Well spoken, Boss!

In 2006, I was looking to get into affordable racing. NASA Midwest barely existed, so I looked around at what I could race. 944Spec and SE30 seemed like good options. Neither had a single car out here yet. I went on the web boards, and people like Tim Comeau, Joe Paluch, Check Taylor, David Dirks,and Norm Hamden welcomed me in, and broke the news that my "new" 924S with the .5cm overbore was... not legal (Doh!). I bought a car from Chuck, and set about building Midwest 944Spec with the same passion I found from the pioneers online. I owe those guys a lot, and it's a great lesson on how big of an influence these web boards can have.

I love the culture of 944 Spec in that we share things, and help each other, even at our own expense. Some of my favorite moments have been sharing video and data with my buddies, making each other faster, elevating our game, and those around us. Even at Nationals. A few of you guys may remember Neal Agran, the guy to beat coming into Mid Ohio Nationals, giving a presentation on how to get around Mid-Ohio, complete with Powerpoint, and data. He then coached all who asked, sharing his data to help others. That is the 944 Spec spirit. We value the class, and the competition, above our individual interests.

Here's the original car with the Captain America/Deutschland graphics - Oy Vey! (long story):

I remember hearing about the Miller event a few years back where it was discussed on the forum that the payout would be spread out to all entries. Truly the 944 spec spirit! This allowed more people to participate. One individual decided not to go with this program and had a bit of a fit. This might be the turning point where 944 spec went from being a tight group, to a bunch of individuals that want to beat each other bad enough to exploit and bend rules. No longer a drivers class.

The quote above was from Kent B from AZ.

Kent I am the individual that rejected the socalist payout schedule.

It was discussed online but never announced online or through email that this was the program. My regional director failed to inform all of the drivers from the So-Cal region that this had been decided amonst the regional directors. All the other regions were informed by their directors.

There were many problems with the adjusted payout. First being that the then National Director failed to ask NASA if this was possible. Second they failed to check with TOYO if this was possible. Third they failed to realize that the normal payout or any payout for that matter has to be claimed income and any and all recipients will be 1099, meaning that we are taxed on the payout.

You may or may not understand my anger over being blind sided by my regional and national director. But that is what happened. Did I over react YES! If I could take that back I would. I did apologize to Chuck twice for my outburst.

That is the real story, you obviously heard a different one.

Charles Buzzetti

So to answer the original question.

Great people, great racing and comraderie.

The BBqs and bench racing are fun too.

The So-Cal and Nor-Cal guys are the best.

Charlie's story is accurate re tire payout at that event. I, as SoCal director, dropped the ball and it caused problems. Sorry, again, for that.
Anyway, my story is that I was racing a 911S and just got tired of being outspent. Clearly, the videos showed I wasn't being out driven.
I started laying the foundation for a San Diego-based class that I called Formula 944. That was like 1997-1998 timeframe? I had no time or money to get the class off the ground.( I still have the first and only numbers plate decal). In 1999, I parked my 911S in disgust. I sold half interest in my racing 911 and bought a karting set up. I did that for a couple years and found the secrecy to be off putting.
So I didn't dig the secrecy or the wild spending......See where this is going?

I had heard (around 2002?) that there was a group in AZ that was racing 944's. I started thinking about Formula 944 again and picked up the rule set. I called Dan Webb, who was running 944 Spec in AZ at the time and expressed interest in making sure my rules crossed over well with theirs so there could be max participation between the groups. He convinced me to not reinvent the wheel and just get on board with NASA's new 944 Spec class. This was something I could really get behind. And I did.
I sold all my karting gear and put that towards a 924S, which was purchased on a Tuesday in Feb, 2003. I drove it over to race with the AZ guys that Sat-Sun! I had on Yoko A032R's, half of a spec suspension, still had working A/C, a stereo, etc. That's how it was when I got it. I knew it was more important to start participating than to wait until the car was totally prepared. March 2003, the car raced alone at Cal Speedway, but it would soon be transformed into the mighty, mighty, Zebra car. (BTW, that same event the following year we had 11 cars racing.)
Thousands and thousands of posts on every forum I could find, thousands of phone calls, of dollars, etc. Finally, a class where I could race Porsches, not be outspent, etc. More importantly, because we were in at the beginning, we could shape the culture of the class. This is precisely why I was so controlling in the class's infancy.
No secrecy. NO CHEATING. Just helpful, friendly, openness. Parking all together in the paddock with open hoods. Trust on and off the track. Bringing slower drivers up to speed.
We must have struck a chord with many racers! Before we knew it, we had the class introduced and accepted into the San Diego PCA autocross rules. Then PCA Zone 8, then Time Trials, then the POC adopted the class, then PCA Club Racing....
What we were doing really resonated with a lot of folks and our class grew because of it. We've remained true to our roots. There are many other classes out there if you want to innovate or race with your wallet. I'll stick with NASA's 944 Spec class.

I got my first to be tracked car in 1993, a 911SC, I was living back east and did DE's with PCA until 1997, because of work, weather and life in general, I may have done about 12 track weekends in 4 years. When I moved to Phoenix and found NASA-AZ, I started racing and instructing when ever I possibly could. PCA, POC, SCCA, NASA a couple more clubs that I can't even remember from CA....Like Tim mentioned with his 911S, he was being out spent, but being in the same class, I didn't understand what money had to do with it. One race I drove my racecar from AZ to Heartland Park, I think in KS to run with PCA, I was in F class, a group of guys there were called the F troop, man talk about fast, one of my best friends was racing his RS America and they were beating him on the straights, I was happy to hear not long after that they were busted for cheating in a race at Sebring. But with my limited knowledge of the internal combustion engine, for Sunday's race, I found a cool looking can of octane boost called "Outlaw" it reminded me of the Fosters Beer can, so I thought a can of this with 10 gallons of gas, I can keep up with them, well I didn't read the part that said to mix with 55 gallons, so the drive home was slower and not as smooth as getting there. This was a pattern that I saw every place I raced, so by 2002, Joe Stubblefield along with Dan Webb were part the originals for getting the class going told me about spec944 (SCCA) that sounded like the class I wanted to race my 911 in, I really didn't want to change cars, but the selling point was how much cheaper the parts were for a 944 vs a 911. So by 2005 I was all in with Spec 944, 944spec and SP1. For the most part they were accurate about the cars, except for a few in AZ and SoCal, that was because of not having specific rules about headers, chips, lightened fly wheels etc...by 2007 or so that was cleaned up.



Like everyone has commented on here so far, the camaraderie, close racing and the cost compared to other cars and classes has kept me a fan.



Although I do find myself getting angry when it appears that the intent isn't being respected, much of that anger comes from my past racing a 911 and leaving that to come to a class that is supposed to have the best of friends who won't screw each other for a plastic trophy, however I know it's more than a trophy, not being a psychologist but more into looking things up on Google, it generally come from one of several things, but two at the top are ego or low self esteem.


So when your being passed on a straight and their tires are chirping when changing gears, after the race, please give them a big hug and let them know what a great driver they are and how much you love them:)



We do have the best class out there and it's up to all of us to keep it that way!








​Norm #99
AZ-944spec director


​Won a few

Lost a few

Had lots of fun​