Last pics of shootout
 

I was working the event this time around and wish I could have taken pics of everycar there---

Doug

Enjoyed it, thanks Tom. :thumbsup:

Tom thanks for the video and Doug thank you for posting those, great pics.

Anyone have the results yet? Looked at the Optima Invitational website, but, nothing is posted yet...

*edit* there are some results posted here

http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sho...d.php?p=596331

I got to watch some video on the flight home today - pretty awesome. We kept getting in trouble by the flight attendant because it was too loud - only thing was everyone around us was wanting to watch.
Great job everyone!
Staci

Thanks,
Hopefully somebody did better video than me . LOL! There was lots of people taking video. There was even talk of a 30 minute show on speed. It was a real treat to see JA with Stielow at the wheel:thumbsup: Just a sweet car.

DFRESH Thanks for the pics, there awesome
Congrats to Steve and BP & Charlie & JA :lateral:

Some pics.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sundays...7622639408169/

Thanks for the video and pics guys!
Looked like an awesome time!:thumbsup: :cheers:

Left pahrump 8:00am sun. morn. Got home to kansas 6:00am mon. morn.Had a awsome time. so busy didnt get to meet everybody. Finally got to meet Tyler & Matt from Anvil Auto, Great Guys. MR.STEVEN RUPP I owe You the Tshirt of you choice.Great Job aginns't Super tough conpetiors. You & Your car are turely amazing.Mark Steilow in jack ass is one fast sombit*h.I would pay almost any thing to drive that good.This was the a event of the year bar none.Scott

Well, it's a win according to thier rules.. but I think thier rules need to be fine tuned for next year.

I want to win based on performance, not on style. We had some mech issues but I'm very proud of the car, David Pozzi, and myself.

The only good thing about "winning" this year is that I can come back next year and prove a point.

Good for you Steve & Dave,awesome job taking the title again this year...:thumbsup: :cheers: :woot: :willy: :bow: :hail:

I don't know what people will think of my idea, but I'm just trying to simplify and level the scoring system. I would hope the end result would provide less drama? The main issue that I have is that the style had the overwhelming deciding factor in the event based on it's 0-100 scale where each point added 1 second to the overall time.

I'm not going to get into who should have won, but I simply don't want people to be penalized on something that's subjective. Personally, I didn't care that many seconds were added to overall times when the AX and Speed/Stop were decided by tenths or hundredths of a second.

So here's my opinion - which is exactly that, just an opinion - I would like to see each single event pay points. Add up all the points for the overall win. If there's a tie, then the quicker lap on the road course breaks the tie.

3 of the events are individually worth 20% of the score, but the road course is worth 40% of the overall score.


Road Course:

1st - 20pts
2nd - 18
3rd - 16
4th - 14
5th - 12
6th - 10
7th - 8
8th - 6
9th - 4
10th - 2



Autocross:

1st - 10pts
2nd - 8
3rd - 7
4th - 6
5th - 5
6th - 4
7th - 3
8th - 2
9th - 1
10th - 0



Speed/Stop:

1st - 10pts
2nd - 8
3rd - 7
4th - 6
5th - 5
6th - 4
7th - 3
8th - 2
9th - 1
10th - 0



Styling

1st - 10pts
2nd - 8
3rd - 7
4th - 6
5th - 5
6th - 4
7th - 3
8th - 2
9th - 1
10th - 0

We don't know that yet..

There's no way they used a 0-100 SECOND method for this. I know 8.5 seconds was added to my score for the style part. It's obvious that I didn't score an 8.5 our of a hundred for Penny. Especially since the roadster shop Corvette won with a 8.x score and the Mustang came in second with a score of 15.

In any event, I will await Jimi's explanation and I hope they can fix the rules for next year.

I also don't know if I agree that the Road Course should weigh more than the other events.. just because some people don't like it. Autocross if more of a test of a STREET CAR than the road course is.

Just my .02

I like it Scott. I second this! :thumbsup: Well, the revamp and scoring. The weighting could be discussed. If it is a true "Street Car" test, than I think a ride and drive should be added. Things like interior noise, ride comfort, cabin temperature, street manners etc. should be evaluated. If not, it becomes who can make the fastest race car street legal. I think it should be just the opposite. Take a great street car and make it as close to a race car as possible without losing it's "Steet Car" image. I think Bad Penny is just that along with quite a few of the competitors. It could however get out of hand quickly without some rule changes. I could have made the car in my avatar street legal and done very well performance wise. But would I have called it a "Street Car" nope.

The percentages can be set to whatever. They could all be equal. I just threw that out there. :cheers:

As far as the 0-100 styling points, Jimi said that during the awards presentation at the end of the day. He said the black Mustang that was in the Baer booth scored 15 points and the Roadster Shop Vette scored 7 points. He pointed that out because the Mustang won the Gran Turismo award at SEMA, yet finished 2nd in the OUSCI styling category.

