2013 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational Qualifying Events

OPTIMA Batteries, a worldwide leader in high-performance batteries, today announced the first nine qualifying events for the sixth annual running of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational event, held immediately the 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

These regional qualifying events encompass a wide range of performance disciplines, from open road racing to autocrossing and drag racing. They also share much in common, such as being open to street-legal and licensed vehicles, which is a requirement of the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational. The regional qualifiying events are also strategically located all over the country to give enthusiasts nationwide the chance to compete.

As has been done previously, Spirit of the Event selections from qualifying events will be invited to the SEMA show in Las Vegas. They will then compete against each other in a series of measured performance competitions and also be judged for the quality of design and execution of the build of their vehicle. The participant with the best overall performance and design will be crowned the “Ultimate Street Car” for the year.

The 2013 OPTIMA Invitational regional qualifying events include:

•Run to the Coast – Irvine, CA (February 23-24)

•Detroit Speed Southern Slam – Kershaw, SC (April 19-21)

•Faceoff at Road America – Elkhart Lake, WI (June 22-23)

•GoodGuys Des Moines – Des Moines, IA (July 5-7)

•MotorState Challenge – Watersvilet, MI (July 25-27)

•Sandhills Open Road Challenge – Arnold, NE (August 7-11)

•Holley LS Fest – Bowling Green, KY (September 6-8)

•Silver State Classic Challenge – Ely, NV (September 11-15)

•GoodGuys Fort Worth – Fort Worth, TX (October 4-6)

“Competitors have a lot to look forward to with a year of thrilling events across the country. Each of these qualifier events have been selected because they align with the spirit and concept behind the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational,” said Cam Douglass, Director of Product Development and Marketing for OPTIMA Batteries. “2012 brought close competition and a more diverse showing of vehicles with nearly 20 percent of the field falling into the import category. We can’t wait to see what this year will bring.” Some of these events have limited space available, so early registration is strongly encouraged.

Other qualifying events may be added as the year goes on and invitees may also be selected from outside of these events. However, these events are your best chance of getting invited to the OUSCI. Dozens of competitors in last year's field participated in announced qualifying events, even though only a handful of invitations were initially awarded at the events.. The OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational is open to street-legal vehicles of all makes, models and years of manufacture.

If you'd like to see some of the competitors from past OUSCI events, please visit our OUSCI Board on Pinterest.