Michelle Squirek is a rising motorsports talent who built a winning career from the ground up, racing a Mazda at every step of the way. Starting with a $1,500 Mazda Miata she bought for college. She has fought her way from grassroots autocross, to the front of the national club racing scene, all the way to making her debut with the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup this year at Virginia International Raceway.

Michelle made her start in her local SCCA region in autocross finishing 2nd in her rookie season. With this result she was able to build a relationship with a local Miata repair and aftermarket parts supplier Rspeed. On the back of her early success Michelle was able to expand this partnership to begin her wheel to wheel racing aspirations. Rspeed helped prepare the very same Mazda Miata she bought for college into a fully prepared road race car. After obtaining her SCCA competition license she then went on to win back to back SCCA regional championships in 2020 and 2021.

Following these championships Michelle was also able to begin her career as a software engineer, which then afforded Michelle had the opportunity to aim higher. So in 2022, Michelle stepped up to the national stage in the Mazda Spec MX-5 Challenge Series. 

While she managed strong performances and even a podium early on, midway through her rookie season Michelle became ill as a result of a mysterious illness which left her hospitalized. It was here she received her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) diagnosis. Instead of being deterred Michelle instead started receiving treatment as well as started her disease modifying therapy and was able to return to the season without missing a single race weekend. She also was able to find deeper purpose in her racing, and leverages her platform to raise funds for the National MS Society in partnership with their Race to End MS Campaign. To date Michelle has used her racing platform to raise over $13,000 for the National MS Society.

Michelle continues to race in the series which is now the Spec MX-5 class run as part of the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour. In which time she has collected 6 more podium finishes as well as a race win at Daytona.

This latest season was particularly successful, so much so that she was able to capture the attention of Jay Saito of the MX-5 Cup team Saito Motorsports group. Which she leveraged to secure not only her first test in a MX-5 Cup car but to also make her Whelen MX-5 Cup debut at Virginia International Raceway.

Thanks in part to this experience Michelle now appreciates the challenge that lies before her, and wants nothing more than to jump in head first. Between her career as a software engineer and the partnerships she has built through her years in the sport, Michelle is now in the position to turn another page as she makes a full season run at the entirety of the Whelen MX-5 Cup schedule in 2027.

“I’ve always wanted to race on the biggest stage where it’s possible to showcase my talents, and I can think of no better place than the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup” – Michelle Squirek