(Mark Drennan, August 2015 Spirit of Mazda winner, with Tom Long.)

Spirit of Mazda Award Returns with a Little Extra Thanks

Know anyone who lives up to the title?

Now that the racing season has once again begun, the Spirit of Mazda Award returns. Focusing on the drivers, crew members and vendors who wear their Mazda Spirit loud and proud, winners of the award embody the seven core values of the Mazda brand. They are:

  • Integrity
  • Basics and Flawless Execution – Steady efforts in a step-by step fashion
  • Continuous Kaizen – Continue improving with wisdom and ingenuity
  • Challenger Spirit – Set high goals and challenging to achieve them
  • Self-Initiative
  • Tomoiku – Learn and teach each other for mutual growth and success
  • One Mazda – We work as one unit

“These aren’t only corporate values, but are also some of the critical qualities that spell success in the world of motorsports for individual drivers and race teams alike,” said John Doonan, Director, Mazda Motorsports.

“Therefore, as a staff, we decided that a terrific way to recognize members of our community (nominated and voted on by fellow members of the Mazda Motorsports family) was to initiate a Spirit of Mazda award each month. It has been a very special “new” tradition to our program that is not about pole positions, race wins or championships, but rather about being a positive representative of what we stand for and making a positive impact on their fellow competitors.”

Spirit of Mazda Award winners are announced monthly, and all Mazda Team Members are encouraged to submit nominations. Please let us know who you think is worthy of the award, and briefly tell us why.

Past winners of the award include such Mazda luminaries as Jim Downing and Liam Dwyer, but the majority have gone to every day Mazda racers who have exemplified the values of the Mazda brand.

All winners will be profiled on mazdamotorsports.com in recognition of their achievement as well as receiving a Spirit of Mazda jacket. This year we will go a step further. As each Spirit of Mazda award recipient gives back to our community, we want to give a little more to him or her. In addition to the Spirit of Mazda jacket, Mazda Motorsports will provide a $250 part support credit to each Spirit of Mazda award recipient, with our thanks for their contributions to the sport and to the Mazda brand.

To submit a nomination for a future Spirit of Mazda Award winner, please go to http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eds2eid8iynqurt3/start