Joe Buzzetta

Joe Buzzetta (born December 30, 1936 Brooklyn New York) is a former American racecar driver who
drove for the factory Porsche racing team as well as successful car dealer. He drove from 1958 to 1969
in professional racing. His career started when he enlisted in the army and was stationed in Germany
where he lived with his wife Valerie. From there he bought an Austin Healey to participate in some local
races. When he found the Porsche’s to be hard to compete with, he bought himself a Porsche 356
Convertible D and immediately noticed a big improvement. After suffering an accident with it he ended
up ordering a 356 Carrera Speedster. He primarily participated in races that he could drive the car to
such as Solitude and Coppa Inter-Europa.
At the end of his service he moved back to Long Island and continued to participate in local SCCA races
in 1960 and 1961 with his Carrera Speedster. He frequented tracks such as Lime Rock, Bridgehampton,
and Thompson. In 1961 he was chosen to drive for Donald Healey in the Sebring 12 Hour race with
Glenn Carlson where they finished 15 th overall and 2 nd in the S1.15 class.
In 1962 he partnered with racing mechanic Oscar Rubio opening a repair shop called “Competition
Engineering” (later changed to Competition Imports). This business would support their race program
and Buzzetta purchased a Porsche 718 RSK to campaign in 1962 and 1963 in regional SCCA races with
good success. Looking for a better handling car he purchased a 718 RS60 for the 1963 season, winning
overall at Thompson and the SCCA E-Modified national championship.
1964 would start off with Buzzetta receiving the opportunity to drive for the Porsche factory at the
Sebring 12 hours race again. Driving a 356B Carrera 2000 GS/GT “Dreikantschaber”, he and Ben Pon
would finish 11 th overall and 1 st in class. During the rest of the season they would campaign a new Elva
Mk VII with a 4-cam Porsche engine with multiple class victories. He also had the opportunity to drive a
904 GTS with Bill Wuesthoff for Ed Weschler to a victory at Bridgehampton Raceway’s “Double 500.” In
1965 Buzzetta and Rubio would continue to campaign the Elva-Porsche in various USRRC events. In the
beginning of the year however, Buzzetta was given another opportunity to drive for Porsche, this time
with a 904 GTS at Sebring alongside Pen Bon again. Their result was 6 th overall, 2 nd in class trailing Lake
Underwood and Gunther Klass also in a factory 904 GTS, finishing on the same lap.
With great success in the few opportunities he was given, Porsche racing director Huschke von Hanstein
would yield the opportunity for Buzzetta to drive with better support from Porsche. He would start the
1966 Daytona 24 Hour race with Gerhard Mitter in a 904. Together they would finish 7 th overall 1 st in
class. The next month he would start Sebring again, this time with Hans Herrmann and Gerhard Mitter
in the new Carrera 6, better known as the 906. They would celebrate a class victory in the Prototype 2
Liter class, finishing 4 th overall. Using the same chassis (#906-103) racing under Porsche North America,
Buzzetta and Rubio would tour the United States participating in various USSRC events with numerous
class wins.
In 1967, having proven his ability, Buzzetta was invited to race in International endurance races. He
started off the year with driving at Sebring, finishing 7 th overall 4 th in class in a 906 alongside Peter Gregg.
Then he would travel overseas to the Nurburgring 1000KM race, where he would drive a 910 alongside
Udo Schutz. After a very close race they would come out with an overall win by two tenths of a second.
This would end up being a big win for Porsche, their first overall victory at the Nurburgring ever. After
that, Porsche would put Schutz and Buzzetta together in a 910 again hopeful that they could repeat
their success at Le Mans. Unfortunately oil pressure would bring them to a DNF. The rest of the season
would be spent touring the US again in a 906, bringing success with numerous class victories and a win
at Mid-Ohio.
1968 would start at the Daytona 24 hour race, where Buzzetta was paired with Frenchman Jo Schlesser.
