If you think about it some, the NASA Championships is a bit like an opera.
It begins with the overture during Thursday practice, where racers can see what they and their cars are about, and get a feel for the other characters in the story. Friday’s time-based qualifying is like an aria, in which each driver sings a solo in pursuit of their ultimate lap time.
Saturday’s qualifying race is akin to the ensemble, where drivers perform as part of a large group. Unlike an opera, each driver is trying to stand out and get to the front of the stage to set themselves up for Sunday’s Championships races, the leitmotif with some cues from Saturday’s performances. When it’s over and done, the champagne flows, NASA champions are crowned, and the fat lady sings — at least in a figurative sense.
But we’re likely getting ahead of ourselves. Saturday’s ensemble was a showcase of tight racing, with only one yellow flag flown all day. Here’s how Saturday’s performances unfolded.
944 Spec
NASA SoCal driver, and three-time 944 Spec National Champion Charlie Buzzetti will tell you his Porsche 924S is aerodynamically superior than the wider, more bulbous 944 cars every other driver in the field is racing.
It might not make much of a difference at short, technical tracks, but Utah Motorsports Campus, with its 3,500-foot-long front straightaway, might just provide the edge that Buzzetti needs. Car setup and the one yellow flag that flew all day Saturday certainly didn’t hurt either.
Buzzetti trailed Josh Cleye in the early stages of the race, but got the jump on Cleye on the restart to take the lead he would hold till the end.
“My car just came in during the race. It was really good,” Buzzetti said. “The first lap it wasn’t very good, and then the car just came in and I was able to really put some laps down and I figured out a couple things during this last session that gave me a little bit of a gap.”
Cleye finished second, with fellow NASA SoCal driver Gian Bowles in third.
American Iron Extreme
Cal Lemp is running in his first NASA National Championships and though he won Saturday’s American Iron Xtreme qualifying race, he learned a valuable lesson.
“We came with two new sets of tires,” Lemp said with a smile. “I’ve learned now we needed three, which is why I was out there in this race on old tires.”
Lemp was running an old set of tires with 20 heat cycles on them, making it a slippery track for the Ford Mustang GT500, which is reportedly the first GT500 to race door-to-door in North America. Despite the old tires, Lemp won the race through attrition. Second-place finisher Derric Carter, who won Friday’s qualifier left the track after eight laps. Nick Plocienik, who finished third, completed six laps.
Carter’s best lap was nearly 4 seconds better than Lemp’s 2:07.020 lap, but Lemp is confident the new tires will keep the racing tight in Sunday’s championship.
“The car is perfectly balanced and with a new set of tires will likely liven things up,” Lemp said.
Camaro-Mustang Challenge
NASA Rocky Mountain’s Matthew Kasuda has had the pace all weekend to be out front in Camaro-Mustang Challenge and Saturday was no different. He capitalized on his pole position and established a gap between Peter Standiford and Lucas Wallace, who were dicing with each other all race long.
Kasuda knew that kind of battling back and forth would slow their pace a bit, so he put is head down and sprinted toward checkers.
“Fortunately for myself, I didn’t really run into much traffic,” Kasuda said. “I think I got around one of the Z cars and it was pretty much an open track for me the entire time.”
Standiford finished second and Wallace finished third.
GT
Brian Faessler’s main goal going into Saturday’s qualifying race was to get more time on the track while preserving the Ford Mustang for Sunday’s championship.
Not only did the racer from Cincinnati accomplish his goal, he was the fastest of the group with a best lap of 1:58.149.
“(Sunday) is the big day, so I didn’t want to do anything stupid,” Faessler said. “I was just trying to get seat time out there.
Faessler was keeping his eye on fellow GT competitor Tage Evanson, who got three laps before pitting. Evanson has been dealing with his Honda Civic overheating and a supercharger belt problem.
Faessler is feeling confident about his car going into the championship race. “We’re going to give it the once over on the suspension, brakes, tires and everything,” said Faessler, who won the AIX class at the 2023 NASA National Championships. “We just want to make sure it’s good for the 45-minute race tomorrow.”
GTSU
The U in GTSU stands for unlimited, and it’s anything goes in German Touring Series’ fastest class. NASA Utah’s Dmitri Novikov put on a clinic in GTSU besting his competition by some 3 seconds per lap, and taking the GTSU win.
