Over the past eighteen years, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear has grown into one of the most prolific, successful and richest driver development series in all of auto racing.

This year’s prize fund approaches $1.5 million and includes a full-season sponsorship from the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder for the Star Mazda series champion to move up and race in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

Star Mazda Championship drivers range in age from 16 to 64, with special classes for Expert (30 to 44 years old) and Master (45 and older) drivers. Winners of the Master and Expert Series races at each event share the podium with the top-3 finishers.

Many top drivers began, or accelerated, their careers in the Star Mazda Championship. Recent alumni include such top open-wheel racers as Champ Car star Graham Rahal, IRL standout Marco Andretti and the latest American F1 driver, Scott Speed. Also on the list is Michael McDowell, the 2004 Star Mazda champion who has raced Champ Cars, Daytona Prototypes, was “Rookie of the Year,” led the most laps, won five races and finished second in NASCAR’s ARCA RE/MAX series. He will make his debut as a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver in 2008 with Michael Waltrip Racing.

The Star Mazda Championship is now a major step on the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder. The Motorsports Ladder is a unique scholarship program that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. The winner of a shootout among 2007 karting champions will get a scholarship in the 2008 Skip Barber series, while the Skip Barber champion moves up to Star Mazda. The Star Mazda champion moves up to the Champ Car Atlantic Series Powered by Mazda and the Atlantic champion gets $2 million from Champ Car toward a Champ Car drive.

Star Mazda Championship’s 2008 races are held on major motorsports weekends, racing in front of the crowds drawn by American Le Mans, Champ Car and the Grand- Am Rolex series. This diversity allows young drivers to develop their skills on a variety of tracks, including natural terrain road courses as well as street and airport circuits.

All races are 45 minutes long and are broadcast in a 1-hour show on the SPEED Channel and re-broadcast overseas on networks like SkySports in the UK.

Unrestricted testing promotes rapid development of a driver’s on-track, car setup and driver/engineer communications skills, and the ‘single-spec’ engineering of Star Mazda Championship race cars showcases driving talent over big budgets. The Star Mazda Championship is an extremely cost-effective series with a lower cost-per-lap than the US Formula BMW series. And Star Mazda race cars turn laps within 2-3 seconds of an Atlantic car… for considerably less than half the budget. For young European drivers exploring their options, Star Mazda race cars are comparable to Formula 3 and Palmer Audi, at a substantially lower cost and with the added benefits of substantial prize money and national television exposure.

All Star Mazda Championship drivers race identical high-tech open-wheel cars that feature a carbon fiber chassis, fully-adjustable suspension and a sequential 6-speed gearbox. Power is provided by Mazda’s legendary ‘Renesis’ rotary engine that produces 240 horsepower, top speeds of over 150 mph and 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 2.8 seconds. This engine is so reliable that it can last an entire racing season without a rebuild, helping to keep the cost of racing in Star Mazda down to a fraction of the budget required to compete in any comparable open wheel series in the U.S. or Europe.

New for 2008 are Goodyear radial racing slicks and standing starts, bringing the Star Mazda championship into full compliance in terms of equipment and procedures, with major open wheel series, including Formula One, Champ Car and Champ Car Atlantic.

Total prizes, with money paid down through 15th-place in the championship, approaches $1.5 million. The series champion not only gets a sponsorship to race in next year’s Champ Car Atlantic Powered by Mazda series, but also a cash award of $100,000 plus a brand-new Mazda RX-8 sports car. The series’ ‘Rookie of the Year’ award is worth $10,000 and contingency awards from participating suppliers such as Goodyear, Quartermaster Clutches, BBS Wheels, VP Fuels, Performance Friction Brakes and Staubli dry break systems, boost the total to almost $1.5 million.