[Auto] What’s the Ultimate Street Car? Optima Hits the West Coast to Find Out!

[Wassim MH]

 

After a season-opener at North Carolina's Charlotte Motor Speedway, the West-Coast launch of Optima's 2022 Search for the Ultimate Street Car, presented by Advance Auto Parts, had competitors heading to Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the first time in the history of the series. The iconic road course, which is on a lot of drivers' bucket lists, delivered in spades, and the tarmac for the QA1 Autocross and Peak Performance Challenge offered a tight and technical challenge that favored skilled drivers and cars set up for handling over brute power.

Late-model Camaros in the series haven't offered much of a response to the dominant Mustangs in recent years, but that trend might be shifting. Three-time GT Class champion Jonathan Blevins cruised to an easy class victory at Charlotte but faced much stiffer opposition at Sonoma, led by the winningest driver in NASA history, Dave Schotz, in his 2020 Camaro.

Schotz put down a fast enough time on the Falken Tire Road Course time trial to qualify for the Trans Am race, and he did it on 200-treadwear street tires. He needed to turn in a strong performance because he had a lot of ground to make up from the Lingenfelter Design & Engineering Challenge, where his car scored well but not within the range of the other class leaders, who enjoyed a 12-to-17-point advantage there.

Mike Maier's 2017 Mustang turned in a top-10 overall time on the QA1 Autocross and the second-fastest time on the road course, which brought the eight-time SCCA National champion into the conversation. Meanwhile, Matt Ramirez's 2004 Mustang was quietly laying down consistent numbers in each of the five segments. Blevins struggled to find grip throughout the weekend, and by Sunday afternoon he knew another class win was out of reach. Ramirez posted a top-10 finish on the road course, but came up just one point short of Schotz, giving the Camaro driver his second class win in the series. The defending champion, Blevins, finished off the podium, in fourth place.

Things were just as tight in the Holley EFI GTL Class, where defending Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational (OUSCI) champion Jake Rozelle battled with 2020 champ CB Ramey. Rozelle grabbed the OUSCI crown from Ramey by a single point last year, after Ramey did the same thing to Rozelle the year prior. The two Corvettes were back at it again at Sonoma, where Ramey's C4 once again gained the upper hand over Rozelle's C5 by a single point.

The No-Limit Engineering GTT class for trucks, SUVs, and vans saw the largest field in the history of the series, as 12 trucks took to the track in competition. The mix of entries ran from Kyle Sepulveda's '66 C10 all the way up to Rob White's '04 SRT-10, with several Fords sprinkled in between. David Carroll's '74 Blazer emerged victorious, thanks to a consistent performance across all segments, capped by a class-leading run on the Falken Tire road course time trial.

In the Speedtech Lucky 7 Outlaw Class, where aero rules take a break and the results are tallied from just the driving segments, a mix of newcomers squared off against longtime competitors. Keith Corrigan was able to grab the top spot on the QA1 Autocross in the No-Limit Engineering C10 pickup, but John Lawrence's 2017 Corvette grabbed the top spot in the other two segments and the overall class victory.

The GTS Class always offers a diverse field of competitors, and Sonoma was no exception. The weekend started off with the Teslas driven by Jordan Priestley and Jon Bickford posting times on the QA1 Autocross and Peak Performance Challenge that were nearly unreachable by anyone else. The one car that could hang with them was Bob Sobey's Nissan GT-R, which managed to drive around Logan Palmer's 2019 Corvette for the class victory.

In the Classic Car Liquidators GTV Class for vintage iron, defending class champion Jason Bottenfield was looking to rebound off his two-point loss in the opening round. His DuSold Designs-built '69 Camaro grabbed the top spot overall in the Lingenfelter Design & Engineering Challenge, but the competition didn't roll over. Brian Hobaugh's stunning '73 Camaro took a three-point deficit from D&E and turned it into a two-point lead after the QA1 Autocross, and extended it even further after the Peak Performance Challenge. However, it was the consistent performance of Ryan Breezee's '69 Camaro throughout the weekend that allowed him to grab the class win over Hobaugh and Bottenfield.

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