Novikov was followed by Team Larkins Sprint Team in second and John McInnes in third.
Legends
Though Bobby Pugh earned pole for Sunday’s Championship race, Pugh said it’s a toss-up on who will be standing atop the podium.
The cars are closely matched and the three drivers in Legends are good friends, traveling together and pitting in the same compound.
“We’ll start together, and we’ll battle like that again (Sunday),” Pugh said. “Hopefully, I come out front. It doesn’t always work that way.”
While Pugh said he enjoys racing against Bobby Christensen and Bryan Poage, who finished second and third, they enjoy chasing down the other cars in the group which includes CMC, Super Touring 5 and 6 and Spec Z. Pugh built the three cars racing in the class and the teams handle their own tech inspections with the cars dyno’d before going to the track.
Pugh said his car was a little loose on the track, so he plans to adjust the tire pressure. He also plans to change tactics for the Championship race.
“I’m going to try and get behind those guys and draft with them and save my car a little bit until the end, because it takes a lot less effort when you’re the second or third and you’re dealing with 45 minutes versus a 20-minute session,” Pugh said.
NP01 EVO
Friday qualifying is time-based, so it’s go out and get it done in the first couple of laps. Saturday qualifying is a race, and lap times are important, but so is managing traffic and staying out of trouble.
NASA Utah driver Chris Castelli had the pace to capitalize on his pole position to stay out front, but the NP01 field encountered out-of-class traffic in the early-goings of the race. The American Iron Extreme cars are faster than a mongoose on meth on the straightaways, but the NP01s can carry a lot more speed in the turns, and so the two classes intermingled.
“Finally had to just get side by side with them and present multiple corners in a row to finally get them to understand we’re not going away,” said race winner Chris Castelli. “So luckily I got past one and then got past another one, and then it took a lap or two to get past the third guy, and at that point I think everybody else was in traffic. So I just maybe got a little lucky.”
Castelli seems to be enjoying home track advantage, but he is going to fit the car with a new set of slicks and leave the setup as is.
“I think I should be able to stay in the low 2:03’s, hopefully tomorrow. And if we can get five or six of those in a row, I think we’ll be able to at least be competitive,” he added. “We just started the marathon, so we’re not even halfway through.”
Michael Dawson finished second behind Castelli, with Team Tony B Racing in third.
Spec E30
To say it has been a busy weekend for Team Mick Blue Racing would be an understatement. Driver Mick Blue is racing in Spec E30, Super Touring 6 and Time Trial 6 and he’s here all by himself. That makes him a one-man show of the highest order.
On Friday, he helped fellow driver Matthew Ibrahim fix his car only to watch Ibrahim go out and set a faster time in afternoon qualifying.
So, starting from second, Team Mick Blue Racing used the first laps to find his way into the lead. But when a full-course yellow bunched up the field, he had Ibrahim right on his bumper with the rest of the Spec E30 field.
Blue didn’t see the lights go off on the pace car, and with no crew to radio to him that the green flag was waving, Ibrahim got the jump on Blue as the field flashed down the front straight. There was some argy-bargy between the two, which allowed NASA SoCal’s Sean Aron to take advantage and take the lead briefly.
“Long story short, Matthew, he has a crew chief Tom and obviously Tom told him when the green was waved and it caught me a little bit off guard and we were side by side. It would’ve been nice if he would not have driven me off track,” Blue said. “But luckily on this long straight there’s a good draft and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m just going to send it on the outside in Turn 2,’ because there was a line I was preferring over the weekend over the tight line, and it worked out in the end.”
After he cleared impound, Blue fired his car up, drove to his garage and started preparing for his next race. Aron finished second with Marcelo Calcagnotto in third.
Spec E46
Spec E46 driver Wyatt Couch is off to a great start at the 2024 NASA Championships. He set the fastest lap in Friday qualifying and won Saturday’s qualifying race.
But it was no cake walk. A full-course caution several laps in lasted a few laps in itself. At the restart Adam Freire nailed the timing of the restart and got alongside of Couch as the two barreled into Turn 1. The move took a couple of more turns to sort out whether it was going to work, and by Turn 4 Couch was back to the lead he would hold till the finish.
