Junior Open Wheel Talent

A few familiar names took part in the Playboy Mazda MX-5 cup series opener at Road Atlanta last weekend. Steve Welk and Brett Smrz brought their karting and formula car experience to the fender world by running the Mazda MX-5's over the weekend. Welk also brings quite a bit of sports car experience after spending the last few season racing spec miata's with SCCA. Unfortunately, neither driver had much success in the Final. Smrz was quite fast in both practice sessions running in the top 10. The duo ran fairly close all weekend. Despite driving for separate teams, they managed to qualify right next to each other. Smrz qualified 14th and Welk crossed the stripe with the 15th quickest time. The two drivers were separated by a mere 2/100ths of a second.
Another 90210 celebrity has decided to make a run at the racing world. Ian Ziering was in the field, following in the footsteps of ex co-star/racer Jason Priestley. Priestley pursued racing until a serious crash in a Infiniti Pro Series car put him back on the sidelines in 2002. Ziering did run the MX-5 cup last year, making a guest appearance with Frankie Muniz and Patrick Dempsey. Ziering failed to finish in the opener this weekend.