Mazda Champion: Stevan McAleer

Scottish transplant to New York not only took the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Street Tuner title, he and partner Chad McCumbee also formed a new MX-5 Cup team with significant success.

If you want to win a championship, the last thing you want to do is take on another project. Some people, however, aren't satisfied with just one job.

Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee are a good example. Already teammates driving for CJ Wilson Racing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Street Tuner class in an MX-5, the pair acquired the assets of CJ Wilson Racing's MX-5 Cup team in 2015 and began running that series – which McAleer won as a driver in 2012 – with pretty good success for a rookie team. Running as ModSpace Motorsports, the team had two wins and were named Team of the Year based on their professional appearance.

But the pair still had a job to do. They had to win a championship in Street Tuner, and with wins at Watkins Glen and Lime Rock, a second place at Circuit of the Americas and a third at Sebring, were in good shape heading into the finale. Unlike the prior year, in which they led at halfway before a series of problems derailed their championship run, they came into the Road Atlanta finale with a one-point lead over fellow Mazda pilot Andrew Carbonell. When Carbonell had an off in the very wet, treacherous conditions, their position looked much more secure.