“I had gotten a good start and got out maybe a second or so and was running my laps and then I saw the full course yellow and we got all back together and it was an exciting restart,” Couch said. “I just held my own around the outside and Adam did great. We both gave each other room and it was great racing. I just tried to hold my line and try to at least stay door to door with him because that would give me the best shot through the next corner and it did.”
The lap time advantage Couch enjoyed in Friday qualifying had all but evaporated in Saturday’s qualifying race because five of the top six drivers were in the same 2:12-second-lap time range as Couch.
Freire was not able to hold onto second place and finished sixth. Team Jared Zakem finished second with Team Legacy Motorworks in third.
Spec Miata
At Championships races, the depth of finesse and experience in Spec Miata is so deep, you can easily see the strategy playing out on the race course. That’s exactly what happened in the Saturday qualifying race.
NASA Rocky Mountain Regional Director Dan Williams had scored pole position on Friday, and he used it to his advantage, storming into Turn 1 at the start and setting the pace. NASA Texas driver Logan Stretch was right behind him with NASA Arizona’s Scott Phillips in third.
The three were beginning to gap fourth through seventh, but a few laps later, Phillips dropped back a bit and it was Williams and Stretch, well, stretching their lead. Stretch was bump-drafting Williams down the front straight to get away from the rest of the field.
The race ran clean and green for the entire 30 minutes, and when the white flag waved, you just knew Stretch had saved his battle with Williams for the last lap. As the two drafted down the front straight, Williams made one defensive move to the inside — no more than one allowed by the rules — but Stretch was still able to slip in under Williams, take the lead and hold on for the win.
Williams finished second, with Phillips in third.
Spec Z
Few racers know the Utah Motorsports Complex track as well as Ayrton Littel.
“I grew up here, I work here, I race here, I have a brick-and-mortar business where I coach here,” Littel said. “I know the track as well as anyone, so that’s a little advantage too.”
After Chad Aalders laid down a huge lap during Friday’s qualifier, Littel knew he had to respond on the track.
“Chad put in a really monster lap, but we’re really confident in the long-distance pace of this car,” said Littel, who earned pole position. “We were able to show that today. They give out trophies on Sunday, so we still have a lot of work to do, for sure.”
Littel had his best time on lap two (2:12.611) and had built a 3.9-second lead over Aalders, who finished second. Richard Fitzergald was third, just off the pace. The top four finishers racing in Spec Z are based in Utah and familiar with the 3.048-mile track.
Super Touring 1
Joe Kellerman knew he had to nail the start to win Saturday’s qualifying race and capture the pole.
“I had to make sure I got them on the start because I knew once I got ahead, I felt that I could run faster and put some distance between them,” Kellerman said. “Luckily, today I was able to get out in front, got my good start, got out in front of them, and luckily the pack in front of me was faster than us, so I didn’t have to worry about any traffic.”
Jason Perry and Chas Cuzzoni, who finished second and third respectively, ran 10 laps, one fewer lap than Kellerman. Like many of the drivers at the Utah Motorsports Complex this weekend, Kellerman had to back off once the oil temperature light came on.
“The altitude and the temperatures and that sun baking everything,” Kellerman said on why the Corvette was running hot.
Kellerman is running Time Trials this weekend, which is keeping the Great Lakes Region racer hopping.
“We’re worried about something breaking or the car holding up for the weekend,” he said. “I do have a backup car in my stacker trailer, but I don’t want to use that one.”
Super Touring 2
Timothy Carel has been dealing with overheating issues with his Audi RS3 LMS this week, but it hasn’t kept him from leading the Super Touring 2 pack.
A day after being the fastest qualifier in Super Touring 2, Carel followed it up on Saturday with a win in the qualifying race and earned pole position for the championship.
“We’ve struggled with overheating issues this whole weekend,” said Carel, who runs in the NASA SoCal Region. “We need to iron out of the overheating issues, but after that I think we’ll be set for (Sunday).”
Carel is keeping an eye on his teammate Greg Laube, who also campaigns an Audi RS3 LMS. Laube was running 2 seconds off the pace.
“On track we’re teammates, but at the same time we need to fight for our own position,” Carel said. “We kind of have an agreement to be easy with each other but give each other a good fight.”
