2004 Ultimate Street Car Challenge

Long, liquid, smoky burnouts, the kind of tire-frying goodness that leaves girls gooey and tires corded, while nice, just aren't enough to win this competition. Because this is a judged event, displaying horsepower at its grossest takes more than a heavy right foot and mega amounts of tire smoke. Our judges have seen it all, including all three Indiana Jones movies, so it takes style, creativity and a flair for the dramatic to win their hearts. Each contestant was given exactly 70 seconds to get the judges in a tizzy, and each was scored on a scale of zero to 25.

This year the top six cars, all of which scored more than 20 points, understood what the judges were looking for and they delivered. Things were so close, the judges, who must have been dazed by the inhalation of thick white smoke, scored the cars in a tie for all three top spots.

The MR2 gained points during its 70-second smoke show for the amount of smoke beautifully billowing from its engine compartment. It looked like a yellow smoke stack. The all-wheel-drive R32 scored high for its long, continuous big-radius drifts with all four of its sticky Michelins ablaze and the RX-7 actually spit flaming chunks of black rubber at the crowd, which was cool. The judges also like the way the Buschur/RRE EVO, after a slow start, spun for 30 seconds within its own wheelbase.

Tied for third are the stupidly powerful Sparco EVO, which lit up its four Michelins like it was driving on ice, and the stupidly powerful Miata, which executed one of the more graceful tire-blazing doughnuts in recorded history. In the final tally, the EVO lost a point or two for starting sluggishly until Emile Bouret, in the Sparco EVO, figured out how to manipulate the Mitsu's all-wheel-drive system, and the Miata gained a point when its driver flicked its headlights on and off as the little Mazda spun. Now that's style. Both tied for third with 21 points.

Matt Andrews' Supra finished fourth in this competition last year with 18 points. This year Matt scored a 20 and finished seventh. His performance was strong, but a barrage of ordinary big, long smokies, high-speed powerslides and tire-tearing doughnuts just don't cut it anymore. - Scott Oldham

Test 15Gross Display of Horsepower

The Winner"Dominant" is a word we've never used to describe the winning car in USCC. This year, there's none more appropriate. Brad Bedell's hybrid MR2 literally kicked the hell out of its competition. The final margin of victory was 229 points. In other words, Bedell could have stopped with two contests left and still had enough points to win.

Consistent performances in every contest put the MR2 on top of the podium, but it also won its share of contests on its way to victory. Bedell's MR2 racked up four first-place finishes in 20-to-100 Acceleration, 60-to-Zero Braking, Fuel Economy and by destroying the field in the Gross Display of Horsepower. It earned three second-place finishes in Power Delivery, the Car Show and Base Price and took home three thirds in Peak Power, the Skidpad and Driveability. There's little question why Bedell's MR2 is 2004's Ultimate Street Car. It combines performance with comfort and style without compromise better than any other car in this contest.

Matt Andrews' Supra and Scot Gray's Eclipse both deserve mention for impressive second- and third-place performances, respectively. They earned their podium spots by preparing spectacular cars and knowing how to play the game, thanks to previous USCC experience. But no one expected the little mid-engine hybrid from Texas to dominate the way it did.

Congratulations, Brad. - Josh Jacquot