Text and Photo's by Kaleb Kelley OPTIMA's Search for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge set off on Friday at Johnson Control's headquarters in Glendale, MI. A quick car show with food provided brought the participants in to register and show off their car. Afterwards, everybody headed to Andrew Chevrolet for dinner and viewing of the first episode of OPTIMA's Search for the … [Read more...]
Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge – Las Vegas
Last weekend marked the first Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge in Las Vegas, aside from the invitational held after SEMA. This event was number three of ten in the series and was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a mecca of fuel burning fun in the Las Vegas area. Driving to Vegas is always an exciting trip, since it's only about four hours away. For roughly three solid … [Read more...]
RideTech 48 Hour Corvette WINS Optima Texas!
A tired yet excited Chris Smith with the RideTech 48 Hour Corvette in Texas' Winner's Circle! In keeping with our original intentions, we have thrashed the 48 Hour Corvette since its birth a mere 14 days ago. This weekend at the Optima Ultimate Street Car event in Ft. Worth Texas we were rewarded with our first WIN! Chris Smith was able to pilot the Corvette to a convincing … [Read more...]
Tmcp #235 Ken Thwaits – Racer, Camaro Collector, Business Owner, 2014 OSUSC Points Leader
This weeks interview is with Ken Thwaits, race car driver, car collector, entrepreneur, and the inaugural 2014 points champion of the 2014 Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car. He is also founder and President of Precision Dynamics International. I asked Ken onto the show because, quite honestly, in our small world of muscle car racing he came onto the scene a … [Read more...]
Mike Maier wheeling his Mustang on the autocross
https://youtu.be/ZQKq0GGWINU This was taken from the Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car at Thunderhill Raceway. Video courtesy of Tony Huntimer. … [Read more...]
Advance Auto Parts USCA 2015 Event #1 – Thunderhill Raceway Park
Advance Auto Parts USCA 2015 Event #1 – Thunderhill Tony Huntimer The USCA Series If you don’t already know, the USCA is the Ultimate Street Car Association. It’s a sanctioning body formed to create safe, fun, and high profile national events for street legal performance vehicles. This association is used to find the cars to populate the Optima [Batteries] Ultimate Street … [Read more...]
Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car Presented by Advance Auto Parts
Wake Up!! The alarm clock went off at 4 a.m. Still half asleep, I knew that meant it was time to get up and hit the road to Thunderhill Raceway Park for the opening Optima qualifier for 2015. My wife has always been supportive of my hobby, but had never attended a track event with me, so this was going to be a first for both of us. The weather was calling for a chance of … [Read more...]
Mike Maier getting after it on the autocross course
Mike Maier running the Detroit Speed autocross at last weekends Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car at Thunderhill Raceway. Presented by Advance Auto Parts. … [Read more...]
Smitty letting it all hang out at Thunderhill
Smitty doing a little tire smoking at the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge last weekend. Video courtesy of Tony Huntimer. Driving by Chris Smith. … [Read more...]
Tmcp #226 Wes Drelleshak’s ’59 Apache “Muscle Truck”: Racing With The Big Boys
This weeks interview is with Wes Drelleshak, the creator and racer of his 1959 Apache muscle-truck appropriately named “Project Long Shot.” He will be campaigning against some of the best drivers and cars ever at the 2014 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational! As he’s essentially taking a butter knife to a gun fight I thought it might be fun to have Wes come onto … [Read more...]
