On the second time of attempting, 18-year-old Noah Harmon (above) gained the Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship Shootout’s prime prize: a totally funded experience for the 2025 season.
To get thus far, Harmon spent his 2024 season seat time properly to incorporate collaborating in three Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Introduced by Michelin rounds, totaling six races. The transfer allowed him to retain his eligibility standing, but in addition change into extra conversant in the driving nuances of the Mazda MX-5 Cup race automotive.
“Final yr, I didn’t know what to anticipate coming into the Shootout. This yr, I used to be rather more conversant in the automotive,” says Harmon.
His racing trajectory has to date been much less typical than these of his friends. Harmon was born in Toronto, Ont., however was raised from across the age of 4 within the Orlando, Fla., space. He loved watching racing on TV along with his father, they usually made the occasional hour-plus journey to Daytona Worldwide Speedway to attend the Rolex 24 and the Daytona 500.
“On the finish of 2019, my dad and I went to drive some rental karts, and that was the start,” Harmon remembers. “We went to have a look at correct racing karts and on my 14th birthday, I drove an actual kart for the primary time.”
Regardless of coming into the karting scene twice as previous as many who’re aggressive at this stage of their careers, Harmon fell into the groove in a short time.
“I raced karts from 2020 to 2021, and I did effectively within the state of Florida,” says Harmon. “I did some nationwide stuff, too, and I’d run respectable. I wasn’t one of many guys who could be on the entrance, however I went to Tremendous Nats in Las Vegas and did OK.”
The transition to race automobiles got here after solely two seasons of karting.
“We acquired to know some individuals in racing, and I did the Lucas Oil Racing College,” he remembers. “I actually fell in love with the race automobiles, so I did each of their racing faculties after which did their two-race winter collection to start with 2022.”
Alongside the best way Harmon crossed paths with a couple of different MX-5 Cup rising stars equivalent to Jeremy Fletcher, Westin Workman and Thomas Annunziata. It was additionally throughout this time that Harmon met Aaron Nash of Essential Motorsports, who really useful that he check out racing Mazdas, starting with Spec Miata, which he did in 2023 with Mazda powerhouse BSI.
For the 2024 season, Harmon took one other step ahead, competing in Spec MX-5 with Greenwood Motorsports along with the three MX-5 Cup races that netted him a powerful fourth-place end together with a ninth place through the last spherical at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta.
The attention-grabbing half is that Harmon has but to run a full season in any championship and a second-place end within the Spec MX-5 class on the 2024 SCCA Nationwide Championship Runoffs is his finest consequence to date. So, did he really feel just like the underdog when he got here to the Scholarship Shootout this yr?
“I felt like I positively had numerous expertise going into this yr’s Shootout with my information of the MX-5 Cup automotive, so I didn’t really feel like an underdog in that respect. I felt very ready for the Shootout this yr,” he explains. “Final yr was very very similar to I had no thought what I used to be moving into. It’s a wild and superior occasion, however it’s tremendous traumatic to enter it, and this yr I positively knew what to anticipate, which helped”
General Scholarship Shootout winner Noah Harmon (heart) with runner-up Helio Meza (proper) and Mazda Girls in Motorsport Initiative Scholarship winner Ashlyn Pace (left).
Embarking on his first full season in a single championship presents Harmon with a problem he has but to take care of.
“I believe representing Mazda this yr in MX-5 Cup and being the Shootout winner and simply attending to do a full season is gonna be a giant, massive deal,” he muses. “I imply, I actually haven’t run a full season the place each race issues. I do numerous race weekends. It’s simply by no means part of a single championship. Like, for Spec MX-5, I ran 4 weekends this yr, however I did a bunch of random Spec Miata stuff on the identical time. So, I actually haven’t needed to put a full season collectively like that earlier than. I believe that’s actually going to be an excellent expertise.”
For the time being, Harmon is simply attempting to course of all of it. Like so many Shootout Scholarship winners earlier than him, his short-term profession path has taken a really sudden and constructive flip.
“After the Shootout, my dad and I had been simply tremendous blissful,” says Harmon. “I imply, he was crying as a result of it meant every part that the final three years has been about attempting to win it. So, it was simply numerous stress and expectation for us to know we had an excellent shot at it this yr and it meant a lot. I’ve to additionally thank Bob and Donna Mueller of Avenue Facet Classics for his or her assist, as a result of I believe simply getting time within the MX-5 Cup automotive was the most important factor — getting time testing in it this yr and doing a little races.”
Successful the MX-5 Cup Scholarship Shootout meant as a lot to Noah Harmon’s father (proper) because it did to the winner himself.
Subsequent January, Harmon and his dad will as soon as once more make the journey to Daytona Worldwide Speedway, solely this time, he’ll be a lot nearer to that dream of being a full-time sports activities automotive racer.
- All Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Introduced by Michelin races are streamed stay on RACER.com and archived on The RACER Channel on YouTube. The 2025 motion kicks off with the always-unmissable Daytona Worldwide Speedway doubleheader on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Friday, Jan. 24. And for all the most recent collection information, head to mx-5cup.com.
