2002 Real Street Eliminator Series - '02 Real Street Eliminator

The ResultsTaking home the crown as the official '02 Real Street Eliminator champion was no small feat. To win, a competitor had to excel in four categories. The first was Craftsmanship, which included paint quality, fit and finish, overall detail, and engineering and was worth a maximum of 40 points. Judges for this portion included all four staffers, plus Year One President Kevin King. The Ride & Drive portion entailed a 100-mile cruise in which the four staff judges rode shotgun in each car for about 20 miles and awarded a maximum of 30 points based on the comfort, interior noise levels, and ride quality.

For the performance categories, each competitor had three chances at the quarter-mile dragstrip and autocross-course time trials. On the dragstrip, the lowest e.t. counted for score; on the autocross, we averaged the three runs. Each of these categories had 100 points up for grabs. The winner earned the full point value, and the remaining competitors received points based on their percentage of the winning time.

All of this adds up to 270 available points with the lion's share awarded for the actual performance of both the driver and his vehicle. In the end, competition was tight, with the winner besting the runner up by a mere 3.340 points and Second and Third places decided by a mere 0.800 point! This was by far the closest competition ever in the history of Car Craft's Real Street Eliminator series. Congratulations to our '02 RSE champion Jeff Schwartz, and remember: All RSE competitors are among the elite, as they beat out some of the finest street machines in the country just to be there.