And thankfully I was able to make the top four,” Larson said. “It was funny because three out of the four of us, we were all in the same car. So we just alternated in the car for the last 20 minute session, I believe. After we all drove, we pretty much just had to wait around and then they had the final announcements. We had no clue. No one knew anything. As soon as everyone was done driving, the judges went into decision mode and went off and had their talks. And then they had the final ceremony and announced it.”
Larson earned a $75,000 scholarship to race in Spec MX-5.
William Wallis, who drove in TMC in NorCal in 2024 and some of 2025, and he picked up the second scholarship worth $75,000.
MX-5 Cup
The halo of the Shootout has always been the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup series, which races alongside IMSA at prestigious tracks and street courses around the country. Mazda Motorsports now awards $350,000 in scholarships, one full ride at $150k and two $100,00 scholarships, one of which goes to the best performing female driver.
NASA Arizona Spec Miata competitor Charlotte Traynor started racing karts at age 13, has raced in NASA, MX-5 Cup and with the AE Victory Racing team. Traynor took the first $100,000 check to race in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup series.
The second $100,000 scholarship went to Ethan Lampe, who raced in Teen Mazda Challenge in the NASA SoCal and NorCal regions. Lampe was nominated and became a finalist in 2024, but came up one spot short in the end. He put in a solid season in Spec MX-5 and earned another nomination to the 2025 Shootout.
He did not have any experience with the MX-5 Cup cars, so he was learning a new car and a new track. The 2024 Shootout took place at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Win or lose, he treated it as a learning experience. When he missed the cut in 2024, he focused on what he needed to on and off the track and fixed it for 2025.
For the 2026 season, Lampe has signed with the Advanced Autosports team. Lampe’s full focus for 2026 will be the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup.
“For this season, we’re competing the entire season of the 2026 Mazda MX-5 Cup,” he said. “I have great partners and companies behind me going into this year, so I have the support to get through it, and I’ll be backed by Whelen as one of their drivers, and also backed by Sunoco and Team Fox, M Experiment sunglasses and a few other companies helping me out like K1 Race Gear and Freem Racing. I have a good group of people behind me going into the season and I’m just going to try to win Rookie of the Year, and do the best I can, and just learn as much as I can. And most importantly, enjoy the experience and appreciate the opportunity.”
Taking the top prize of the 2025 Shootout, NASA Texas Teen Mazda Challenge driver Max Stallone took home a scholarship valued at $150,000, which he is going to use to be part of the Wheels America team in MX-5 Cup.
Stallone finished 10th at the 2024 NASA Championships at Utah Motorsports Campus and third in TMC in that race. He raced with the Wheels America team in NASA and in other organizations, including Toyota GR Cup. He had put in so much time behind the wheel in 2025, he credits the seat time for his performance at the Shootout.
“I think the whole approach was just kind of taking a deep breath and just doing what I know I know how to do, which is drive cars,” Stallone said. “I was really fresh in a car when I showed up there. So despite the fact that I had never driven an MX-5 Cup car, I drove a lot this past year, so I was just in the groove of sort of driving. And in my opinion, the Spec Miata platform transitioned fairly easily to the MX-5 Cup car.”
Stallone described the Cup car as one that felt like a Spec Miata, but with antilock brakes and more power. Oh, and the sequential gearbox was something he had used before in the GR Cup car.
“Everything clicked really well, clicked really easy for me. I think I was fastest in my first session of all the drivers. So the times showed as well. It all kind of came together pretty easily,” Stallone said. “I think the biggest thing that helped me was just how much I had driven this year and my familiarity with just being in a car I think played to my favor a lot.”
More than just racing a lot in 2025, stiff competition is what kept Stallone sharp among his fellow NASA Texas Spec Miata and Teen Mazda Challenge drivers.
“Even when I just showed up at my local Texas weekends, I had 20 to 25 really solid drivers, four or five other guys right around my age range,” Stallone said. “And so I think it was just that just incredible amount of competitiveness that the Teen Mazda Challenge produced at a racetrack that was three hours from my house, I think is just something that you can’t find really anywhere else with any other series.”
The interesting thing for Stallone is that Wheels America had not participated in MX-5 Cup before, though the team had considered entering the series. When Stallone won the scholarship, it seemed like a natural fit. Wheels America team owner Bob Stretch’s son, Logan Stretch, is going to be Stallone’s teammate in the two-car program in 2026.
If you recall, Stretch came in second in Spec Miata at the 2024 NASA Championships and finished first on the TMC podium at that event. Stallone said he is going to focus hard on MX-5 Cup, but NASA Texas Spec Miata drivers can still expect to see him at a few events in 2026.
“Something I’ve found is that seat time is definitely king. And so I’m as much as possible, going to stay involved with some local NASA stuff … not really going for championships or really caring about the point standings, but more so just doing that just to stay fresh and sharp in a car,” he said.
Stallone was quick to thank Mazda Motorsports for the opportunity, but he also has added PT Autosport as a sponsor to help him fill in the gaps in funding. The Mazda scholarship does cover a full season, but to get the competitive advantage he is looking for, and to win the Rookie of the Year scholarship, he will need additional funding to do more testing. Seat time makes all the difference.
