Mazda Spec MX-5 Shootout Winner!

The Golden Opportunity

In the United States sportscar racing scene, The Mazda Shootout is viewed as a golden ticket for young drivers to propel their careers forward. For the Spec MX-5 portion, twelve drivers are selected to compete for a scholarship to compete on the Mazda Club Racing Factory Team for the SCCA Super Tour in Spec MX-5. A truly life-changing experience!

The Process

The Mazda Shootout is an invite-only event. It begins with Mazda nominating nearly 50 drivers from all across the country. I was honored to be selected as one of those 50 drivers this year. The nominees consisted of fellow Spec Miata drivers, karting drivers, and even some drivers from an oval racing background.

From the time of notification, I had one week to submit a video to Mazda answering a list of questions, along with submitting a CV of my driving experience and a bio explaining why I would be a good fit for Mazda. A week later Mazda brought all of us drivers on a call to announce the twelve finalists. As soon as they started naming the finalists I felt my heart racing faster and faster. I was the eleventh name called. We were going to Miami to compete!

Tight Timeline to Prepare

To make the competition as fair as possible, Mazda does not reveal the track date and location until the finalists are announced to prevent anyone from testing and gaining an unfair advantage. Homestead-Miami Speedway was off-limits to drivers until they arrived at the Shootout. So all of my practice would have to be on the simulator as I had never driven at Homestead. There was only one problem, I didn’t have my simulator with me at college in Phoenix, Arizona.

Last Minute Practice

Thanks to my friend Finley, I was able to practice on his simulator here in Arizona which was a massive help. In addition, I began to reach out to my list of every contact I know who raced at Homestead to try and learn as much as possible.

Four days later I flew back home to Los Angeles for twelve hours to practice one last time on my simulator at home with my coach Enzo. My parents would be joining me to head to the shootout together, after all this was a family affair. #teamstiglette for the win!

Day 1: Exciting

After arriving in Florida, we headed to the track to do my seat fit, meet everyone, and get familiar with the procedures for the next two days. I was so excited for what was ahead, it was truly feeling unreal.

Eyes on Me

One exciting part of the Mazda Shootout was that it was being live-streamed for everyone to watch. At the shootout not only was I being judged on my driving abilities on track, but also my off-track presence, ability to work with mechanics and engineers giving feedback about the car and session on track, and analyzing data and video to improve throughout the two days. With so many big names from the motorsport community watching me, I was feeling nothing but excitement the whole time.

A Demanding Day 2

Without a doubt, Day 2 at Homestead was the most physically and mentally demanding day I’ve ever experienced on track. Due to the high heat and high humidity, I was physically exhausted by the end of the day and on my cool-down lap of Session 3, I was not feeling well. I knew I had to pull everything together to make a full recovery for Day 3 to remain competitive.

In addition, the day was mentally taxing as the car was extremely challenging to drive consistently at the limit. To achieve parity between cars and test our abilities to adapt, we were not allowed to make setup changes so I knew I had to pull everything together to drive the car to its limit. Another challenge was the constant surface changes at Homestead, as a result, this track had very little room for error as you would lose tons of lap time.

Anxiously Waiting

We were expecting an announcement by the end of Day 2 to find out who the final six drivers were who were moving on to Day 3. Because of how tight the competition was, there was no decision made. Instead, we would have to wait till 7:30 AM the next day.

The next day I arrived at the track at 7:30 AM, feeling calm knowing that no matter the decision I was proud of the performance I had put in. My nerves came right back when it was announced that the decision was postponed until 10:30 AM. At 10:30 we were told to wait another hour. At 11:30 we were told that the definitive answer would come out at 1:30 PM.

Day 3: One Shot

At 1:30 PM I discovered that I was one of the six drivers moving onto the last session. Now it was time to pull everything together and show the judges what I could do. For this session, we would be switching cars from Day 2 to remove the factor of driver vs. car performance.

It's not about being the fastest, and during Day 2, I was P4 in lap time which was good. However, I knew that I would need to show stronger pace in this last session to convince the judges that I was one of the drivers they should select.

Just Drive

With such an important opportunity on the line, I knew there was obviously a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I did my regular pre-race warmup routine and simply drove the car without looking at the lap times at all. At the end of the session during my cool down lap I looked at the lap times and saw that I had shaved off sixth tenths of a second. That was the big improvement I needed.

Now, all that was left was to wait for the judges’ final decision knowing I’d given it my all.

WINNERS!

Forty-five minutes later, all of us drivers were called to the podium area for the awards ceremony. The official announcement started straight away. “The two drivers who have been chosen by a panel, and trust me it was a very difficult decision. Joey Andrews…”

Oh my goodness was I lost for words! In an instant, my entire racing career to date flashed through my eyes. I was just selected to drive on the Mazda Club Racing Factory Team and become a Mazda Motorsports Factory Driver!

A Life Changing 2025

It still feels unreal to think about these last two years I have had racing Mazdas and all of the amazing opportunities that have come. If there’s one word to describe how I feel, it is thankful. 

2025 was already shaping up to be exciting; now it was going to be life-changing! In just four weeks, I’ll return to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first race of this exciting new chapter.

This next step of the journey is going to be unforgettable!