Thanks Jake. Yup, I'm the guy on the phones (along with Scott, James, and Brian)

I have been a club racer (first crew for a friend, now driver) since 1987, and with Mazda Motorsports since 1998.

First, I absolutely resent the implications that we are lining ANYBODY'S pockets. Shame on you! (And I personally don't think any manufacturer would do that.) That is not the way we funtion. You can't honestly believe that??? That's either speaking from ignorance or from small-mindedness (or envy?).

Second, Mazda does NOT "own" the SCCA. Yes, we have more cars racing in the club than all other manufacturers combined. That's from SCCA's data. We got that way because Mazda offers very raceable cars AND we have a grassroots support system that is second to none. We have since 1990. I now feel that this is becoming a hinderance. I feel a lot of resentment from other brands' racers, and even some backlash in the rules-making and classifying of cars (along the lines of "there are too many Mazdas out there already, why classify the XXX in SS" or "why help out the XXX in ITA? Sure it's at a disadvantage, but there are too many Mazda's out there already"). That kind of thinking most hurts the individual racer who is trying to compete with that particular car.

If you don't, or don't want to race a Mazda, great! I relish the competition. I love mixing it up on the track wih GM, Honda, Nissan, Ford, and anyone else who wants to come to the table. But don't bash us from behind a bulletin board because we offer our racers so much. Is that the way you want to win races???

What we do for club racing (and solo for that matter) is available to any manufacturer. I can't understand why they don't see the value in it... And now I can't understand why SCCA doesn't seem to see the value in it either.

See you at the track.

(edit for spelling)