Mid Atlantic racer Ben Grambau and his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 will be third on the starting grid for the nine-car Super Touring 2 class.
Super Touring 3
Tom Rogers won Saturday’s Super Touring 3 qualifying race, but his focus was on Matthew Singler and David Lecko who finished second and third, respectively.
“That was tough, those guys are fast, but obviously I came out on top today,” Rogers said. “Everybody makes small mistakes. I was close enough to capitalize on a few.”
As the race went on, Rogers times continued to improve with his best lap coming on lap 10 (2:05.801). He waited patiently to make his pass on Singler and his BMW M4.
“The BMW behind me is really fast, but he struggles a little bit in the twisty corners,” said Rogers, who runs in the Utah Region. “So, the Ginetta (Lecko) had to be patient until he fell apart.”
Because the top cars in the class are so evenly matched, pole position isn’t a major advantage, Rogers said. “The BMW will be in front of me by Turn 1,” he said. “They’ve got their eye on me. I’ve got a big target back there.”
Super Touring 4
This is the first NASA National Championship for Ian McCloghrie and the Super Touring 4 racer didn’t know what to expect coming into Utah Motorsport Campus. Having raced for just two years, McCloghrie looked like a veteran racer earning pole position for Sunday’s championship.
“I just came here with no expectations,” McCloghrie said. “I figured I’d come and see how I could do. It seems I’ve done pretty well.”
McCloghrie slapped a new set of tires on the BMW M3 and finished 5.35 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kevin Moore, who is running a BMW 325i. Team LaBouff Racing was third.
“We’re running a different tire than I’m used to running,” McCloghrie said. “We switched to a different tire and with the way the rules work and a little more power here, we thought that would work well with the circuit layout we’ve got here.
“Today was really the test of that. You can run test days, and you can get data, but until you have somebody else in the other car and you’re running next to them, you never really know.”
Super Touring 5
Saturday’s qualifying race often can be about protecting what you have worked hard all weekend to earn. Larry Moore backed off a bit to let some Legends cars pass him so he could protect and extend his lead and let them enjoy their race. In the end, it worked because Moore went on to take the win despite some minor contact with another ST5 car.
“The Maxxis tires hold up great in the heat. The Magic Developed car here is amazing. I can’t say enough about it,” Moore said. “Other than that, no other traffic was encountered, so it was good. Tomorrow we’re just going to try to do the same thing. We’re just going to roll out in P1 and just do our lines, run our numbers, and stick to what we know.”
Matt Guiver finished second with Team Gerardi-Sohus Racing in third.
Super Touring 6
NASA Utah driver Todd Green has the home track advantage at Utah Motorsports Campus, but the competition in ST6 is filled with cars with just a bit more horsepower than his, so Green has to make the most of momentum through the corners.
“So the challenge is my car is really good on the corners. It’s not so good on the straightaways. All the competitors weigh a little more and they have more power,” Green said. “So the secret is to try to stay ahead into Turn 1. If I can come into Turn 1 first, I can pull away. If they get in front of me, it’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow.”
So far, so good because Green took the ST6 win on a used set of tires. He’s fitting a set of brand new tires for tomorrow’s race, so he should have the tools he needs.
Green finished in front of Chris Miller in second and Team Mick Blue Racing in third.
Super Unlimited
For Jimmy Ford, racing is a family his affair. His family serves as the crew members and have been campaigning cars for nearly 20 years since he started in quarter midgets.
“They come here and help me crew and everything, so it’s big family deal for us,” Ford said. “The good thing about having family because they give you good insight, and it’s tough on you, so that makes you better.”
The Ford family had something to celebrate with Ford clinching pole for Sunday’s Super Unlimited Championship. Ford was testing a new start theory to the race, and while he wouldn’t discuss details, he plans to employ it again on Sunday.
Whatever the start, Ford finished 4 seconds ahead of Andrew Lang, who was second running a Norma M20 FC. John Labrie was third.
Ford, who runs in the Rocky Mountain Region, said the altitude has had minimal impact on his car.
“We also run Pikes Peak with this car, so this car is no stranger to altitude,” Ford said. “We’re running on a carburetor, so it’s all jetting. We kind of have an idea where we’re at in altitude and what we need to run for jets, and we go with that.”
