The third and final day of the Import Meet Street Car Competition was made up of a single category – drag racing. A quick reference guide for the competitors can be found here. Read all about how the IMSCC scoring system works here.
Photos by Anthony Kim and Matt Haugness. Text by Matt Haugness.
Drag racing – the final portion of the IMSCC was held on the last day of the event at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA.
Drag Racing
Going into day three, Andy Nissen-Barber with his 2002 BMW M3 was in first place and 81 points ahead of Dan Nguyen in his 2010 Nissan GT-R. This meant that Andy needed to get a DNF or an incredibly slow time and Dan would have to place first for the standings to change.
Blake Henney was in third place going into the final event but was not able to compete at the drag strip because of coolant leaking from the engine of his 1990 Honda Prelude. Since he wasn’t able to fix it in time to pass tech inspection – Blake decided to leave the car at home. He received a DNF which meant zero points.
Cars were paired up at the drag strip based on how close they were to each other in overall points. This made the event interesting and meant that there could have been changes in final standings if either of them ran significantly faster than the other.
Jeff Vuong with his 2004 Subaru WRX STi was pitted against Matthew Bueler in his RB25-swapped Nissan 300ZX. Jeff was able to consistently beat Matthew off the line mostly due to not being as traction limited with AWD (both were on summer tires – not R compounds). Jeff’s fastest time of the day was a 13.075 giving him 20.5 points while Matthew’s was 13.347 (10 points).
The closest races of the day were between David Otzwirk in his 2003 Mitsubishi Evo and Johnny Nelson in his 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo. Tires were the limiting factor for both cars but David was able to get his launch down and on his final run of the day managed to run a 12.59 (39.4 points). Johnny’s best run was a 12.802 which gave him 31.1 points.
The quickest cars of the drag racing event were Andy’s BMW M3 and Dan’s Nissan GT-R. Dan’s best run of the day was a 10.768 and since this was the quickest time – he received the maximum of 110 points. Even with Toyo R888 tires Andy couldn’t keep up with Dan’s GT-R off the line. He still managed to run a respectable 11.726 but since there was nearly a full second between them Andy only received 72.9 points.
Click here to find out how these points were calculated.
IMSCC Final Results
Andy and his 2002 BMW M3 nearly finished first place in all of the categories of the IMSCC this year. Since he scored so high in all of the events it meant that it was nearly impossible for any of the other competitors to knock him out of first place.
Even with such a strong finish in all of the earlier events it was competitive between Andy and Dan up until the end. Dan and his 2010 Nissan GT-R only placed 43.9 points below him. Scoring first in both 0-60-0 and Drag Racing bumped Dan up to second place at the end of the IMSCC.
Even though Blake wasn’t able to compete on the final day with his 1990 Honda Prelude he still placed third overall. Because he performed so well in the previous events Blake finished with a 37.1 margin above the next closest competitor – Johnny Nelson in his 1994 Toyota Supra.
In fifth place was David Otzwirk in his 2003 Mitsubishi Evo. The Day One events were brutal to David’s overall score but his strong driving skills made up for it in all of the later events. Had he placed slightly higher in the early events he likely could have placed third or fourth.
Matthew Bueler with his 1991 Nissan 300ZX had a difficult time placing high in any of the events with the exception of his first place finish in Fuel Economy (a half point event). The low finishes in some key events put Matthew into sixth place overall.
Placing low in drag racing kept Jeff and his 2004 Subaru WRX STi in last place. Jeff had a difficult time being the lowest horsepower car in the event and continued to be held back because of it.
Special thanks to all of our competitors, sponsors, groups/clubs, tracks, and volunteers for working with us for this year’s Import Meet Street Car Competition. We’re hard at work on all of the video content and will be sharing all of it soon.
The IMSCC is a constantly evolving event. Stay tuned for updates on how we plan on changing things up next year. If you are interested in competing in our 2015 competition, fill out the form below to let us know that you’re interested.
Other IMSCC 2014 coverage articles:
Day 1 Part One: Retail Price, Peak Horsepower, and Power Delivery
Day 1 Part Two: Ride Quality, Car Show, and Build Quality
Day 2: Autocross, 0-60-0, Skidpad and Fuel Economy
Special Thanks to Our IMSCC Sponsors:
