British Jonny Baker on Star Mazda experience
For seasoned British racer Jonny Baker, winning is not everything as the experience also contributes much for a race to be remembered as something great. This is what he believed in after going home with trophies but instead took home valuable memories in Goodyear’s 2008 Star Mazda Championship held in Florida this last week.
At a young age of 23, Buckinghamshire-native Baker has always been on top of the league back in his country. In the UK Formula Ford Championship, he successfully pocketed an overall ninth and fifth spots in 2006 and 2005, respectively. In another event dubbed as the British Racing Drivers’ Club Single-Seater Championship, Baker bagged the silver for the Class B in 2004.
Things had a different turn, however, in the Star Mazda. Baker suddenly became a new face in the crowd – in the Andersen Racing F2000 Team. Moreover, the young lad had to face far different tracks that trailed from the United States to the borders of neighboring Canada. At the end of it all, Baker came home empty-handed as he did not win in any races but despite of that, he still considered this Andersen Racing Team as one of the best he had in years.
“I learned an awful lot about myself this year, living in another country away from family and friends, but everybody at Andersen Racing made sure that I had the best year of my life,” said Baker. “Dan Andersen runs a very professional team that has a family-like core to it. If I were just here on my own it would have been a long year, but it wasn’t anything like that; the time just flew. The whole team is made up of an amazing bunch of people!”
Going beyond just driving the car was also one of the pointers Baker got through this experience. He learned a lot about Mazda Parts as he had to work closely with his engineers all the time.
For now, Baker is back in his homeland and continues to harness his skills on and off the racing track.
Details from Auto Racing Daily.