[OptimaJim]

OPTIMA® Batteries will kick off its nationwide search for the 2010 Ultimate Street Car on May 1-2 with the first-ever OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff, to be held at the historic Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff, presented by Baer Brakes and Detroit Speed & Engineering, is an exciting new race event to showcase automotive performance, styling and aftermarket products as select vehicles compete in a series of events including the BF Goodrich Hot Lap Challenge, Detroit Speed Autocross, Baer Brakes Speed Stop Challenge, and a style and design competition.

OPTIMA and its partners will celebrate the entire Street Car Faceoff weekend with activities that unite the performance automotive aftermarket industry. The famed Roadster Shop in Mundelein, Illinois, home to the 2009 Good Guys Street Machine of the Year, Barry Blomquist’s “C1RS” ‘62 Corvette, will host an open house on Friday, April 30 at 11:00 a.m. CST. The caravan of enthusiasts and media are also invited to a cookout at Andrew Chevrolet dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not too far from the OPTIMA Batteries and Johnson Controls corporate headquarters.

On Saturday, May 1 beginning at 9:00 a.m. CST, the group of vehicle owners, drivers, designers, manufacturers and media will begin the OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff Road Rally to Road America. Upon everyone’s arrival, D&Z Customs and West Bend Dyno will sponsor a lunch to kick-off the action-packed weekend.

“True to our goal with the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, the Street Car Faceoff is about bringing the ‘street’ back to street machines by taking competition off the trailer and onto the track,” says Cam Douglass, director of product development and marketing for OPTIMA. “The OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational is about taking the world’s finest street cars and putting them to the test. Our mission with this event, and others throughout the year, is to find them.”

The OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff is the first event in an ongoing series of qualifiers for the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational, held each year immediately following the SEMA Show. These additional qualifying events will occur in different regions around the country, widening the playing field to allow more people the opportunity to be involved. The winner of the OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff will receive an invitation to the Ultimate Street Car Invitational to compete for the coveted Ultimate Street Car title among up to 50 of the highest quality street cars in the world. For more information on the OPTIMA Faceoff at Road America competition and activities, visit http://www.optimainvitational.com/

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
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