December 13, 2002

To All Star Formula Mazda Racers:

Attached are the rules and sign-up forms for both the 2003 Star Mazda Series North American Championship and the 2003 Star Mazda Series – West, the latter now entering its thirteenth year. Please fill out and return the forms as soon as you can. West Division procrastinators are welcome to bring them to Phoenix, if you like. The North American Championship, as previously announced, will consist of nine races, all on Speed Channel, eight with the American Le Mans Series, one with CART. The West Division will run eleven races on eight weekends; three races will be televised. The best nine results for each driver will count toward the West Championship. Drivers will only be scored against other drivers entered in the same series.

The 2003 Western schedule is listed here, alongside the North American Championship schedule, for reference.

We are still planning to organize a convoy to Mexico City, with our rigs joining the ALMS teams, leaving from Laredo, Texas. The details are being worked out now and will be ready to publish soon. We are also working on a cooperative Star Mazda Series hospitality set-up at the Hermanos Rodriguez Track, to serve breakfast and lunch while we are there, to all who care to participate. We think this will be especially convenient for those not fluent in Spanish. If you previewed the Mexico City facilities by watching the broadcasts last month of the CART race, you had to be impressed. This will probably be the best attended race of 2003 for us.

Of the 50 new Pro cars we have committed to build, 40 are already sold. The price, as of December 1, is $69,500 plus freight and any options. As of now, we are not planning to increase the number of cars to be built. The first running prototype will begin track testing in Europe next week, weather permitting. USA-based testing is scheduled to begin before the end of January. Dyno testing on the motor has gone very smoothly. We are all excited.

The comments period, regarding classification of the new Enterprises cars in SCCA, is open until mid-January we understand. If you care about how the SCCA makes and enforces its rules, you should let your feelings be known to both the SCCA Board of Directors and the Competition Board. The fairness and impartiality of SCCA as a sanctioning organization are in question. Should they be able to apply the rules differently to Enterprises than to everyone else? Do not assume that my letters count any heavier with SCCA than anyone else’s. If anything, it seems that mine are discounted as self-serving, rather than representing the FM class.

What has most recently fired us up is, after denying our recent (May ’02), modest request to permit the FM spec motor into CSR (down about 50 HP from top cars), ostensibly because the 13B is not listed for CSR, the SCCA Board then directed the Comp Board to classify two not-fully-specified cars (with a motor not listed or specified yet) into FA and CSR, thereby shortcutting and contradicting the procedures required of everyone else not associated with SCCA Enterprises. FM took seven years of hard work and rapid growth to become a National class. Fastrack, January 1998, said we set the precedent for how it would be done in the future. Apparently not.

Separately, we have been told that our new Pro car should be eligible to run in SCCA’s FS (Regional only) class and should be approved eventually for FA, but we do not know who in SCCA can be trusted anymore. In the end, we suppose Club members will get the government they deserve. There is a lot of room for improvement.

We wish you all a happy holiday season and a successful 2003! See you at the races.

Sincerely,

Gary E. Rodrigues