photos by: Patrick Hill

Optima’s Ultimate Street Car Invitational is a Coalition of the Country’s Greatest! 

The Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational is among the top echelon of road racing and autocross events in the world, featuring primarily American muscle cars with plenty of late-models and European/Japanese imports thrown in!

It’s a series that travels through most of the country, ultimately ended up in Las Vegas, Nevada just after the SEMA Show concludes. We were on hand to covers this year’s event, and it’s something we’re looking at getting involved with for next season!

Official Release:

OPTIMA BATTERIES ANNOUNCES WINNER OF 2015 ULTIMATE STREET CAR INVITATIONAL

Danny Popp and his 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Defend Title of OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car

November 8, 2015 (LAS VEGAS) – OPTIMA Batteries, the global leader in high-performance automotive and marine batteries and digital battery chargers, is pleased to announce this year’s winner of the Ultimate Street Car Invitational. Danny Popp, driving his 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06, out-performed the competition this weekend and, for the second year in a row, has been named the 2015 Ultimate Street Car.

“We put in a lot of work and preparation to get here, and it’s incredible to get results not only for me and my team, but also for the sponsors,” Popp said.

Popp is the first three-time winner of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, and the first ever back-to-back winner. “It’s going to take a little while for someone to undo that,” he said, after a champagne shower from his fellow competitors.

The 2015 Ultimate Street Car Invitational, presented by K&N Filters, was hosted for the second year in a row at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. More than 90 vehicles competed head-to-head in a series of competitive driving challenges over the course of the weekend, which included the Wilwood Speed Stop Challenge, the Detroit Speed Autocross, the OPTIMA Batteries Road Rally and the Falken Tire Hot Lap Challenge. Additionally, each vehicle’s quality and craftsmanship was assessed by a panel of judges during the Lingenfelter Performance Design & Engineering Challenge.

Each of these challenge offered point values, and when the scores were totaled at the end of the weekend, winners were announced. Andy Smedegard in a 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution IX came in second place overall, and Brandon Ranvek took home third place competing in a 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution RS. The winners for the individual challenges are listed below.

Wilwood Speed Stop Challenge:
• First place: Clay Shearer, 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S
• Second place: Andy Smedegard, 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution IX
• Third place: Danny Popp, 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Detroit Speed Autocross:
• First place: Brandon Ranvek, 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution RS
• Second place: Andy Smedegard, 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution IX
• Third place: Danny Popp, 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Falken Tire Hot Lap Challenge:
• First place: Danny Popp, 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
• Second place: Hugh Bate, 2013 Nissan GTR
• Third place: Andy Smedegard, 2006 Mitsubishi Evolution IX

Lingenfelter Performance Design & Engineering Challenge:
• First place: Matthew Butts, 1969 Dodge Charger
• Second place: Brett Behrens, 1978 Ford Mustang
• Third place: Steve Keefer, 1967 Chevrolet Camaro

“Each year the participants and their vehicles continue to push the limits and amaze us with the drive and passion they bring to the Invitational,” said Cam Douglass, marketing director at OPTIMA Batteries. “It reassures us of the reasons we created this event eight years ago: see what the incredible cars from garages across the country and the SEMA show floor can really do using the show’s top-notch, high performance parts.”

The 2015 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational will be broadcast on MAVTV on Friday, November 20 at 8:00 p.m. ET. Plans for the 2016 OPTIMA Search for the Ultimate Street Car series were announced this week. For more information about the 2016 series visit the OPTIMA Invitational website.

Visit the OPTIMA Batteries’ YouTube page and the OPTIMA Invitational website to see 2015 driver profiles and news, or follow #OUSCI and visit the OPTIMA Batteries Facebook page to join the conversation.

Rick Seitz

Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.