Meet the Contenders: Tyler Kicera

Eight of the top grassroots competitors will compete November 15 & 16 at NOLA Motorsports Park for the Mazda Road to 24 scholarship valued at $100,000.  Today, we introduce Tyler Kicera, one of the top Spec Miata competitors in the world.

At 31 years of age, Tyler Kicera has been involved in motorsports for twenty-five years.  Raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he began racing quarter midgets at the age of six at a small asphalt oval in nearby Honeybrook.  He worked his way into sports car racing with SCCA in the mid-2000s.

After a four-year hiatus from driving, Kicera returned to competition in 2012 with serious focus.  His racing efforts have always been family oriented and his team is made up of three generations of racers.  In the ultra competitive Spec Miata class, where teammates are important, Kicera won the 2016 NASA Eastern States championship and two SCCA US Majors nationwide point’s championships in 2015 and 2016 as a single car effort.  In 2016 he won over 75% of his starts.

Kicera notes, “Showing up to the track with a single car was tough in the beginning because we were so focused on what everyone else was doing with tires and setup, trying to play catch up.  I prep and crew chief my own car making calls on setup and strategy with input from my crew.”  On his success over the past few seasons he added, “At some point we started to hit on the setup and I really tuned up my driving with data and video analyses.  We stopped paying attention to what others were doing and really focused on making our car match what I needed as a driver.”

Off the track Kicera works in business development at TAIT, a world leader in the field of live event, producing some of the most iconic concert tours and architectural installations on the planet.  With a degree in architecture, he has an extensive creative background and has put that to good use building and managing his own motorsport’s brand.
“My career outside of racing has taught me a lot that I apply on and off the track from mental focus and creative vision, to business development.   The Mazda Road to 24 Shootout presents an amazing opportunity to leverage my experience, partnering with Mazda and competing for the Idemitsu MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich championship in 2017.  I’m truly honored to be a finalist in this year’s shootout.”