Grassroots Racing Visits SEMA
Sure, the SEMA Show is where you'll find some of the top-notch car builds in the world. But can they perform? That question is why the folks at Optima Batteries created the OPTIMA Search for the Ultimate Street Car—a motorsport series culminating directly after SEMA with the Ultimate Street Car Series championship event. While competitors compete throughout the year to be invited, a select number of invitees are selected during SEMA week. It's the true test of whether your SEMA build is up to snuff where it counts. Join in as we went LIVE from the OSUSC area within the SEMA Show below and keep scrolling to see who took home the trophy on Saturday's race.
2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the OPTIMA invitational and it continues to grow in competitiveness. “This event was born out of the desire to give the vehicles on display at the SEMA show floor an opportunity to showcase what they’re really designed and built to do – perform,” said Cam Douglass, director of marketing at OPTIMA Batteries, Johnson Controls. “To see how the competition has evolved in the past ten years is incredible – from the quantity of competitors and spectators, to the pace of the competition, to the diversity of vehicles, all vying for the Ultimate Street Car title.”
Ken Thwaits’ 2006 Mitsubishi Evo won the 2017 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Ken exclaims, “This car has never won a race and it’s the third year we’ve run it.” Noting that after its failure in New Jersey's race, it was stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up. Following up his win, fellow competitor Austin Barnes in a 2010 Dodge Viper got second place.
Other 2017 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational class winners include:
- GTE Class: Matthew Scott’s 2017 Hyundai Ioniq
- GTC Class: Scott Budisalich’s 2006 Honda S2000
- GTV Class: Larry Woo’s 1968 Chevy Camaro
- Franklin Road Apparel GT Class: Bryan Johnson’s 2013 Chevy Camaro
- Recaro GTS Class: Austin Barnes’ 2010 Dodge Viper
- Holley EFI GTL Class: Ken Thwaits’ 2006 Mitsubishi Evo
