The OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational
It’s the challenge of those who truly call their cars “street cars.” The balance of finding the right combination of speed, style, and engineering – It’s what the Ultimate Street Car Association was made for. For 2015 the second ever OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was held to find the best of those who ran the 2015 season and those who were lucky enough to be selected for the Golden Ticket by OPTIMA Batteries. Who would end up on top for 2015?
The big change from last year to 2015 was the venue. Instead of Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada – and quite a ways away from the SEMA Show – the Invitational was held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway facility just north of the city of Las Vegas. It was the perfect venue as it was larger and allowed for two days of amazing racing happening at nearly the same time. The first day was very windy and something drivers would have to take into consideration.
Day One of the OPTIMA Invitational consisted of the Lingenfelter Design and Engineering Challenge, Detroit Speed Autocross, Wilwood Speed-Stop Challenge, and the Road Rally. The Autocross and Speed-Stop tested the finesse of the chassis and the stopping power of the brake systems while the Road Rally was a drive around Las Vegas with several stops to prove the street-ablilty of the participants.
This is a street car competition, after all, and if you can’t drive it around town for over 25-miles it’s not much of a street car. The Design and Engineering Challenge brought a panel of judges to look over each vehicle for improved looks, improved handling, and even improved comfort inside the car.
Design and Engineering and the Road Rally are point-scoring events with each giving a maximum of 25 points. To get the maximum 25-points at the Road Rally, you just had to make it to each stop and the end of the Rally.
Only three cars did not make it for the Rally: Brian Finch in his 1971 Chevrolet Camaro, Rob MacGregor in his 1969 Chevy C10, and Jim McKamey in his 2000 Corvette. Everyone else in the Invitational received a maximum of 25-points for a bonus.
Design and Engineering, on the other hand, was won by Matthew Butts in his 1969 Dodge Charger with 22.9000-points total from all judges. Brett Behrens in his 1978 Ford Mustang was the third highest with 22.6667-points, and Steve Keefer scored 22.3333-points for third.
The Speed-Stop was a challenge to everyone as you not only had to get your vehicle up to speed, do a quick lane change, and stop all in the same lap around Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Bullring paved short-oval track.
Winning this even meant you had lighting fast acceleration with little wheel spin at launch and the best brakes that stop you on a dime and without any drama.
However, there were quite a few fast looking cars that blew through the cones at the end of the stopping portion of the challenge.
The win here went to Clay Shearer in his 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S with a total time of 12.439-seconds. Andy Smedegard took second in a 2006 Mitsubishi Evo IX by stopping the clock at 12.488-seconds. Last year’s overall winner, Danny Popp and his 2003 Corvette Z06, finished in third with a 12.560-second run.
The Autocross took advantage to the gigantic size of the LVMS property. Not only did these participants get four runs each – they were able to do four runs on large, mirrored courses. Brandon Ranvek took the fastest time on both with a combined time of 60.915-seconds (31.859-seconds on the right course, 29.056-seconds on the left) with his Mitsubishi Evo IX RS.
Andy Smedegard finished in second place with a combined time of 61.064-seconds (31.670-seconds on the right, 29.394-seconds on the left), and Danny Popp rounded out third with a 61.064-second (31.670-seconds right, 29.394-seconds left). He and Andy were fighting for the top spot overall now with each getting a top three finish on Day One.
The fight to win overall between them would come down to Day Two and the Falken Hot Laps Challenge. This is a Time Attack event that closes out the Invitational and is held for the entire day on the Z-Max Proving Grounds outside of the LVMS oval.
What’s awesome about the Proving Ground course is that it can be set up in several configurations but the longest course, a 12-turn 2.4-mile loop, was the layout chosen to find the Ultimate Street Car. The second bonus was that the wind had started to die down compared to Day One.
While the vehicles would take to the track in groups of several cars at the same time, it was not a wheel-to-wheel competition. Instead, it was all about who could set the fastest time.
Some drivers pushed their vehicles right to the limits of grip and skill.
While others went over that limit by either going too wide on some corners…
Or by going over the limit of grip.
In a course where many thought exotic or technology packed vehicles would win, Danny Popp once again proved he would be the driver and his Z06 the car to beat everyone. He took the top spot with a time of 1:39.731.
Hugh Bate in his 2013 Nissan GT-R wasn’t too far behind after turning in a time of 1:41.959. Andy Smedegard, who was not far off of throwing Danny Popp off the top spot overall, finished in third with a 1:43.174.
After two days of challenging their vehicles, impressing judges, and pushing their own limits, Danny Popp and his 2003 Corvette Z06 would be the winner of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational for the second year in a row. His score of 109.7333 points was all it took to win.
Andy Smedegard, however, put up a great challenge and only missed the top spot by 1.8-points with 107.9333 as his final score.
Brandon Ranvek took third place with a score of 104.2333.
However, there wasn’t just the Invitational to award winner. The Ultimate Street Car Association 2015 Season winners were also awarded at the end of the event. Kyle Tucker in his 1970 Chevy Camaro took the GTV Class Championship over Larry Woo and his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro. In GTS Class, Hugh Bate and his 2013 Nissan GTR took home the overall in his class over Jeremy Stensland and his 2015 Subaru STi.
Finally in GTL Class, Doug Wind and his 2004 Dodge SRT-4 took the overall while Martin Pond took second in his 1980 Mercury Zephyr. With that close to the 2015 season, we look forward to the next OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational and the USCA season in 2016!
