Optima Challenge Is On Now...

[67ragtp]

Great show,cool to see many of the top pro-touring cars in the country on the track.
Im curious what you guys honestly think about the cobra competeing against these heavier cars, to me it just seemed to be a bit of a mismatch, perhaps a weight limit of 2700lbs and up should be considered. It will be interesting to see if that car returns next year. Great show!

Rich

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by 67ragtp

Great show,cool to see many of the top pro-touring cars in the country on the track.
Im curious what you guys honestly think about the cobra competeing against these heavier cars, to me it just seemed to be a bit of a mismatch, perhaps a weight limit of 2700lbs and up should be considered. It will be interesting to see if that car returns next year. Great show!

Rich

he's not invited for this years competition.

Jody

[OLDFLM]

What a GREAT show!! Congrats to Jimi and everyone who participated!!!

IF you watch real hard and don't blink you can see the FREEDOM BIRD in the background as Rupp wheels BAD PENNY out of SEMA... I was taking pics of everyone as they were driving out and had no idea they were filming...

I knew I should have gotten autographs at SEMA! LOL

[chr2002ca]

Damn that was a lot of fun to watch. Congrats to all those who participated. I'm headed out to the garage...

[buickfunnycar.com]

I'm working so I gotta wait till tomorrow...

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by camcojb

he's not invited for this years competition.

Jody

I don't think that is the right thing to do. The previous winner should be an automatic invite. The next winner can't claim to be the "Ultimate" without beating the previous winner. Everyone now knows what they have to shoot for. Coming from a racing background I am never a fan of changing the rules to eliminate competition. If it is a true street legal car then go for it. If you want to change the rules to more clearly define "Street" then that is fine, but I think you gotta run the Cobra at least one more time.

By the way, I think for 1 hour, the coverage was excellent. I want more! Great jobe to all that participated and put the show on. This was just what I needed on a 20 degree day in south west PA!

[JohnC]

I'm curious if there will be any changes to tire regulations next year also?

...or if more new "street" tires are comming out? .....hmmmm...

[clill]

I think the Cobra will be invited back to run exhibition class. It is not really a street car and wasn't driven by the owner or the builder. He was invited because he won a Goodguys autocross. It is a killer car but in reality I don't think any of the cars on this site stand a chance against it so it would basically kill anyone busting their butt to make the event because we would all be fighting for 2nd place. Great car but he had the gun at a knife fight.

[HOLOHAN'S HOT ROD SHOP]

I agree, another good show by Bud Brutsman. He's definately got some talent, along with a great team with him to produce a quality show.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by ccracin

I don't think that is the right thing to do. The previous winner should be an automatic invite. The next winner can't claim to be the "Ultimate" without beating the previous winner. Everyone now knows what they have to shoot for. Coming from a racing background I am never a fan of changing the rules to eliminate competition. If it is a true street legal car then go for it. If you want to change the rules to more clearly define "Street" then that is fine, but I think you gotta run the Cobra at least one more time.

By the way, I think for 1 hour, the coverage was excellent. I want more! Great jobe to all that participated and put the show on. This was just what I needed on a 20 degree day in south west PA!

read Charley's response for more info. It's not a street driven car anymore, I think he said it had been tracked only since the 70's, no street time at all since then. The owner didn't drive the car, had a friend drive it who was a national autocross champion and I believe owns a driving school. So in essence anybody now has to compete against a pro in a race car if they want to knock him off the top. I don't know of a true street car that will do that.

I had no problem with him competing, he earned it by winning a Goodguys autocross event which automatically qualified him for the shootout. Super nice guys and a very cool car, but it'd take a race car most likely to compete with him, as his is a race car with a pro driver, and a substantial weight advantage.

As Charley mentioned, they might bring him back for the exhibition class, they had other race cars in that class running last year, cool to see.

Jody