Many know of Joel Miller from his role as a driver in the Mazda Prototype car, but he is also heavily involved as the driver coach, mentor and driver steward in the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel categories. Miller, a degreed mechanical engineer, tell us about his many roles in this edition of BEHIND THE ZOOM.

The Mazda Motorsports Prototype program began the month of May at its spiritual home of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. We brought our best stuff that weekend, and it showed as we posted some of our best sector times to date, relative to the other cars in our class. The No. 07 car that I share with Tom Long had a good start to the race but retired early. Our sister car, No. 70, was able to lead overall due to its SKYACTIV fuel economy strategy and finished sixth among the Prototypes, matching our best finish for the program. Development is all about learning which is what we continue to do: never stop challenging… keep learning… and we have one goal.

May is also the biggest month in North America for open-wheel racing, which is something very close to my heart as a past winner and scholarship recipient within Mazda’s Road to Indy. With that background, I have the joy to work with Dan Andersen’s group, Andersen Promotions, as the series coach, mentor, and driver steward to the race director for all three series (USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights). You could say I wear a few hats…