Driving the 907 Longtail in the prototype class, they were one of a fleet of 4 factory cars with Porsche
showing a valiant effort. They would secure the victory dominating the race, taking the first three
positions with Buzzetta/Schlesser finishing 3 rd overall. Sebring would be his next race, in a 907, but he
would not finish with a valve spring compromising the engine. Then he would return to the 1000KM
race at the Nurburgring following his overall victory driving a 907 with Jochen Neerpasch. The duo
would finish 4 th overall. Next would be the Watkins Glen 6 Hours and Le Mans, which brought DNFs with
the new 908 showing reliability issues.
In 1969 he was given the opportunity to race at the Daytona 24 hour race again, driving a 908 Longtail
with Richard Atwood. Unfortunately the result was a DNF with them losing an engine 6 hours into the
race. Buzzetta would then go return to Sebring for the 7 th time with Rolf Stommelen and Kurt Ahrens Jr
in a 908/2 finishing 3 rd overall, second in the 3 liter class. His last race for the factory was at Watkins
Glen in a 908/2, where he partnered with Rudy Lins and finished 3 rd overall.
After that with a family and many colleagues being injured or even killed, Buzzetta decided to end his
racing career and focus on the growing business with Rubio. Back on Long Island Competition Imports
now has the Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Datsun franchises and has moved to a bigger facility in St.
James, New York. Although he no longer races professionally, Buzzetta participated in numerous races
in the growing vintage car racing community. He purchased some vintage Porsche racecars like the ones
he drove in the 1960’s as well as a Lola T292 and Chevron B19, racing them from the 1980’s to 2012. In
the early 1980’s he would split the business with Rubio and part ways. Oscar taking the Datsun brand
and Buzzetta taking Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Now Competition Imports is called Competition
Automotive Group and consists of individual dealerships including Competition BMW, Mercedes-Benz of
Smithtown, Competition Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz of Huntington, and Competition Subaru. They are now
run by his 3 children. He still has some of the cars he raced in vintage racing and even bought back
some of the cars he raced in the 1960’s. Although he no longer races, he still participates in taking them
to concurs events.
Racing Record 
24 Hours of Le Mans:
1967
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Udo Schutz
Car: Porsche 910 #39
Result: DNF
1968
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Scooter Patrick
Car: Porsche 908 Longtail #34
Result: DNF
24 Hours of Daytona:
1966
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove With: Gerhard Mitter
Car: Porsche 904 #16
Result: 7 th (1 st in S2.0)
1968
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Jo Schlesser
Car: Porsche 907 Longtail #51
Result: 3 rd Overall
1969
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Richard Attwood
Car: Porsche 908 Longtail #51
Result: DNF
12 Hours of Sebring
1961
Team: Donald Healey
Drove with: Glenn Carlson
Car: Austin Healey Sebring Sprite #66
Result: 15 th (2 nd in S1.15)
1964
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Ben Pon
Car: Porsche 356B Carrera 2000 GS/GT #43
Result: 11 th (1 st in GT2.0)
1965
Team: Porsche Automobile Co.
Drove With: Ben Pon
Car: Porsche 904 GTS #39
Result: 6 th (2 nd in GT2.0)
1966
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Hans Herrmann and Gerhard Mitter
Car: Porsche 906 #52
Result: 4 th (1 st in P2.0)
1967
Team: Porsche Auto
Drove with: Peter Gregg
Car: Porsche 906 #38
Result: 7 th (4 th in P2.0)
1968
Team: Porsche Automobile Co.
Drove with: Ludovico Scarfiotti
Car: Porsche 907 #50
Result: DNF
1969
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Rolf Stommelen and Kurt Ahrens
Car: Porsche 908/2 #27
Result: 3 rd
1000KM Nurburgring
1967
Team: Porsche System Engineering
Drove with: Udo Schutz
Car: Porsche 910 #17
Result: 1 st
1968
Team: Porsche
Drove with: Jochen Neerpasch
Car: Porsche 907
Result: 4th
Category:People from Brooklyn, New York
Category:American racing drivers
Category:American people