Four years running, Parella Motorsports Holdings (PMH) has awarded diversity scholarships offering assistance to select racers competing in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli, the Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas), and other competition outlets.
The PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship enables drivers from a variety of backgrounds to participate in PMH-owned events. Specifically, nine of PMH’s 14 scholarships awarded for 2024 will boost the efforts of drivers at SCCA Pro Racing®-sanctioned events.
“We’re thrilled to expand our PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship to assist 14 racers this season, our largest class ever,” said Tony Parella, CEO of PMH. “We have watched several of our past graduates go on to accomplish bigger and better things, among them Chloe Chambers, who was just nominated to the F1 Academy by the Haas F1 Team. I can’t wait to see what this year’s class of drivers goes on to accomplish in their careers.”
PMH executes events under the SpeedTour brand and holds long-term commercial rights to SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned series like Trans Am, FR Americas, F4 U.S., Formula Race Promotions, and Formula 2000. Scholarship recipients receive free event entry or test day opportunities, and are partnered with mentors and a team of executives to assist in career development. Educational advisement and training are offered, as well as opportunities to enhance exposure through media and fan engagement.
Trans Am Scholarship Winners
Amy Ruman, an SCCA member for more than 30 years, is a multi-time champion within the Trans Am Series. She’s a 2024 PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship recipient that will mentor others joining the longest-running professional road racing series in North America.
Under Ruman’s auspice is PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship winner Kaylee Bryson, a member of SCCA’s Northeast Oklahoma Region. She’s looking at a season in Trans Am’s SGT class with LSI Racing.
Going head-to-head with Bryson will be scholarship winner Jenn Krpata, from SCCA’s New York Region. She joins the SGT fight in 2024 with her family-owned team after turning GT-2 laps at SCCA U.S. Majors Tour® and Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour outings.
Rafa Matos, a member of SCCA’s Florida Region with copious racing experience and two Trans Am championships, is another scholarship recipient serving as mentor in Trans Am’s TA2 competition for teammates (and scholarship recipients) Michele Abbate and Tyler Gonzalez.
Abbate is a longtime SCCA member who began her motorsports journey at 16-years-old thanks to autocross. She has since accomplished a GT-1 podium appearance at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs®.
Then there’s Gonzales, who is 19 years old. He joined SCCA in 2017 as part of the Central Florida Region, and has run with the Club at multiple Regional, SCCA U.S. Majors Tour, and Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour events. He’s a Spec Miata driver with some Touring 3 contests under his belt.
FR Americas Scholarship Winners
The PMH Powering Diversity Scholarship brings three new faces to the SCCA-sanctioned FR Americas 2024 season as well. All three are SCCA members looking to refine their craft and explore careers in motorsports.
To begin, there’s 18-year-old Justin Garat, who joined SCCA in 2022 and is a member of the Florida Region. Canadian Nicole Havrda, an 18-year-old member of SCCA’s San Francisco Region, will be in the mix, too, with previous experience running Formula Atlantic at a West Coast SCCA U.S. Majors Tour event.
Then there’s 21-year-old Landan Matriano Lim, now a member of SCCA’s Red River Region. He has no previous race experience with SCCA, but has totally flipped for the sport.
Watch SCCA’s Racers Live, Online
Continuing its partnership with MAVTV, Trans Am’s TA/XGT/SGT/GT and CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series events will air live on MAVTV’s linear television network and its Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channel, MAVTV Select.
In addition to live broadcasts of the events, 60-minute highlight shows will air Thursdays on MAVTV in primetime following each race weekend, with the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series race airing at 8 p.m. ET and the TA/XGT/SGT/GT race airing at 9 p.m. ET as part of MAVTV’s “World of Racing” programming block.
In addition to the MAVTV broadcasts, live streams will also be available for all championship events on Trans Am’s YouTube channel (@TheTransAmSeries) and the SpeedTour TV YouTube channel (@SpeedTourTV).
Photo caption: SCCA members receiving PMH Powering Diversity Scholarships. (Top row left to right: Jenn Krpata, Landan Matriano Lim, Nicole Havrda. Middle row left to right: Kaylee Bryson, Amy Ruman, Tyler Gonzalez. Bottom row left to right: Rafa Matos, Michele Abbate, Justin Garat.)
Photos courtesy Parella Motorsports
