Sacramento State mechanical engineering senior Philip Holifield is gaining work-related experience just like many students, but instead of working at a part-time internship, he is racing cars at triple digit speeds around some of California’s most challenging race tracks.

Holifield is the current Spec Miata champion for the San Francisco region of the Sports Car Club of America.

The Spec Miata series puts dozens of evenly matched Mazda Miatas against each other on racetracks around Northern California.

Holifield said he was always interested in cars and purchased a 1996 Corvette right out of high school.

“It was a big V8 with massive, wide tires on it,” Holifield said. “It was a lot of fun to drive.”

Holifield said he eventually had to give up racing his Corvette af- ter realizing the cost of replacement tires.

After talking to a family friend who was already racing in the Mazda Miata Spec series, Holifield said he decided to switch over to driving the smaller and lighter Miata.

The use of a small four-cylinder engine and lightweight body panels make the Miata a popular choice for many race car drivers, including Holifield.

“It was a lot cheaper to have a Miata on a racetrack than a Corvette,” Holifield said.

Smaller tires and the abundance of spare parts for the Miata cut the costs down for many Miata racers.

Holifield said the excellent suspension of the Miata helped him respect the Japanese convertible, but said people unfamiliar with the Miata often mistake the race cars in his series for girly, weekend cars.

“The biggest downside to racing a Miata is telling people you race a Miata,” Holifield said. “Anyone who’s driven one understands but someone who doesn’t know thinks you race a chick car.”

Although Sac State is a long drive from the racetracks Holifield competes in, Holifield said he chose Sac State because of its engineering program and the Hornet Racing Team.

School life often gets hectic for Holifield during racing season, as Holifield said he has to complete his schoolwork before the race weekend or risk falling behind in his classes.

Holifield said when he isn’t at the track or studying for exams he is busy working as the lead suspension designer on the Hornet Racing Team’s formula car.

Hornet Racing team member Sol Backer said Holifield put in a lot of time and energy to help get the formula car up and running.

“He’s a sharp guy,” said Backer. “He’s definitely not afraid to do the work himself.”

Holifield said he is working with other students to design a traction control system, which helps the car go faster by decreasing the time the tires spin in place during acceleration, for the Hornet formula car.

“(The traction control system) is a really big advantage in the acceleration event,” Holifield said. “You can just mash the gas and not have to worry about wheel slip on the starts.”

Holifield said he will also be teaching driving theory to the Hornet Racing Team by taking members go-cart racing to show them how to become more effective drivers on the track

Holifield said his next big race will be the 25 Hours of Thunderhill at Willows, Calif. on Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 as part of a group of drivers piloting a Spec Miata much similar to his own.

This event will be much different than the half hour races Holifield usually competes in, as he will have to contend with larger, more powerful cars for long hours on little to no sleep.

Holifield said the majority of the race will also take place at night when drivers will only have their headlights and the taillights of other drivers to guide them through the difficult track.

Holifield said he already has experience racing at Thunderhill in two previous endurance races and he is aiming for his first victory at this year’s race, as mechanical difficulties plagued his past two endurance races.

If Holifield’s racing career falls through, he said he would be just as happy as an engineer or pitcrew member for a racing team.

“I like working on my car,” said Holifield. “That’s half the fun of it.”

Miguel Razo can be reached at [email protected]

Sean Chin can be reached at [email protected]