A familiar and respected face around the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires paddock, Jonny Baker will join Andersen Promotions in a newly created position as Series Development Director for all three levels of the world renowned ladder system.

Premium synthetic lubricant manufacturer, Royal Purple Synthetic Oil, Royal Purple®, awarded one driver in each of the three Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Series with the Royal Purple “Slickest Pass” Award which included a $5,000 check to aid each driver in reaching their goal of racing in the Verizon IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. Royal Purple presented the awards to Patricio O’Ward, Sting Ray Robb and Calvin Ming at the September 3 Road to Indy awards banquet.​

Following a cocktail reception on a glorious summer’s evening overlooking the Columbia River and with Mt. Hood looming in the distance, over $2.6M was distributed in the Mount St. Helens Ballroom at the Red Lion On The River, Jantzen Beach, just a mile or so away from Portland International Raceway which this past weekend hosted a hugely successful return of major-league open-wheel auto racing to the Pacific Northwest after an absence of 11 years.

The recently crowned champion stalked polesitter Rasmus Lindh through the opening stages, then pounced decisively before edging away to another relatively comfortable victory – his 11th in a row and 12th of the 14-race season, which equals the record established by former Verizon IndyCar Series driver J.R. Hildebrand en route to the championship title in 2006.

He might already have this year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – and a Mazda Scholarship worth at least $325,000 to graduate onto the next rung of the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder in 2019 – under his belt, but now Kyle Kirkwood has his eyes set on the record books