(Words by Jim McIlvaine, Photos by Kaleb Kelley) A full moon glided over a clear Florida sky, making way for a warm sunrise and the start of the 11th season of OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car series. While most car guys were still in mid-Winter hibernation, competitors in this series converged on Sebring International Raceway, like the bumble bees in the Blind Melon video- oddities in their own corners of the country, but surrounded by their people when they arrive at these events.
There is a camaraderie here that is not always found in other forms of motorsports, in part, because this series doesn’t follow the script of a typical motorsports series or event. Saroja Day makes track-themed cookies at every event and they are handed out for all the best reasons. At NOLA Motorsports Park a couple years ago, it was every driver who had a Presidential last name- Tim Grant, Doug Taft and James Garfield.
The outcome of a weekend doesn’t just depend on how the car runs on the track. It has to be driven on public roads and presented to a group of judges in the Wynrock Speed Shop Design & Engineering Challenge. That segment of the series is a bit of a lightning rod, but it is a key element of this series for a couple different reasons. All of the cars that compete in this series are vying for an invitation to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, which is typically held in conjunction with the SEMA Show in Las Vegas (it was run at Circuit of the Americas during COVID) and while there are some race cars on display at the SEMA Show, it would not roll out a welcome mat for a haggard pack of track rats.
As a result, the cars and trucks in this series are not only very capable on the track, but they look the part against the best of their contemporaries at any car show in the country. Many have been featured in magazines and TV shows over the years, in part, because of their reputation from this series for being so well-rounded. More than capable on the track and about the nicest example you’ll see of a modified Camaro, Mustang or Corvette anywhere else, but Design & Engineering is more than that.
It forces competitors out of their shells. They get four minutes to present their vehicles to the judges and they can’t afford to have a laser focus on how they’re going to run a faster time in the afternoon, because they have to be warm and personable to a group of fellow car guys, who hold their fate in the scores they enter on ipads. Design & Engineering bonds competitors in this series, who may have nothing in common, other than their fear of the outcome or disdain for even having to do it…until it becomes their saving grace.
As Teslas have emerged as dominant competitors in the Peak Performance Challenge and Classic Car Liquidators Autocross, Design & Engineering helps level the playing field, due to the challenges it presents to owners of newer vehicles, who are trying to figure out how to modify them in a way that will improve performance and/or appearance- a task much easier to accomplish in a car built 50 years ago.
Even beyond that aspect of the series, there’s a different vibe here. Competitors will often talk about how intimidated they felt, showing up at their first event. They’ve been to other time trial events and even track days, where podiatrists try to “out-cool” investment advisors, as they all pursue the singular goal of fast time of the day.
In this series, they pull into a track and are suddenly amid cars they’ve watched on TV, read about in magazines or saw featured in online advertisements for years. Brand names like Forgeline, Falken and Lingenfelter are no longer in the abstract, they are front and center, along with the principals behind them. There is a misguided belief based on other track experiences, that you need to put on your “game face,” but then you see people laughing and joking with each other and they are driving the same cars, which means they’re also competing against each other.
Then the cookies come out. A little while later someone loses an alternator and someone else lends them a spare, while others jump in to help get it swapped out. At Sebring, Henry Crawn’s weekend ended early, but he stuck around and pitched in when his fellow No-Limit Engineering GTT Class competitor, Stephen Dorrick, blew up his transfer case and needed help. The same thing happened when Dave Schotz had splitter issues on his Camaro. Ted Barnes and Robert Weathers dropped what they were doing to get him back on track.
If they had known their efforts would’ve made the one-point difference that gave Schotz the win over their Mustang, they wouldn’t have thought twice to do it again. Chris Smith rode with Randy Johnson to help him dial in his new Camaro build because they all want to win on the track, but not because someone else wasn’t at their best.
They walk the autocross course together, with veterans explaining nuance to newcomers, they ride right seat to learn a faster line around the track and head out to dinner together afterwards. Come see for yourself and then figure out a way to get out here with your street car. You may not beat the world right out of the gate, but you’ll have a great time and make new friends, who you’ll look forward to seeing when you come back…and you will come back. www.DriveOPTIMA.com has all the information you need to get started.
Top Ten Overall
1. Chris Smith 1970 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 489 points
2. Dave Schotz 2022 Chevrolet Camaro GT 477 points
3. Ryan Mathews 2002 Chevrolet Corvette GTL 477 points
4. Larry Woo 1968 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 476 points
5. Austin Barnes 2020 Ford Mustang GT 476 points
6. Mike Gallagher 2016 Ford Focus RS GTS 464 points
7. Ron Scott 1963 Chevrolet Corvette GTV 462 points
8. Jason Bottenfield 1969 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 461 points
9. Dayton de la Houssaye 2016 Mazda MX-5 GTC 459 points
10. Collin King 2018 Chevrolet Camaro GT 452 points
2024 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Schedule
February 23-25th Sebring Raceway
March 1-3rd Thunderhill Raceway
May 3-5th Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca
June 28-30th Road America
July 26-28th Portland International Raceway
August 16-18th Summit Point Motorsports Park
October 4-6th VIRginia International Raceway
QA1 First Timer Award- Joshua Johnson 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
Anderson Composites Competitor’s Choice Award- Ron Scott 1963 Chevrolet Corvette
Operational Speed Supply Most-Improved Driver- Patrick Lever 1966 Superformance GT40
Summit Racing Spirit of the Event Invitation- Mike Owen 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle
Sparky’s Showdown Winner- Steve Rivett 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
