Since I'm not racing anymore, I'll leave it alone after this

This is a 'from the keyboard' perspective. Take it as you will.

When several drivers make the trek to Nationals based on a shared payout, then are denied because one person thinks the accounting might be a little complicated, an entire region and several individuals boycott Nationals the fallowing year(s).

Most 944 spec drivers are not great accountants, that's why we race 944 spec.

No blame should be placed on any of the directors for blindsiding. This idea of sharing is the 944 spec spirit in a nutshell. The proper response (IMHO) would be 'Hell yes! Lets share all of it! 1099? meh.. Take 20% of the top and divvy up the rest. Toyo Bucks? that one is doable too.

Sharing is caring!!!

One of the directors already shared that the reasons I stated above was the true story.
They would have been shot down any ways according to the National Director for NASA. It was poor planning on the part of the directors.
As far as the Colorado Region not participating in the following years you only hurt yourself. The directors did not have the authority to make the decision they made.
The car counts were still very respectable with out you.

You dont have to like the truth but I am going to say it anyways.

I'll defend Charlie on that one too. I think I'd be pretty upset to learn that everyone else had already spent "my" money if that expectation wasn't clear going in. I don't know all the details but my experience with Charlie is that he isn't a selfish guy.

I have been racing since a week after I got my drivers licence which was a LONG time ago. I have raced stock, modified, and prototype cars with all sorts of groups, SCCA, PCA, POC, NASA, PRO, HSR, FIA etc...I have built many of the cars I have raced and built cars for customers and raced others cars as well.

Now I am an airline pilot and have a variable schedule. I live in a late 1800's home in Salt Lake City with a carriage house for a garage (painful for a guy that used to have a 20,000sqft facility to build cars). So for me to go prototype racing or big car racing I would have to buy or rent a shop, hire guys to maintain the car etc...I am not willing to do that right now. So my self imposed rules were a class that I can build, maintain, and run the car with my limited time, limited facilities and with a limited budget. I have a lot of 944 time (mostly turbo), and I am not into Asian or American cars so 944Spec was a pretty easy class decision.

I am also one that was very good at manipulating the loopholes in rule books as most are in the big money racing series. Were we cheating or simply innovating and adapting? I for one felt it was part of racing at that level to find any advantage possible. Sure the driver was important but the car was huge and nobody was without some level of rules interpretation in their set-ups.

Given an open rule book and a big budget I will have a very expensive and fast car. But that is NOT what I want to do right now with family time and budget constraints. So again 944Spec makes sense to 'control' me in both respects.

Can I find loopholes in the rules in 944Spec, ummm yes, lots. Can I do things that will not be found out...yes. I choose to take the higher ground on keep it strait, but these things also cost a lot of money to do right and again that is not what I want to do. I choose to make suggestions at rules time for items that might be cheaper or easier for guys building and maintaining cars, or things that add to longevity and if they are legalized I will decide if I will do them or not.

Heck I am still building my car after 2+ years so at this point I am not really part of the group except in the future tense.

There is definitely a lot of truth in your last reply Charlie.

Spec 944 = The best class to sandbag on the planet! (fixed it for you)



I will stop now.

I'm with you on that one, Steve. I don't know anything about the particular race, but I do know Charlie to be a very cordial and helpful presence at the track and in the paddock. Whether it's sharing tools, sharing his racing and track knowledge, or just sharing refreshments, Charlie, like the rest of the class, is very accommodating with his fellow drivers.