I here Tom Fowler is teaming up and being the crew chief for Baxter in the 2002 SVWC in a Mazda Protege... I thought Tom was a strickly Honda man...

 

Hmmm...seems more and more Honda people are going Mazda...

Rumors are that Foo will also pilot a Mazda..

Care to confirm that Roger??!!

 

His business actually always included work on Mazdas, but not that "officially". Now that we have Spec Miata, interest is really growing in this class and OPM knows it. They are actually building 3 Spec Miatas (maybe 4) and will have a couple just as rental cars. Plus OPM is putting out the staggering $10 000 first place cash prize for the Spec Miata class in the ECR series this year.

Bob Baxter has been racing ITA this year mainly in ECRs and also some SARRCs. I've been with him on the track a few times and he's a real good driver. He was always with us and Tom at every race and so since Sunbelt (OPM's engine builder) builds the engines for the Proteges in the WC it made perfect sense to have OPM prepare the rest of the car for Baxter. His crew chief is actually John Sherk (Canadian racer and Tom's friend). I *think* that Tom will also go around the country with Bob since he will have OPM on the car, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to make every race and run the shop at the same time. Here's the story on the WC website http://www.speedvisionwc.com/news/02press03.html (And make sure you guys read the last sentence!! ) As the rules package stands right now for the Protege, you can't go wrong with it especially having that Sunbelt engine running on steroids under the hood.

Bob Baxter is a real nice guy and the fact that he's been racing IT last year with us it's easy to make him my favorite driver this year in WC Touring. If not him then Stretch, but I would also love to see Foo have great results also.

 

As far as Foo, everyone pretty much knows he is going with Mazda. But then again, if I was getting a full sponsorship from Mazda I would go with Mazda as well.

Regarding - OPM: I heard of a a few Mazda prepared cars by Tom, but it was more he was doing it as a favor more than anything. Well, good for Tom. He knows a lot of the SVWC drivers, so he should feel right at home.

 

OPMs first spec Miata finished 4th at the ARRC. Amazing considering the car was brand new and had not been tested.
SM is going to be big, and OPM is getting in early. Don't expect them to abandon hondas.

 

I'm really impressed with Mazda and their involvement in amatuer motorsports. There are more Mazdas at our autocross events than about any other car. Plus, they are going full-bore with the Protege's in WC, then theres Spec Miatas, ITS RX7's, etc etc etc.

 

Yep, you may even see me at a couple SCCA events this year in a Spec Miata...