OPTIMA® Batteries Street Car Faceoff Ends with Camaro Win
at Road America.

Brian Finch and his ’71 Chevy Camaro named Street Car Faceoff winner
and official qualifier for the 2010 Ultimate Street Car Invitational 

May 6, 2010 (MILWAUKEE) – OPTIMA^® Batteries continued its nationwide search for the 2010 Ultimate Street Car with the first-ever OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff, presented by Baer Brakes and Detroit Speed & Engineering, held on May 1 and 2 at the historic Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Brian Finch from Nashville, Tennessee, won the OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff title with his #10, ’71 Chevy Camaro, strengthening his position to compete for the  

2010 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car title later this year.

Finch knocked off nearly 40 contenders at Road America, besting the competition overall in a series of events including the BF Goodrich Hot Lap Challenge, the Detroit Speed & Engineering Speed Assault Autocross, the Baer Brakes Speed Stop Challenge, and The Roadster Shop Performance Design Challenge. Finch, known for his hard work and dedication within the performance automotive aftermarket industry, finished in 6^th place in the 2009 OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational. He participates in a number of events each year, most recently winning overall at the inaugural Run to the Coast event in Irvine, California, a few weeks ago.

“I am having the time of my life and every OPTIMA-sponsored event keeps getting better,” said Finch during his Faceoff acceptance speech. “I’ve been building friendships and having a great time; I can’t wait for the Invitational later this year.” Finch is also known for building the ’69 Chevy Camaro named “Kryptonite,” which took the coveted Roadster Shop Performance Design Challenge award and will be featured in Camaro Performers magazine in the near future. Finch’s own car has been featured in the latest issues of Chevy High Performance, Camaro Performers and Hot Rod magazines pulling off a hat trick of sorts in the media arena.

The 2010 OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff final results follow:
OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff:
1^st Place:         Brian Finch, #10, ’71 Chevy Camaro
2^nd Place:        Kyle Tucker, #31, ’70 Chevy Camaro
3^rd Place:         Jeff Schwartz, #39, ’65 Pontiac Tempest

 Baer Brakes Speed Stop Challenge
1^st Place:         Andy Quaas, #38, ’09 Pontiac G8GT
2^nd Place:        Brian Finch, #10, ’71 Chevy Camaro

 Detroit Speed & Engineering Speed Assault Autocross
1^st Place:         Brian Finch, #10, ’71 Chevy Camaro
2^nd Place:        Kyle Tucker, #31, ’70 Chevy Camaro

 BF Goodrich Hot Lap Challenge
1^st Place:         Kyle Tucker, #31, ’70 Chevy Camaro           
2^nd Place:        Ryan Matthews, #33, ’69 Chevy Camaro

 The Roadster Shop Performance Design Challenge
1^st Place:         Mark Turner, #14, ’69 Chevy Camaro
2^nd Place:        Dennis Linson, #22, ‘62 Chevy II

OPTIMA and its partners celebrated the entire Street Car Faceoff weekend with activities that united the performance automotive aftermarket industry. The Roadster Shop in Mundelein, Illinois, hosted an open house on Friday, April 30 and on Saturday, May 1, the group of vehicle owners, drivers, designers, manufacturers and media gathered for breakfast, sponsored by Pennzoil, at Andrew Chevrolet dealership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not too far from the OPTIMA Batteries and Johnson Controls corporate headquarters. The group then began the Vintage Air Cool Cruise Road Rally to Road America. Upon everyone’s arrival, D&Z Customs and West Bend Dyno sponsored a lunch to kickoff the action-packed weekend.

A unique element of this new event was the Spectre Top Speed Award which was given to Kyle Tucker from Detroit Speed & Engineering and his #31, ’70 Camaro for the highest speed of 108 MPH, as measured on a specific location on the Road America race track. Another new aspect of the event included a contingency program from sponsors, BF Goodrich, Baer Brakes, Ride Tech and Detroit Speed and Engineering, to reward participants for using sponsor product. A complete list of contingency program winners can be found online at http://www.optimainvitational.com/.

“The OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational is about taking the world’s finest street cars and putting them to the test. Our mission with the Street Car Faceoff event, and other regional qualifiers throughout the year, is to find these specialty vehicles,” says Cam Douglass, director of product development and marketing for OPTIMA. “The Faceoff proved an action-packed weekend and showcased a broad range of vehicles, a few cars we’d never seen before.”

A ’10 Ford Mustang GT500, ’09 Pontiac G8GT, ’66 Chevy Corvette, ’93 Honda Civic, and ’68 Chevy Camaro were local contenders and showed up at Road America just before the race activities began, wanting to join the group of fellow enthusiasts. One entry in particular, #43, a ‘78 Pontiac Trans Am owned by Telly Violetto from Montello, Wisconsin, captured the attention of many participants and sponsors throughout weekend. Violetto has owned the vehicle for 18 years and although he registered only two weeks before the event, he showed up prepared and enthusiastic, truly representing the “spirit of the competition.” After receiving positive input from many of the participants throughout the weekend, OPTIMA representatives awarded the gold ‘78 Trans Am an additional invitation to compete in Pahrump, Nevada following the SEMA Show. A shocked and excited Violetto commented, “this is one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to me,” accepting his invitation to compete for the coveted Ultimate Street Car title.

The OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff is one event in an ongoing series of qualifiers that will allow more people to be involved in the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational. These qualifiers will continue in different regions around the country and the next opportunity to participate is on May 13 at the Nevada Open Road Challenge.

Visit http://www.optimainvitational.com/, for the complete list of regional qualifying events and how to sign up, as well as the 2010 OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff final results. The 2010 OPTIMA Street Car Faceoff sponsors include: Baer Brakes; Detroit Speed & Engineering; BF Goodrich; Vintage Air; Ridetech, The Roadster Shop; Spectre Performance, Carbon Customs, FM3 Performance Marketing; Andrew Chevrolet dealership; D&Z Customs; West Bend Dyno; Pennzoil, Pro-Touring.com; and Lateral-G.net.

About OPTIMA^® Batteries
OPTIMA YellowTop^Ò, RedTop^Ò and BlueTop^Ò batteries are available through leading battery distributors throughout the globe. Consumers should look for the unique colored top and six-pack design for which OPTIMA is known throughout the world.  For the nearest retailer, consumers can also call 1-888-8OPTIMA (1-888-867-8462) or visit www.optimabatteries.com.

OPTIMA batteries are manufactured by Johnson Controls, Inc. Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI - News) is the global leader that brings ingenuity to the places where people live, work and travel. By integrating technologies, products and services, we create smart environments that redefine the relationships between people and their surroundings. Our team of 140,000 employees creates a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world through our products and services for more than 200 million vehicles, 12 million homes and one million commercial buildings. Our commitment to sustainability drives our environmental stewardship, good corporate citizenship in our workplaces and communities, and the products and services we provide to customers. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com.