October 25, 2002

To All Star FM Racers:

Road Atlanta was a Hollywood ending to a very eventful 2002 season. The Star Mazda Series North American Championship was decided by a one point margin. We had dry conditions throughout the week, except for qualifying. Testing and official practices generally went well but Brian Willman and Ken Erb were not able to finish the week, due to each choosing not to undertake the extensive repairs required after crashes in testing. Both were unfortunate victims of other’s mistakes.

Qualifying opened with a green flag and a cloudburst, which continued for about 30 minutes. Almost everyone was on slicks and some crashed on the out lap trying to get back to the pits for rain tires. One of these was points leader Guy Cosmo. The apparent “gift” to Moses Smith, 2^nd in points, was not accepted, however, as Moses’ car quit on the second lap with a water-logged ignition. The resulting grid was a complete scramble but set up a thrilling race. Check out the story and points enclosed.

Since the race was originally scheduled to be late on Friday, the banquet and awards were booked for Saturday morning at the beautiful Renaissance Pine Isle Resort. The champagne “Breakfast of Champions” was a unique experience for most who attended, with everything from Moet Champagne and eggs benedict, to made-to-order waffles, with all the fixin’s. The awards and payouts went like this:

The Masters Championship points were an equal tie, and Expert was won by one point!

The Brian Wilson Memorial Crew Member of the Year Award went to Jon Mirachi of Racers Edge. The President’s Award went to John Jennings of Jennings Motorsports.

Overall

Congratulations to all for a hard fought competition. Heartfelt thanks go especially to our sponsors and long-term partners Mazda, Goodyear, BBS, and Bosch.

While we were at Road Atlanta, we took advantage of the opportunity to display the new Pro car to some Easterners who did not make it to Mazda Raceway last month. We also had the standard and MSR versions of the Formula car set out for inspection. Star Race Cars is taking orders on all three versions.

Regarding the models: the “standard” Star FM has its own National Class in SCCA, and is eligible to run in all Star Mazda Series, including the North American Championship through 2003. The Star FM Pro car starts in 2004 as the only car for the Star Mazda Series North American Championship. Deliveries of the Pro cars to customers are scheduled to start September, 2003, at a rate of seven cars per month. Indications from SCCA (Fastrack, Nov ’02) are that Pro cars will be eligible to race SCCA in the “FS” class, which is a regional-only deal. The MSR is finalizing testing now and will debut in SCCA Club Racing in November, if we are satisfied it is ready. Per SCCA, the MSR could run CSR with a GT-3 spec 12A rotary motor, but is relegated to ASR, regional only, with any other power plant (even with the FM spec, sealed motor).

As most of you know, we have been struggling for years with an SCCA structure that varies from overly protective of Enterprises, to downright hostile toward us (remember the recent attempt to “save” the spec motor program?) First, we had to fight to even race in SCCA, in the FC class, and then were forced into a stand-alone regional-only FM class as opposed to simply being “ruled out” of racing. We had to get the cars into FA at the National level in order to prove we had the numbers for our own National Class and, even with the numbers, had to practically kick down the door to get recognized. Since the class became one of the top five in SCCA, we then had various attempts by SCCA to “tax” the class or take it over by bits and pieces. They even demanded the blueprints so they could build the cars themselves. Then the spec motor fiasco and all the uncertainty and aggravation that created, especially for Darryl Drummond.

The latest outrage is that, after ruling against us and other manufacturers who have proposed various spec-based, value-oriented cars, they have recently come up with the solution that such cars may only race in FS, if open wheel, or ASR, if closed wheel. These are regional-only classes. However, the Board of Directors has directed the Competition Board to identify two National classes in which the new Enterprises cars will be permitted to compete, short-circuiting a process that would take others 3-5 years to complete.

We are enclosing my letter of protest to the Directors. How can SCCA be so desperate that they cannot see the unfair, unethical, and probably illegal nature of their behavior? What is the true financial condition of the Club, and how is Enterprises going to save it? Or is it the other way around? We think the membership needs straight answers.

            On a high note, here is the 2003 Star Mazda Series North American Championship schedule:

All races will be on Speed Channel. Nine races no “drops.” NOTE: November 16^th will be the broadcast of our Road Atlanta finale. November 17^th, also on Speed Channel, you can preview Mexico City during the CART broadcast.

Have a great holiday and “off” season. See you at the races!

Sincerely,
Gary E. Rodrigues