Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords – October 2019

WWW.MUSTANG-360.COM OCTOBER 2019 73

The biggest surprise of

the weekend may have come

in the Optima GT class for

late-model muscle cars. It

should be no surprise that

Cliff Elliott’s 2016 GT came

out on top, but it did so in

very convincing fashion,

with a 479-point perfor-

mance and a 29-point gap

over second place. As a

frame of reference, last sea-

son’s class champion never

scored more than 459 at his

best event and you’d have

to go back to 2016 to find

anyone in the GT class who

posted a higher score than

Elliott. While it was a large

field and there were several

heavy hitters within it, many

big names were notably

EVENT I OPTIMA USCA AT DAYTONA

Nasario Birrueta Jr. is another West Coast

competitor who saw Daytona on the schedule and

knew he had to be there. Having run in the first two

events of the season, his 2013 Boss 302 now sits in

Third Place in the Optima GT Class points standings.

Saroja Day is one of only a handful of competitors

who has committed to run all seven events, and she’s

doing it in her 2010 Mustang GT. After the first two

rounds, she sits in Fourth Place in her class.

absent, which definitely

had an impact on the points

available to all competitors.

Almost all of the series

regulars who also ran at

the first event of the year

in Las Vegas saw signifi-

cantly higher point totals at

Daytona. That could have

an impact on the season’s

points chase, as points are

They call it the

“World Center of

Racing,” and it

fits.