4th Gen vs 4th gen

My cousin and I both have maximas, he has a 96 and i have a 97, i have about 10k more miles and I beat him in a race by a whole car length, we were both stock. I have a gle and he has an se automatic....we launched at the exact same time at a green light and i just pulled a whole car space ahead and kept up on him....is 97 better?

Not supposed to be. Theoretically the earlier years have less emmissions restrictions and are supposed to be faster. Maybe something is wrong with his car?