Kyle Kimball speaking at a STEM event; assisted by a professor geared up.

Mazda Motorsports’ Spotlight: Kyle Kimball

Meet Kyle Kimball – Specialist and utility member for the entire motorsport’s program.

Kyle Kimball is a specialist for the motorsports team at Mazda North American Operations. He is based out of the Chicago office, handling much of the back-office tasks, such as drawing-up and negotiating contracts, planning and tracking the overall program budget and more. In addition to these efforts, he helps lead the Mazda Road to 24 (#MRT24) and Mazda Road to Indy (#MRTI) scholarship programs for 2016. He, along with Jim Bowie, are two lead members for the entire MRTI ladder. But Kimball’s reach extends even further. In 2014, Mazda Motorsports introduced the Racing Accelerates Creative Education (R.A.C.E) STEM program. “I am very fortunate to be part of the planning of those [R.A.C.E. program] events as well as co-presenting our agenda with Mazda Prototype driver Joel Miller,” comments Kimball.

“Being with Mazda for about four years has given me some fun and challenging opportunities. One of my highlights,” Kimball continues, “was organizing the first-ever PRI floor build of our Mazda2 B-Spec race car in 2012. Then we took it across country and raced it in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill with Charles Espenlaub, Tom Long, Tristan Vautier, Kenton Koch, Scott Shelton and Ed Bergenholtz.”

Kyle’s passion for racing: “I’ve been a fan of all types of racing. Really, just love and appreciate the competition of the drivers, the teams and the machines. As a result, I’ve always had the dream of working in the industry someday,” Kimball notes. “While my passion for competition thrives in racing, go Hawks [Blackhawks]!”

Quote on why Driving Matters: “People ask me why I love auto racing and why I love the auto industry all the time. Very simply put, both are forms of art that continue to take shape every single day. Whether it is a racing driver navigating the corkscrew at Mazda Raceway or an automotive designer putting pen to paper, both are similar but very distinctive art forms. And it is this art that gives so many of us the freedom and joy from driving and that is why driving matters.”