Cruising down the Indianapolis Motor Speedway frontstretch on a parade lap of the 2011 Firestone Freedom 100 made Tristan Vautier “feel so small, so humble.”

“I wanted to look around at all the sights but didn’t dare take my eyes off what was in front of me,” he said.

The honor was bestowed on the young French driver as the Pro Mazda Championship points leader at the midpoint of the season, and he immediately recognized it as a seminal moment in his Indy car racing career.

If Vautier could secure the Pro Mazda Championship title and corresponding Mazda Road to Indy scholarship, he would be competing in the marquee event on the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights schedule. And then maybe the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 2013? A one-step-at-a-time person, Vautier dared to dream.

His immediate goal of driving in the Firestone Freedom 100 was realized, and winning the series title made it possible for him to start in the 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 26.

“In 2012, Race Day at the track it was crazy because I was smiling in my helmet,” Vautier said. “My helmet was coming up because my cheeks were pushing it up. And you’re on the track and it’s big, wide and fast and the track flows like a roller coaster so it’s amazing.

“It was a great day, and running in traffic the adrenaline is so high it’s hard to describe; it’s like a drug. The green flag drops and it’s like launching a bunch of lions onto the track. Everybody wants to win that race that you forget about the championship. It means so much. The competition was incredible, and everybody wants it so much that you kind of forget about the limit.”

Other up-and-coming drivers will share a similar experience May 24 as they compete in the 40 laps of the Firestone Freedom 100. Firestone Indy Lights championship points leader Carlos Munoz will do double duty -- competing in that race and the Indianapolis 500. He startled tens of thousands of spectators by qualifying on the front row for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."

In fact, all three front-row starters – Ed Carpenter, Munoz and Marco Andretti – are race winners in Firestone Indy Lights.

The success of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system will be displayed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with 2012 Pro Mazda Championship title-holder Jack Hawksworth, runner-up Gabby Chaves and third-place finisher Sage Karam continuing the succession of drivers advancing to the next level of competition.

Hawksworth, of Bradford, England, was a 2012 finalist for the prestigious McLaren/Autosport British Racing Drivers’ Club and earlier this year was named a BRDC “Rising SuperStar.” Chaves, of Colombia, earned 10 podium finishes in 17 races last season in his first year competing in the United States. Karam, of Nazareth, Pa., won the 2010 USF2000 National Championship with Andretti Autosport and was the 2011 Pro Mazda Rookie of the Year.

Second-year Firestone Indy Lights drivers who will compete in the race include Peter Dempsey, Juan Pablo Garcia, Jorge Goncalvez and Munoz. Zach Veach, who has progressed through USF2000 and Pro Mazda to drive for Andretti Autosport this season, will join Ethan Ringel and Kyle O’Gara as first-time entrants. O’Gara is the brother-in-law of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing co-owner and nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter Sarah Fisher.

Like Vautier and Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights championship who also has moved up to the IZOD IndyCar Series and will compete in the 500 Mile Race, Hawksworth dares to dream about such a scenario.

“I had the opportunity to lead the Firestone Freedom 100 parade lap as the Pro Mazda Championship leader in May. It was a thrill and I remember saying to myself, ‘I have to race here,’ ’’ said Hawksworth, who won his maiden Firestone Indy Lights race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in March.

“Competing on the same weekend as the Indianapolis 500 will be something special because it’s something that I’ve grown up knowing about and watching all my life. It will be a special occasion to compete for the first time in a massive race. To get to race there, 99 percent of the racing drivers would die to race there.”

The Mazda Road to Indy program provides drivers a defined path to the IZOD IndyCar Series via the progression of horsepower and racetrack diversity from USF2000 to Pro Mazda to Firestone Indy Lights. The 12-race Firestone Indy Lights season corresponds to IZOD IndyCar Series race weekends, while the other two ladder series periodically race on the same weekends.

In addition to Vautier and Newgarden, the path to the highest level of the sport has been taken by IZOD IndyCar Series drivers JR Hildebrand, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon.

“As a young driver looking to make a career out of racing, it can be hard enough just to make the right decisions on the racetrack sometimes,” said Hildebrand, the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion who now races with National Guard Panther Racing.

“I think it's great that INDYCAR is developing a clear path for those drivers to follow and continue to hone their skills. I was fortunate enough to find my way to the right series and program to put myself in a position to move up, but the way of getting there was always a big question mark. I'm sure that the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system will take some of the guesswork out of becoming a professional driver in North America.”

Newgarden, of Hendersonville, Tenn., noted the “process” of the Mazda Road to Indy, which also provides drivers off-track input through seminars whose topics include media training, sponsor and financial management and professional representation.

“You gain a much higher appreciation for it as a driver,” he said. “The Mazda Road to Indy means a lot. Indy Lights has had a great string of drivers move up to the IZOD IndyCar Series and it’s a massive part of what INDYCAR (the sanctioning body) is all about.

“There’s a defined path for drivers, which isn’t really available anywhere else in the world in the sport. There are so many guys at each level that are talented who can reach for the IZOD IndyCar Series. They’ll be the next wave of the sport’s stars.”