I should also congratulate you and Team BP on the win. :thumbsup:

Just don't say I need to have wipers!!! lol

And that's why the 1-100 deal doesn't make sense since I was told I gained 8.5 seconds from that style catagory.

Like I said, let's wait for the explanation and then we can ask for revisions for next year.

First off - congratulations to Steve and Dave on Bad Penny’s repeat as winner of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational; regardless of any other considerations, Steve and Dave worked their butts off on Saturday and the month before to get Penny ready and at the end of they day they pulled it off. David first noticed that the power steering pump was going away on the orientation laps and when Steve hit the autocross it was done; while the autocross course was not as demanding (from a steering point of view) as some of the others that Steve has tackled, it was still a ton of work to drive with no power assist. That they were able to (a) find a power steering pump in Pahrump and (b) get it changed in time to run the road course and finish the event was a testament to their dedication and in the end their hard work paid off. Great job!

Second – hats off to OPTIMA Batteries for putting on the event and to all of the sponsors that made it possible. All of the controversies – tires, drivers, invitees, scoring, and anything else – aside, the fact is that this was only the second time that the event had been held and it was a TON OF FUN! The quality of the cars there was awesome and – for the most part - they were being driven to their very limits. It was great to see guys like Larry C. driving the absolute butt of Motiv8r and loving it. To see Bill and Yancy and Mark and Charlie and a host of others driving their cars to the very limit was incredible and without FM3 and OPTIMA stepping up to organize the event and sponsors like Ridetech and K&N it never would have happened.

Third – it’s a competitive event and we (pro-touring) remain the cream of the crop. Throughout “the week” there were opinions galore on who would win and why. There was discussion about practicing, new vs. old, race tires vs. street tires, and pro’s vs. joes and in the end OLD JOES won the day. But a couple of big worries were disproved – new cars don’t automatically have an advantage over our old cars and professional drivers are not a magic bullet, nor are pre race practice sessions. Some of the best drivers IN THE WORLD were in attendance at the race and they did not dominate the competitions where they were expected to… Paul Tracy put some fast road course laps down in the F/M 2010 Camaro but he did not walk away from the field at all… nor did Tanner Faust dominate on an autocross course that was seemingly designed with drifting in mind. The Nissan GTR was not a factor, nor was the AMG Mercedes or any of the other new cars. Pro Touring and vintage G Machines truly ruled the day. And everyone was pushing hard – as shown by the attrition and off road excursions. It was really cool.

I think it was a great day and want to congratulate everyone who was fortunate enough to participate – both as competitors and volunteers. And I think that the volunteers need to be recognized as well – they worked tirelessly throughout the day and were also a big part of making the whole deal possible.

We had a lot of fun and it was great seeing everyone there. For my part I want to thank Robert for the ride to Pahrump on Saturday and (as always) Dave and Mary for the help getting the car ready.

Well stated James! Congrats on another event under the belt of the OLC! Awesome car.

Nope, It doesn't rain in SoCal! Now if I were to come I may have to run snow treads! LOL. Have you even heard of those?

Pahrump is supposedly building a drag strip in the next year.

Adding in a street driving segment is ridiculous, this isn't GoodGuys SMOTY.

Congrats to everyone who made it into the event. I will have pics to post in a few days.

Carl

Man...very well stated James.:thumbsup:

Totally my pleasure. It was great to have the time to get to know you and Debbie, and now I feel that I gained some new friends.

Pretty simple deal, the cars with the best times should finish accordingly. If its a car show then so be it. Kinda ridiculous really. Don't need explanations or sugar coats, #'s are numbers.

When after a race you need explanations, that's all you need to know.

Congrats to Steve and the folks that helped out with improving Penny for once again taking home 1st place. :thumbsup: Congrats to Steve also for his continued advancement in his driving capabilities. It's quite an accomplishment to win 2 years in a row and it certainly adds to the legacy of Penny.

As for the contest itself, I definitely agree with Steve that style should be thrown out all together. That's just too subjective. The idea sponsored by Chad of having a 'street driving characteristics'(road noise, easy of steering and braking, comfort, etc) is a good one, but again that might be subjective in parts also. However, there has to be some sort of category like that, or as Steve said, it ends up being a performance-only contest and then you have people entering race cars and that'll 'get by on the street' for the event. There definitely has to be something done about the tires. Tires can make all the difference and they need to level the playing field with strict rules on those. When people are showing up with a different set of rims and tires from what they run on the street, that just doesn't seem right. It's not a street car contest if that's happening, in my humble opinion.

