Thunderhill Raceway Challenge - Mazda MX-5

Thunderhill Raceway Challenge Enthusiasts

Mazda is clearly a company with a lot of passion for motorsports. From its involvement with SPEED World Challenge and the Playboy MX-5 Cup to Grand Am, Star Mazda and Formula D, this small Japanese automaker has a big presence on the American motorsports landscape. But Mazda isn't just passionate about racing, the company puts its money where its mouth is via its incredibly strong contingency program (cash payouts to top finishers in everything from solo to club and pro road racing to Formula D and Redline Time Attack) and parts support program. Add to that the fun and affordable nature of racing a lightweight and nimble RWD machine like a Miata, MX-5, RX-7 or RX-8 and it becomes pretty clear why Mazda is in the enviable position of having more than 9,000 racers piloting its cars (more than any other automotive brand in America).

When an automaker with this kind of racing pedigree invites you to drive one of its cars at an event as hardcore as the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, it doesn't take long to respond in the affirmative. Adding to the speed in which I replied, "Hell yes!" to the invite was the unique approach Mazda had in mind for the #26 MX-5 Cup car. Rather than sharing driving duties with the usual four or five other drivers, Mazda cooked up the ballsy idea of what has become known simply as "25-in-25," where the plan was to run a different driver in the car for every hour of the race. This feat has never before been attempted at any around-the-clock race we're aware of, so being a part of something so strangely inventive was impossible to resist.

Part of the genius of Mazda's 25-in-25 plan stems from its racing driver ladder program, where top Mazda drivers in lower-level series get support from the factory to move up the motorsports ladder to race at the pro level. This meant Mazda has a deep roster of highly accomplished drivers to draw from for the 25-in-25 team, guys like SPEED World Challenge and Spec Miata champs Jason Saini and Eric Foss. Add to that an impressive list of Mazda employees who also happen to be accomplished grassroots racers along with a small group of journalists/wannabe racing drivers like myself and you've got an intriguing mix of professional and amateur pilots.

Jumping into a race car for an hour and having some fun is a pretty simple thing, really. But running a team with 25 drivers and a support crew is a far more complicated task. Luckily, we had Rick Weldon on the job, a man who turned out to be part juggler, part magician and part mad scientist. Rick the Juggler had to deal with a number of unexpected curveballs going into the race, including finding four last-minute replacements for drivers who couldn't make it, as well as finding a fifth during the race when Charles Espenlaub suffered burns to his hands and arms from an in-car fire while driving for another team. And Rick the Mad Scientist had to crunch the numbers to come up with a drivers lineup that took into account all sorts of variables, including when to schedule those drivers who had never raced at Thunderhill before, never raced a MX-5 before and/or never raced at night before. That's some serious Sudoku right there!