2009 OPTIMA Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational

[James OLC]

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.

[ccracin]

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

[crazycarl]

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

[buickfunnycar.com]

Originally Posted by James OLC

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.

Man...very well stated James.

[Stuart Adams]

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.

[chr2002ca]

Congrats to Steve and the folks that helped out with improving Penny for once again taking home 1st place. 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.

[mazspeed]

Originally Posted by Stuart Adams

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.

I agree. Fastest car in all events should win. Otherwise what's the point?

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by mazspeed

I agree. Fastest car in all events should win. Otherwise what's the point?

Yep -- since it's by invite only -- why invite someone and then shove their nose in the dirt... You saw/knew the car when you invited it to participate!

It's like -- Let me beat on my half million dollar car -- for FREE... win... and then someone doesn't like the color I painted it... Uh... sure!

Having said all that - and my opinion means NOTHING - it was and is a great event!

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Yep -- since it's by invite only -- why invite someone and then shove their nose in the dirt... You saw/knew the car when you invited it to participate!

It's like -- Let me beat on my half million dollar car -- for FREE... win... and then someone doesn't like the color I painted it... Uh... sure!

Having said all that - and my opinion means NOTHING - it was and is a great event!

They just need to be sure of who/what they are inviting.. having us go agains SCCA track cars really doesn't help make the point they are trying to make.

Don't worry.. it will all be fixed though

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by rogue

agreed 100%. Show-touring at its finest. A guy brings out an original cobra, mops up on everyone then gets ripped apart because it doesn't have a 30k paint job and the latest carbon fiber goodies?

to all the competitors and Steve but this events pretty silly.

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.