Over September 5th through the 8th, the Utah Motorsports Campus (UMC) was electrified with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) National Championship races. Having the event back in Utah was a huge treat for local drivers and fans after an 11 year break. 

UMC was at least partially transformed. The entire paddock, all the way down to race control, was filled with RVs, trailers, and of course loads of race cars. Riot Motors hosted the drivers meetings, turning their race car show room into a large conference area. 

In addition to the cars there to race, there were a couple of manufacturer/dealer displays of purpose-built, single-seat race cars. They included the Rush SR and the Sebeco SPX—a major upgrade from Sebeco’s NP01 spec racer. 

Of course the real draw was race and time trial competition on UMC’s 3.06 mile Outer Loop course. 

NASA Championship Time Trials

Not many Utahns participated in the 2023 NASA Championships in Pennsylvania. It takes lots of time, effort, and money to transport a vehicle and support equipment that far. Unsurprisingly, this year lots of Utah drivers competed. Many did well against teams from all over the country. 

For instance, Austin Kent repeated his 2022 championship in TT3. TT stands for “time trial,” in which drivers attempt to lay down the fastest lap time in their class for the weekend. TT classes generally get progressively faster from TT6 through TT1. TTU and TTGT are additional classes with cars that are as fast or faster than TT1. 

Besides Austin’s top finish in TT3 (#12 BMW M3), Utah 1st place time trial winners included Clayton Yates in TT1 (#64 C7 Corvette Z06) and Todd Green in TT6 (#60 Mazda Miata). EV track record holder Jordan Priestly, perhaps unsurprisingly, earned a TTEV top finish in his all-electric Tesla Model 3. 

NASA Championship Racing

Rather than focusing on laying down competitive lap times, race drivers have to defend their racing line and get their car across the finish line ahead of others in their class. Race classes also get progressively faster from ST6 through ST1. GT and GTSU cars are also among the fastest race classes. 

Additionally, there are a handful of Spec classes designed to test drivers operating roughly equivalent vehicles. They include Spec Z (Nissan 350Zs), Spec Miata (Mazda), Spec 944 (Porsche), and Spec E30 and E46 (both BMW). Spec classes for purpose-built racers include tiny Legends race cars and NP01 prototype cars.

Utah teams did score some 1st-place finishes in race classes. Chad Aalders (#77) won the Spec Z competition, Chris Casselli (#x5) dominated NP01, and Dmitri Novikov (#29 Porsche) ran away with GTSU top honors. Meanwhile, Tom Rogers (#92 BMW M3) and Todd Green (#60 Mazda Miata) won ST3 and ST6 classes, respectively. 

The Best of Utah Racing

There was amazing  competition across TT and racing classes with some really fast cars and great drivers. For a full list of Utah podium winners (1st through 3rd place), see https://www.nasautah.com/nasa-utah-news/2024-championships-wrap-up/. 

Beyond great competition, attendees got to see some cars and classes we don’t normally see in Utah. For instance, three miniscule Legends racers, powered by motorcycle engines, showed up for Legends spec racing. In spite of, or perhaps because of, their simplicity, they are fast little machines. It was interesting to see them outpacing some of the other spec classes. 

In any case, if a picture is worth a 1000 words, the following video, which provides a taste of NASA National Championship action, should be worth at least that much.

© 2024, R Bairett