(Words by Jim McIlvaine, Photos by Kaleb Kelley) OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car series, presented by AutoZone, gives regular enthusiasts the opportunity to compete against each other in five different segments, both on and off the track. The series travels the country, giving everyone an opportunity to run at a track or two in their home region and awards points at each event. A competitor can run in all seven regular season events, but only their points from their best two finishes count toward their season-long total. That’s how the series keeps the big checkbook racers from dominating the standings.
Not only are regular season championships up for grabs, but invitations to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) and the SEMA Show in Las Vegas are also on the line. Is there value to making the biggest show in the automotive aftermarket and the most prestigious street car competition in the world? No one is making a career out of competing in this series, but walk the pits at any of these events and you’ll see cars with all kinds of sponsor logos on them, indicating direct relationships with manufacturers that offer just about any kind of upgrade you could think of installing on your car.
The shops that build cars for this series have also carved out a robust customer base of people who want cars that not only look great at the SEMA Show, but can also be enjoyed on the street or the track- traits often lacking in many of the vehicles on display in Las Vegas and the driving force behind the creation of this series. By the time regular season champions in this series are crowned, you can believe their vehicles are not only some of the most-capable examples you’ll find on any race track, but they’ll more than hold their own against any others in terms of fit and finish on the largest stage in the world.
Whether you are looking at Chris Smith’s ’70 Camaro out of the Speedtech GTV Class, David Carroll’s ’74 Blazer out of the No Limit Engineering Class, Bob Sobey’s ’13 Nissan GT-R out of the After Dark Speed GTS Class or any of the other regular season champions, these cars truly represent the very best the automotive aftermarket is capable of producing. When GTL Class champion, Austin Barnes’ ’03 Corvette laid down a 2:11.6 on the Falken Tire Road Course time trial at the season opener at Sebring, that wasn’t just fastest in his class, it was faster than eight racecars on slicks in the Trans Am field!
Dave Schotz’s ’22 Camaro, which won the GT Class regular season championship, also routinely posts lap times fast enough to make a TA2 field. Some will cite the lack of power restrictions in the series as the reason why these drivers were able to run so fast, but they still had to put the power down to 200 treadwear street tires and they all run full interiors.
Sure, someone ran a 1:27 at Laguna Seca in a Miata, that was nearly 20 seconds faster than Austin Keys’ Geaux Moto GTC Class-winning ’98 Miata time, but they did it with an LS3 swap, gutted interior and 295-series Hoosier A7 slicks. Meanwhile, Keys is running a full interior, a 300-horsepower K-swap and 245 Falken 660s. There’s no question the incredible cars and trucks in the series really can do it all on the track and the street.
Check out the 2025 regular reason class champions below, as well as the top-10 overall finisher at the regular season finale at Barber Motorsports Park, along with a huge gallery from that event. Learn how you can get involved in 2026 at www.DriveOPTIMA.com
Barber Motorsports Park Top Ten Overall
1. Jake Jackson 2018 Chevrolet Camaro GT 487 points
2. Mike Dapkus 1969 AMC Javelin GTV 484 points
3. Sean Aldinger 1969 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 481 points
4. Tom Farrington 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle GTV 474 points
5. Vance Lucas 2020 Chevrolet Corvette GTS 473 points
6. Steve Coon 2013 Chevrolet Corvette GTS 468 points
7. Kong Chang 2017 Ford Mustang GT 467 points
8. Brian Wick 1997 Chevrolet Corvette GTS 464 points
9. Jason Rollison 2014 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 462 points
10. Preston Folkestad 1984 Chevrolet C10 GTT 459 points
QA1 First Timer Award- Ken Neubauer 1994 Chevrolet S10
Anderson Composites Competitor’s Choice Award- Kevin Dunn’s 1967 Pontiac Firebird
Operational Speed Supply Most-Improved Driver- Ginger Davis 2017 Chevrolet Corvette
Regular Season Champions
Nine Lives Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw- Duke Langley 2002 Chevrolet Corvette
Speedtech GTV- Chris Smith 1970 Chevrolet Camaro
After Dark Speed GTS- Bob Sobey 2013 Nissan GT-R
GTL- Austin Barnes 2003 Chevrolet Corvette
Geaux Moto GTC- Austin Keys 1998 Mazda Miata
GT- Dave Schotz 2022 Chevrolet Camaro
No Limit Engineering GTT- David Carroll 1974 Chevrolet Blazer
Series Grand Champion- Bob Sobey 2013 Nissan GT-R
2025 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Schedule
February 21-23rd Sebring Raceway
March 28-30th NOLA Motorsports Park
May 2-4th Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca
May 30-June 1st Pittsburg International Race Complex
June 27-29th Road America
October 10-12th Thunderhill Raceway Park
October 17-19th Barber Motorsports Park
November 1-7th OUSCI Nevada
QA1 First Timer Award- Ken Neubauer 1994 Chevrolet S10
Anderson Composites Competitor’s Choice Award- Kevin Dunn’s 1967 Pontiac Firebird
Operational Speed Supply Most-Improved Driver- Ginger Davis 2017 Chevrolet Corvette
