Growing up in Evanston, Ill., as the oldest of three boys, Michai Stephens never told his family of his desire to be a race car driver. But a Skip Barber shootout victory and two stints as a Team USA Scholarship winner put the 24-year-old on the fast track to a racing career.

Drivers seeking to make their way onto the Mazda Road to Indy now have an alternate, lower-cost route onto the first rung, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, with today’s confirmation that the National Class will be returning in 2016.

At a mere 14 years of age, Brit Jordan Cane turned some heads last year in his first season in a car (and only his fourth year racing) as he earned seven F1600 victories for Team Pelfrey despite missing the first two events due to age restrictions. This year Cane, who was brought up just a few miles from the Goodwood circuit in England, will step up to the Mazda Road to Indy, competing for Team Pelfrey in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

15-year-old Robert Megennis makes the jump to the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda this year after a successful season with Team Pelfrey in F1600. The young New Yorker moves up to the team’s Mazda Road to Indy squad after finishing eighth in the F1600 standings with eight podium finishes. There’s much more to this young man than meets the eye.

Ayla Agren’s career could have gone in any number of directions given her family’s passion for the open waters, but the young Norwegian rode the winds of change along a path of her own – once a surprise encounter led her to motorsports.