NASA’s Teen Mazda Challenge has been instrumental in helping launch the careers of young drivers across the country. Many Teen Mazda Challenge drivers have been invited to the Mazda Motorsports MX-5 Cup and Spec MX-5 Shootout, and four of them have won scholarships since 2007.
To help give young drivers more opportunity to grow and advance up the motorsports ladder, NASA is announcing that it is expanding the age range in Teen Mazda Challenge from 13 to 20 years of age by the start of the racing to season to 13 to 25 years of age. The expanded age range relieves some of the pressure of having to accomplish a lot in a little time, and provides additional learning opportunities on and off track.
“By expanding the age range for Teen Mazda Challenge to 25, we are essentially raising the ratio of the first gear of their racing careers, ” said NASA CEO Jeremy Croiset. “Teen Mazda Challenge is still the only program in amateur racing in the United States to give drivers as young as 13 the opportunity to race in Spec Miata among fields of quick and experienced drivers. It’s been rewarding to see their progress through the years.”
Interested drivers can learn more at the Teen Mazda Challenge home page.
Doesn’t that defeat the point of being only for teens? Quite a big jump from19 to 25…….it’s not like it went to 21.
Then the name needs to be changed to “Mazda Young Driver Challenge” or something to that effect to more accurately describe what it’s become.
In today’s era of “identify as” athletics; let’s not call this Teen Mazda Challenge, because it’s not. And what is youth? If a participant is old enough to have gone to college, graduated, gone to Navy, or Air Force, flight school, graduated, and are flying fighters, are they in the same youth bracket as what was intended by Teen Mazda Challenge? There are 25 year old Navy, Marine and Air Force pilots. Just trying to add perspective here.
Let me assure you we are giving this change the deliberation it warrants.