From the Top of the Pit Box, by John Doonan

I am often asked, “Why does Mazda race?” Simply put, racing is in our blood. It’s who we are. Motorsports drives us to be the best, to stay ahead of the competition, and to never stop challenging ourselves to be better. Motorsports is the ultimate demonstration of the Mazda brand which celebrates driving, expresses the joy we all get from driving, and builds cars that give their drivers this amazing feeling of happiness through a driving experience like none other.

Mazda began racing in 1968, just a year after the first Mazda rotary automobile, the Cosmo 110S sports car, entered production. The twin-rotor, two-seater finished fourth in the grueling 84-hour endurance race against some of the best Germany had to offer and we haven’t looked back since. We went on to prove the rotary’s reliability, durability and its remarkable performance by taking 23 class wins at the Daytona 24, winning a dozen times at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and, of course, capturing the overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991, the only Asian manufacturer to ever do so.

Since 1968, all of you – the thousands who make up the Mazda racing family - invest in our brand through your motorsports programs. Whether it is a SOLO program, Rallycross, Club Racing, track days, Battery Tender MX-5 Cup, Pirelli World Challenge, the Continental Tire Championship, or at the highest levels of the sport in our Mazda Road to Indy or Mazda Road to 24 programs, you CHOOSE to race a Mazda. For this investment and your loyalty, our entire staff thanks you and commends you for pursuing your racing passions with us. You represent more than 50% of the grassroots racing in North America and the foundation of our brand.