BangShift.com OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car at Portland International Raceway - We take a look at the points chase with two qualifiers to go!

OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car at Portland International Raceway – We take a look at the points chase with two qualifiers to go!

Aug 16, 2024Chad ReynoldsApex Event Coverage, Apex Gallery, Apex Spotlight, Apex Video, Autocross / Pro Touring, BangShift APEX, BangShift Galleries, Event Coverage0

(Words by Jim McIlvaine, Photos by Kaleb Kelley) Five of seven regular season events are in the book in OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car series, presented by Advance Auto Parts. With the completion of the event at Portland, West coast qualifying events for the season have wrapped up and the final opportunities to qualify for a trip to the SEMA Show and the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) will come later this year at Summit Point and VIRginia International Raceway.

We’ll take a look at all the classes to see how the points chase for the class championships are going, as well as a closer look at who might receive points invitations to the OUSCI at the end of the regular season (and who might be on the wrong side of the points bubble). Keep in mind, these are all estimates and predictions! We’ll start with the Nine Lives Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw Class.

Outlaw

The Outlaw Class points battle is an absolute toss-up right now. Duke Langley’s ’02 Corvette took over the lead from Danny Weller’s ’19 Camaro at Portland by a single point, but Justin Peachey is scheduled to run on the final two events. Since a competitor’s best two finishes count toward their season-long point totals, it’s entirely possible that Peachey could capture the championship in those final two events.

If there are no changes in registration and everyone runs as planned, the “Lucky 7” competing for the Outlaw Class Cup in Las Vegas will be:

Duke Langley 2002 Chevrolet Corvette

Danny Weller 2019 Chevrolet Camaro

Jon Bickford 2020 Tesla Model 3

Frankie Trutanic 2017 Chevrolet Corvette

Jeff Gordon 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt

Justin Peachey 2007 Chevrolet Corvette

Craig Staley 2021 Chevrolet Corvette

As we move into the other classes in the series, it’s important to remember that there are three ways to earn an invitation to the OUSCI- by winning a class at a qualifying event (or being the top finisher, who as not yet qualified), finishing in the top-3 in points for non-qualifiers and grabbing one of the ten at-large points entries. There’s also a wildcard of the Summit Racing Spirit of the Event invitations, of which there are two remaining.

GTV

Chris Smith’s ’70 Camaro has a commanding lead in the Speedtech GTV Class. While it is unlikely anyone will catch him, it could happen, but Smitty is scheduled to run the final two events, just to make sure. If they don’t win their way in at these final events, Jason Bottenfield’s ’69 Camaro, Jason Smith’s ’87 Camaro and Chris King’s ’69 Camaro are likely to receive GTV class invitations.

GTT

Dustin Reed’s ’72 C10 holds a scant four-point lead over David Carroll’s ’74 Blazer in the No-Limit Engineering GTT Class. Both of those trucks are based on the West Coast, so it seems unlikely either will make the final two events. The door is also open for the defending champion, Stephen Dorrick, to drive his ’05 Nissan Frontier to a championship in the final two events. Depending on who wins their way in at the final events, the three GTT Class invitations could go to Jeff Glowniak’s ’72 Ford F100, Wes McFarland’s ’74 GMC C10 and Logan Melson’s ’00 Ford Ranger.

GTS

Just as Chris Smith has a commanding lead in GTV, Bob Sobey’s ’13 Nissan GT-R has a similar lead in the After Dark Speed GTS Class. However, Sobey and Dave Schotz are both in dead-tie for the overall series Grand Championship. Will either make the trip from Arizona to try for a few more points? If not, the tie-breaker will take place at the OUSCI. Depending on who wins their way in at the final two qualifiers, we could see Scott Lezchuk’s ’20 Tesla Model 3, Jordan Cooke’s ’16 Corvette and Aimel Baron’s ’19 Corvette.

GTL

With Lane Farka’s win at Portland, he opened up a sizable lead in the Lingenfelter GTL Class in his ’15 Porsche GT3. There are quite a few GTL entries that will run their first two events at the last two qualifiers, but we could see a potential scenario where Josh Cummings’ ’16 Porsche GT4, Al Radonski’s ’08 Corvette and Jason Zapol’s ’01 Corvette all earn GTL Class invitations.

GTC

Dayton de la Houssaye’s ’16 Mazda MX-5 seems uncatchable in the Geaux Moto GTC class, although the one car that could do it would be an ’09 MX-5, driven by his dad, Troy. If Troy locks up an invitation at Summit Point, Tony Phillips will earn an invitation at VIR, by virtue of being the only GTC entry at this point. That could lead to the three GTC class invitations being given to John McKissack’s ’71 MG BGT, Jordan Filip’s ’03 Toyota Corolla and Adam Perling’s ’06 Mazda Miata.

Dave Schotz’s ’22 Chevrolet Camaro seems likely repeat as champion in the Viking Performance GT Class, but Jonathan Blevins’ ’08 Ford Mustang could make a late season run to re-capture the GT Class crown Schotz snatched from him last season. James Thomas has a scheduling conflict that will prevent him from going to Las Vegas this year, so it’s possible the three GT Class entries could go to Bryan Reilly’s ’18 Chevrolet Camaro, Jake Jackson’s ’18 Chevrolet Camaro and Chris Pokorny’s ’92 Ford Mustang.

At-Large Entries

Once class invitations are handed out, ten additional at-large entries are awarded, based on point totals across all the classes. These projections are a bit of a crap shoot, because some cars haven’t run a single event all season long and the point totals are a mixture of current points and estimates. It does help those involved to get a general understanding of where they might be in the standings and what their chances might be of making it to Las Vegas in November.

Here’s how the ten point entries could shake out:

Sean Aldinger 1969 Camaro GTV 850 points

Tom Farrington 1966 Chevelle GTV 847 points

Robert Foster 2012 Corvette GTS 842 points

Scott Bowers 1984 Mustang GTV 842 points

David Webb 1969 Camaro GTV 842 points

Last Five In

Jason Trantham 2021 Corvette GTS 840 points

John Lawrence 2017 Corvette GTS 835 points

Garrett Randall 1970 Corvette GTV 829 points

Steve Rivett 1968 Camaro GTV 812 points

James Pierce 2017 Camaro GT 808 points

First Five Out

Angela Payne 1969 Corvette GTV 808 points

Ryan Jones 1966 Mustang GTV 795 points

Darren Voges 1969 Camaro GTV 787 points

Hector Curiel 2018 Camaro GT 781 points

Kenny Ayers 1968 Camaro GTV 780 points

Take a look at the top ten from the Portland qualifier and see a massive photo gallery from that event below. Be sure to check out “http://www.DriveOPTIMA.com”www.DriveOPTIMA.com if you’d like to learn more about this series and how you can compete!

Top Ten Overall at Portland

1. Lane Farka 2015 Porsche GT3 GTL 492 points

2. Matt Ramirez 2004 Ford Mustang GT 488 points

3. Bob Sobey 2013 Nissan GTR GTS 483 points

4. Ryan Breezee 1969 Camaro GTV 475 points

5. Brad Larsen 2016 Corvette GTS 468 points

6. Koda Atwood 2022 Tesla Model 3 GTS 468 points

7. Dustin Reed 1972 C10 GTT 465 points

8. Brandon Hurst 2021 Tesla Model S GTS 464 points

9. Rick Ray 1971 Camaro GT 463 points

10. David Carroll 1974 Blazer GTV 454 points

2024 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Schedule