Or, they just don't give out an 'overall 1st place', and give individual category awards which might reinforce the idea of 'fun' versus 'a competition'. We all win just by getting to watch it or participate in it. Kudos to Optima for putting it together and letting us see such a wide variety of cars and drivers going at it. I'm not missing out again. I'll be there next year to watch and take notes for sure.

Again, there's no problem with having a style component.. it just needs to be fair and balanced accordingly.

There's a reason this event is the day after SEMA.. it's not a SCCA divisional race.

The event wasn't silly . It was a great event that would have ended great if they would have stuck to their own published rules. The Cobra would have easily won the overall.

It was a great event and if we all keep whining enough maybe they will just cancel it next year. That's something to seriously consider. We all hear about the "Economic" times and cut backs in marketing dollars.

So long as they "fix" it for next year I'm in.. it was the best run event like this I've ever been to. Just needs some fine tuning in the rules department.

Keep in mind that this is only their second event. I'm optimistic about next year.

Fixed it for ya Steve...:yes:

Come on fellas. No "its only the second event" stuff and other sugar coats. It was a fantastic day, great turnout of cars, alot of good people. All competing by the rules and in good spirit. I saw guys helping each other for oil, parts etc. I enjoyed watching all the cars, no matter who built it or what click they belong too.

It was an invitational, so if you invite cars to compete then judging on looks is bogus because you basically invited the car to run the event. It's like inviting all ugly cars that are fast then awarding the slowest car first because it shines better, if you know what I mean.

Do you really think people would show up if the rules were: fastest car if not subjectively percieved for STYLE, by the way what does style points mean, ?? might not be the winner. Well that is what you have here. The cobra and others had WAY better times and didn't even place?

Steve's car is awesome and my post is not directed at the car, I just feel for the guys that raced hard and posted #'s and it didn't mean much in the end.
If it was close it would be one thing but you all will be suprised when you see the real numbers.

Congrats to Mary on your awesome autocross numbers.

Congrats to all that put on a great day, hope next year EVERYONE doesn't walk away going "huh".

ONCE again.. in case it was missed the first time.. the Cobra was not invited.. it won the slot by winning a GoodGuys autocross.

As said, there's no problem having a style component, IF it's done right.

I'm waiting for the numbers..

And yes, congrats to Mary for her second place autox finish.. that was another wierd deal they need to fix.

Next year needs to be fixed or there's no point in going.

Steve,

Congrats on the win. I feel bad for you as you continue to defend your position, but everybody knows you did not hold the gun while the Cobra was robbed. Your car is awesome so please don't be offended. Should the Cobra have been allowed? IMO no, As a muscle car guy I had already figured that if somebody showed up in a 2200 lb car with a ringer driver that it does not reflect badly on the PT style 3000-4000 LB cars. Kinda of Apples and Oranges thing. However it seems like the style points leap frogged you over the Cobra, Jackass & DSE car? Maybe I am wrong but I thought you posted that in the three timed events BP finished behind JA? I understand that the DSE car was a sponsor so they don't count. Even if it is only a 10 second "Style" span that is huge. I hope they drop the car show side of it.

That said I thought the event had improved over last year's. I really hope Optima continues either way as this is a great event. This kind of reminds me of the '03 Nascar series where everybody was pissed thinking the #17 Dewalt team stoled the cup by not winning the events. Look what happened...they changed the rules and the 24 team was robbed by that goofy Kurt Busch. LOL. So the point is we should all be careful what we wish for.

You should be proud as others should for running the cars hard. You fought through the Power steering issue as others fought their own battles. I overheard Stielow had an issue while running the big track but still made a 1:49 lap. That's the way racing go's.

LOL...Stielow's seatbelt came off during the first timed lap.... That would have made me pucker...

Yet he still went for 4 more laps and ran the sh*t out of that thing. I loved watching him go around that course.

Tyler

What is everyone complaining about? The event went very well and it was a fun day but it seems that some people just can’t be happy about anything. The cobra beat the crap out of all so it should have won. Who cares what kind of a car it was and it was invited by winning at Goodguys. Steve and him should go head to head

We brought out a daily driven stock car with lowering and charger and street tires and did very well with it. We were there to have fun and see what our cars could do. I think for a $65K car we held our own very well and yes our buddy Paul did the driving and why in the hell would we do it when we have friends like that. Who cares who wins some of you guys are way too deep into this and need to CHILL out a little. You would have a lot more fun.

What would be the point of that?

My only gripe with the Cobra was that it didn't follow the spirit of the competion or the owner/builder rule.

It's a badass car for sure and it kicked major ass... but it should have.

And I really don't care who wins, I think everyone just wants clearer rules for next year :)

By the way, that was a badass 2010 you had there. :thumbsup:

Makes keeping your seeting position a little difficult I bet.. lol

So, fess up.. who put the belts in the car? ;)