How Do You Enter the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational?

OPTIMA has been hosting the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) every year since 2008. While the format of the event has evolved over the years, we always make sure the pathway to competing in this event is clear for anyone interested in taking on the challenge, because this is truly an invitation-only event, so you can't just decide to enter. The following is printed on the first page of the rules for competing in OPTIMA's Ultimate Street Car series:

Invitations to the OUSCI Championship will be awarded to the event winner of each class (excluding Outlaw class), and a special “Spirit of the Event” award winner from each event. Invitations will also be awarded to the top-3 vehicles from each class competing for the OUSCI, that ran at least two events and who did not yet earn an invitation during the regular season, as well as 10 additional at-large entries that ran at least two events, based on their season-long point totals, regardless of class. Seven (7) Outlaw class vehicles that meet rules requirements will also be invited.

We know not everyone reads the rules, so we're happy to explain the process to anyone who asks and we'll go into more detail here, explaining the process. We'll start with sharing the link to the points for the series, that lives right next to the link for rules. That link shows not only the point totals for every competitor for the entire season, but also for each segment of each event, including the Gearhead Classics Design & Engineering Challenge. 

Outlaw
We'll use the 2026 points as an example and Barber Motorsports Park results specifically. The Nine Lives Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw Class awards seven invitations to come to the SEMA Show and compete for the Outlaw Cup at the OUSCI. Since Outlaw cars do not compete in the Gearhead Classics Design & Engineering Challenge, they are not eligible to win the OUSCI title.

As the name of the class suggests, seven Outlaw cars are invited to Las Vegas, based on the points they accumulated in their best two events throughout the regular season. If they win the Outlaw Class at an event, but don't run a second event, they are not eligible for an invitation to Las Vegas. At the conclusion of the Barber Motorsports Park event, only two Outlaw cars had competed in two events, so they were the only two eligible for invitations to Las Vegas. However, after the conclusion of the next event at Laguna Seca, eight Outlaw cars had run in at least two events and the seventh of those eight cars had 773 points. With one qualifying event remaining, the mission was clear for the six Outlaw cars that had only run one event so far and the other eight that had run two- accumulate enough points to finish in the top-seven for the season. 

GTV
Tom Farrington's 1966 Chevelle won the Speedtech GTV Class at Barber and as the winner at that event, he received an invitation to the OUSCI. Simple, right? Read on.

GTT
In the No-Limit Engineering GTT Class, David Carroll's '74 Blazer was the class winner at Barber. However, Carroll's Blazer also won the season-opener at G2 Motorsports Park and he received his OUSCI invitation at that event. Since Carroll had already won an OUSCI invitation at G2, the Barber invitation was extended to Fran Marchand, whose '50 Chevy pickup finished second at Barber. Still easy to understand, right? Let's read about the GTS Class

GTS
Brandon Hurst's '22 Model S won the After Dark Speed GTS Class at Barber, but like Carroll, Hurst had already earned an invitation at the season-opener at G2. That meant the Barber invitation fell to the second-place finisher, Tony Prutch. However, Prutch already earned his OUSCI invitation at the NOLA event, so the invitation then fell to the third-place finisher, Stephen Lucas. It's worth noting, there is a possible advantage to running more later-season events, as many of the top competitors will have already earned their invitations, making it easier to win your way in at those later events.

GTL
Austin Barnes' '02 Corvette won the GTL Class at Barber. However, since Barnes is the defending OUSCI champion, he automatically earned an invitation to defend his title when he won the championship in 2025. That meant Ryan Mathews' '06 Corvette that finished second in the GTL Class at Barber earned the invitation.

GTC
In the GTC Class, Doug Wind's '04 SRT-4 won at Barber. However, Wind knew he would be unable to attend the OUSCI, so he declined his invitation at the Barber awards ceremony and it was extended to the second-place finisher, Tyler Hawker in his '08 Pontiac Solstice. If Wind had won and accepted the invitation or indicated he needed to check with his wife/boss etc... to confirm his availability, the invitation would not be extended to the second-place finisher, if Wind later declined. The goal of the entire series is to invite the best street cars from around the country to Las Vegas, so the ultimate street car can be found. With that being the case, if you think you might earn an invitation at one of these events, you should be prepared to accept or decline at the event.

GT
Similarly, in the Land Pro Creations GT Class, Mike Gallagher's '21 Mustang won at Barber, but Mike knew he was unable to make it to Las Vegas, so he declined his invitation, as did second-place Jason Rollison. That meant the entry went to third-place finisher, Drew Mitchell and his '00 Camaro.

If no GTC cars show up at an event, no OUSCI GTC event invitation will be awarded. If five trucks show up at the regular season finale and all five already received OUSCI invitations, no OUSCI GTT event invitation will be awarded at that event. In addition to those class invitations at each event, Summit Racing awards a Spirit of the Event invitation to the OUSCI, which Josh Powers won in his '72 Corvette. That concludes the invitations available for running at a single event.

Post-Season Invitations
Once the regular season wraps up, the series awards several additional invitations to the OUSCI. The first set of invitations are class invitations to the top three cars from each class that have not yet earned invitations, based on their point total in their best two events. If six invitations have been awarded in the GTL class and 12 other cars ran, but only two of those cars ran two events, only those two competitors who ran at least two events will receive invitations. This helps ensure vehicles that ran very well, but may have just run in very competitive events still have an opportunity to get the OUSCI.

Ten At-Large Entries
Once the Post-Season Class invitations are awarded, ten additional at-large invitations are awarded to the ten competitors who do not yet have invitations (and obviously have not already turned down an invitation), based on their point total from their best two events. This ensures highly competitive classes are properly represented at the OUSCI. An example could be a car that never scored lower than 450 points at three events but always finished second to someone who scored a little more and won an invitation. At the same events in other classes, 420 points may have been enough to win the class and earn an invitation, so we want to make sure the top cars from those highly competitive classes make it to the OUSCI as well.

With that clearly explained and the point totals available for everyone to see, we hope the paths to get invited to the OUSCI are clear. If you still have questions, feel free to ask them on the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational Facebook page.