Wife’s Gift 30 Years Ago Turned Cat-and-Mouse for PCA Club Racer Greene

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Jerry Greene has his wife Karla to thank for his multiple track awards and nearly 25 Worker’s Choice Awards he earned in his  Porsche Club of America (PCA) racing career.    

Around 30 years ago, Greene’s wife gave him a unique gift – a three-day driving school experience at a Skip Barber Racing School.
 
“I was hooked right away,” Greene said. “I knew immediately that I needed to get a race car somehow.”
 
Greene attended Brainerd International Raceway one weekend while the Nord Stern PCA Region was hosting a PCA High Performance Driver’s Education (DE) weekend there. He tried his hand at driving a 2.0-liter Porsche 914 and loved the thrill.
 
From there, Greene started racing within another sports car series for about six years, until he heard his PCA buddies saying they got about five hours of track time per weekend. Greene said at that point during his racing career he got about 90 minutes of track time at the most.
 
“I knew I wanted to get more involved in PCA, but I’m not a real mechanic so I knew I didn’t want to build my own car,” he said.
 
Greene bought a 964 Cup car out of Los Angeles that had been raced in the Super Cup series in Germany. He went on to race that car for 10 years in PCA. After that, he knew he needed to sell that car to support his next car – a 996 GT3 Cup car.
 
Greene can be easily spotted within the PCA paddock. His 996 Cup car is a work of art featuring Jerry the Mouse from the cartoon Tom and Jerry. The car was designed for Jerry’s namesake.
Greene’s No. 92 964 Cup car
“A friend from my church drew up Jerry the Mouse and he was holding a circle and running – so now with my newer Cup car that’s faster, he re-drew it so Tom the Cat is trying to catch Jerry the Mouse,” Greene said.
 
Greene and Karla own three other Porsches at home – a Boxster, 991 Carrera S Cabriolet and a Macan Turbo. Greene said he’s especially impressed with the Macan Turbo and how it handles, but his Boxster has a special place in his heart.
 
“One of my favorite memories involving Porsche was when my wife and I traveled to Europe to buy the Porsche Boxster when it first came out,” Greene said. “I was driving it through the French Alps with the top down and I looked over at my wife and she was crying – I thought she got stung by a bee or something, but all she could say was ‘You have to slow down!’ We drove it all around southern France and then shipped it home. It was so much fun and we will always remember that special trip.”
 
Greene has two children – Emiley, 25, who lives in Bend, Ore., and Nick, who was playing on a junior hockey team but now earned a spot on the varsity team of a local Minnesota college. Greene said his wife of 30 years is his biggest supporter.
 
The Greene family
“She always wants me to race, but one year I did 12 races and my wife said ‘Ok, that’ll never happen again’ and it didn’t,” Greene joked.
 
Now, Greene competes at five to six races per year.
 
“Our Nord Stern PCA Region is so friendly – they really helped me get a leg up on what to do when I first started racing in PCA,” Greene said. “Our Region has eight or nine GTC3 Cup cars so we share information together, put the same setups on the cars and talk to each other after races. To me, that’s the main thing that I enjoy with PCA.”
 
Greene said PCA members Mike Courtney, Clint Sawinski, Mark Steingas and Rick Polk are all willing to lend a helping hand whether he needs advice or mechanical help with his car.
 
“Steingas and Sawinski are really fun to race against,” Greene said. “Both of those guys enjoy racing hard against me, but you can’t help but love them. They always give it 110 percent.”
 
“Every race is fun because of what PCA is,” he said. “We all do it because it’s our love for this sport. It’s exhilarating.”  

 

Adam Sinclair
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