The 2008 Summer Jam at Miller Motorsports Park marked the first multi-region crossover in NASA 944-SPEC. Drivers from five NASA regions came from as far as 1300 miles to participate in this first annual 944-SPEC super crossover event. The event was held at the amazing new Miller Motorsports Park and hosted by the Rocky Mountain NASA region. In attendance were racers from all five of the major 944-SPEC regions most new to the fast corners and long straights that make up the 4.5 miles super smooth racing surface. Friday was scheduled as a test day using the fast flowing 3.0 mile outer course. With four 30 minute practice session and 20 minute late day fun race there was plenty of time to get a feel for the course and used to new competition.

The 3.0 mile course features the long main straight followed by a series of fast nearly flat out 3rd or 4th gear sweepers leading to a deceptively slow hair pin where it is quite easy to out brake yourself having been mesmerized by the sheer speed of prior corners. Following this is relatively straight forward 180 that leads in a wicked fast flat out 4th gear right hander “connector” which is used to shorten the 4.5 mile track to just 3.0 miles. This ultra fast right leads to the “Attitudes” which is left-right-left chicane with a modest elevation change allows you only visually see the first left until after you committed to the corners. These corners are taken at the top of 3rd and take you to what appears a simple yet important 90 left taken at speed and at the limit. This leads to a short straight and then a complex of 90 and 180 corners that propel you down the long front straight. Getting a good exit on the final corner is critical to getting good speed down the front straight.

As one would expect with the bulk of the field learning a new course lots of post session discussion ensued about what gears to use, line and braking points. The first test of the weekend was a 20 minute fun race at the end of the day. Times from the final practice were use to grid up for this exhibition and the top 5 were. Jon Ariano (Az), Norm Hamden (Az), Dave Dirks (RM), Rick Lofgren (NorC), Joe Paluch (Az) with times ranging from 2:24.0 to 2.25.5. At total of 21 944-SPEC cars took the green in this exhibition race. From the start a three way battle ensued between Ariano, Dirks and Hamden. This pack was followed by a second group that included Lofgren, Paluch, Eric Kuhns(MW), Jim Foxx(Az), and Jim Richmond(SoC). Early on the racing seemed quite difficult as passing zones on this new fast track seemed quite limited. As the laps tick off however opportunities presented themselves and final top 5 were Ariano, Hamden, Dirks, Foxx and Lofgren. Ariano set fast lap with a scorching 2:22.6 a full half second faster than the next fastest competitor. Day 1’s clear winner was Jon Ariano. The practice race turned out to be a great way to learn the track under racing conditions and by the end of session you could get a much better idea of what it takes to race on the 3.0 mile layout.