Hey Brandon,
Thanks for the question! The “I” in OUSCI does stand for Invitational, so the selection committee will be making the final decision on which cars will be invited both to the Sandhills event and the OUSCI. While winning the event has resulted in invitations being extended in past years, that is not necessarily the case this year. Performance will obviously play a big role in who gets invited, but it is not the sole consideration.
There was some concern that in past years, people didn't even participate in the qualifying events, because they didn't think their vehicle stood a chance of being invited. That was one of the reasons why Spirit of the Event invites were extended in the past. The main purpose of all of these events is to have some fun, get some great exposure for everyone involved and showcase the enthusiasm and excellence people have put into their vehicles.
If you look at some of the vehicles invited to past events, you'll see we make a concerted effort to go well beyond typical musclecars. Last year alone, we had a PT Cruiser, Tahoe, Volvo sedan, a 280Z, a '52 Chevy coupe, and a Ranchero. We also picked Zeke Peterson's VW Bug & Joe Shown's C4 from the Sandhills event, even though neither of them were anywhere near the fastest in that field. We did think they represented the SORC racing community very well, what a “street car” embodies and the wide variety of folks who enjoy that type of racing.
We already have a Sunbeam Tiger in this year's field, but that's not to say that every oddball Renault LeCar or BMW Isetta that shows up is necessarily going to get an invite. We just don't want people to think they need an ABS-equipped '69 Camaro pumping out 700+ horsepower, just because that's what they see at the front of the pack. We know a lot of people prefer building Camaros and Firebirds and we pick a lot of really cool examples each year, but we also like seeing cars and trucks that surprise us for a variety of reasons. Does that help answer your question?
Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.twitter.com/optimabatteries