The final event 2016 Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational recently took place over the weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Once again, these events lived up to their action-packed histories, with challenges including the Lucas Oil Road Rally, the Detroit Speed Autocross, the Falken Tire Road Course Time Trial, the PowerStop Speed Stop Challenge and the Lingenfelter Design and Engineering Challenge.

Winners of each of these challenges compiled points, with Danny Popp and his 2003 Chevrolet Corvette winning first place and claiming the official title of the ultimate street car. Ken Thwaits took second place in his 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Rich Willhoff finished third overall in his 2006 ‘Vette. This is Danny’s third year in a row winning this Invitational.

“The field gets deeper and more talented every year – better cars are showing up and it’s exciting. We have a lot of people who help with this vehicle and extraordinary results are more easily accomplished through the efforts of many,” said Danny.

Optima announced the addition of a new class to the 2017 Search for the Ultimate Street Car Series, the GTC class, which will include sport compact vehicles such as Volkswagen Golfs, Mini Coopers, Mazda Miatas, and Honda Civics. In addition to this new class, they also are debuting a entire new series for next year, “The Optima World Championship Autocross Series,” which will consist of five events. The new series is designed to welcome and promote autocross events, welcoming all enthusiasts– from newbies to professionals.