(Words by Jim McIlvaine. Photos by Kaleb Kelley) OPTIMA’s Ultimate Street Car Series, presented by AutoZone, presents some pretty unique opportunities for competitors. In addition to significant media coverage, the top contenders are given invitations to display their vehicles at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where they also compete in the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI). That can lead to significant sponsor support not always found in other forms of amateur motorsports.
The question then turns to how one gets to Las Vegas and that answer starts with the qualifying series. The first event just took place in February at Sebring International Raceway and there are seven more events coming up at tracks all over the country. If a competitor wins their class at one of these events, they get an automatic invitation to Las Vegas. The other option they have is to accumulate as many points as they can in their best two events and hope that is enough to earn a points invitation to Las Vegas.
That can lead drivers to take a tactical approach to scheduling which events they will run, but does that really make a different in point totals? In some cases, it absolutely does. In other cases, it makes no difference at all. For example, the top overall competitor in these events is generally going to score above 490 points, regardless of how many entries are in the field or which entries are on the grid. From that point on though, the story is not the same
In the last eight qualifying events, the fifth place car scored anywhere from 462 points (Road America) to 476 points (Sebring 2024). The 2024 Road America event had one of the largest fields of the year (and it’s important to not include cars from the Nine Live Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw Class in that number), so there is a general assumption that points may be harder to come by there and that seems like it might be the case. However, Laguna Seca 2024 had nearly as many cars and the fifth place car there scored 474 points, so clearly the quality of the cars at the top, who are grabbing lots of points, is also a factor.
Looking at the tenth place finish, we again saw last year’s Road America event as the low mark at 440 points and VIR as the high point at 458 points. In 20th place, we saw a low score of 403 points, this time at last year’s Laguna Seca event and a high of 433 points at Thunderhill, which was mid-pack in terms of overall attendance. When we move to 30th place overall, Summit Point offered the lowest points at 374, while Portland overed the most at 393, even though those two events had nearly the same total on car counts.
If one thing seems clear, it’s that lower car counts don’t always equal higher point totals in that mid-pack range, but what about the very rear of the field? That does tell a very different story and it is one that is more reflective of points being tougher to get for cars near the back of the bigger fields. The two biggest fields from 2024 (Laguna Seca & Road America) offered the fewest points for the last car that completed all five segments- 264 and 253 points, respectively.
At the same time, the two smallest fields (VIR and Sebring 2025) showed the highest point totals for those final finishers at 376 and 377 points, respectively. That’s a difference of well over 100 points when comparing each of those four events and clearly indicative that the larger fields make points harder to come by for cars that are not at the front of the field.
It should be no surprise that Laguna Seca and Road America both have the two largest fields for the 2025 season. They are iconic tracks that are on a lot of bucket lists and really fun courses to drive, which helps make them very popular in the series. We’re not saying there aren’t points opportunities at those events either, just that cars that have scored in the sub-300 range at other events may have an easier time scoring well over 300 at other events and it will take your best two point totals to equal your score for the season.
What are shaping up to be the best two points events for the 2025 season? At this point, Sebring, which just took place was one and Thunderhill out West is the other. However, Summit Point and Pittsburgh could also offer opportunities, depending on how registrations go. That’s all fine for all the cars eligible for the OUSCI title, but what about the cars that compete in the Nine Lives Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw Class?
Only seven Outlaw cars are invited to Las Vegas each year to compete for the Outlaw Cup and those invitations, as with the other classes, are based on a competitor’s best two finishes. At this point in registrations, Laguna Seca and Pittsburgh appear to have the largest Outlaw Classes, while NOLA, coming up in March, has the smallest. What can that mean for points? If there are only three cars in your class, first place gets 100 points in each segment, while second gets 99 and third gets 98.
In theory, you could finish last in every segment in a three-car field and leave with 394 points. Finish last in every segment in a five-car class and you’ll only have 388 points. How does that play out in reality? The Outlaw Class at Sebring had five competitors and Justin Peachey’s Corvette ended up in third with 395 points. That’s the same Corvette that won the Holley LSFest Triple Crown and beat Cleetus McFarland on his home track.
Interestingly enough, none of those cars are signed up to run at the next event at NOLA, where the third-place car (of the three entered) will come away with no fewer than 394 points, if they complete all of their segments. While all three Outlaw cars currently registered for NOLA are series veterans, a Cobalt SS, a ’67 Cougar and a C4 Corvette may not be in the same sphere as Peachey’s Corvette, Jon Bickford’s Tesla and David Marcus’ Porsche GT3, which won at Sebring.
Bickford told us he is definitely taking a strategic approach to selecting which events he runs this season, hoping to capture more points at East coast events and then trying to prevent other West coast competitors, like Duke Langley and Danny Weller from grabbing too many points at those events. Bickford also avoided registering at Pittsburgh and Summit Point, where Peachey is scheduled to run again.
The fields are available for anyone to see at www.DriveOPTIMA.com so there’s no advantage being held by any competitor in that regard. It will be interesting to see how all these strategies play out as the season unfolds. You can see the top-10 finishers from Sebring and photo highlights from that weekend below.
Top Ten Overall
1. Bob Sobey 2013 Nissan GT-R GTS 495 points
2. Austin Barnes 2003 Chevrolet Corvette GTL 491 points
3. Chris Smith 1970 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 483 points
4. Ryan Mathews 2002 Chevrolet Corvette GTL 479 points
5. Jason Smith 1987 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 468 points
6. James Thomas 2016 Ford Mustang GT 467 points
7. Sean Aldinger 1969 Chevrolet Camaro GTV 463 points
8. Ron Scott 1972 Chevrolet Corvette GTV 462 points
9. Brandon Hurst 2022 Tesla Model S GTS 457 points
10. Jake Jackson 2018 Chevrolet Camaro GT 454 points
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
August 15-17th Summit Motorsports Park
October 10-12th Thunderhill Raceway Park
October 17-19th Barber Motorsports Park
November 2-7th OUSCI Las Vegas
QA1 First Timer Award- David Marcus 2022 Porsche GT3
Anderson Composites Competitor’s Choice Award- Ron Scott 1972 Chevrolet Corvette
Operational Speed Supply Most-Improved Driver- Austin Barnes 2003 Chevrolet Corvette
