Images: NMRA Digital

The drag racing world is largely dominated by automatic transmissions due to their consistency and reliability. To some purists this has taken much of the heart and thrill out of the sport. Those racers often feel there’s little joy in doing nothing more than letting go of a trans-brake button to make a pass.

Stick shift racers tend to be a tight-knit group, and there are a multitude of racers all over the world that refuse to give up stomping a clutch and rowing their own gears. Many classes in the NMRA, such as Pure Street, Coyote Stock, and Factory Stock, continue to be dominated by some of the best gear-garbing racers in the U.S.

If your car doesn’t fit one of the NMRA classes where stick-shift transmission dominate, there’s yet another place you can race this year. The Tremec Stick Shift Shootout will return for its fourth year to the NMRA Spring Break Shootout from March 3-6 at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida. The Stick Shift Shootout gives manual transmission fans a separate race of their own after the conclusion of True Street.

Participation in the True Street class automatically qualifies any street type manual transmission equipped entrant to be qualify for the Stick Shift Shootout (True Street entry and participation is mandatory). Street type transmissions must use the clutch to shift, and must have a single shift lever, no air or electronic shifters or clutches allowed. Racing modifications like face-plating are allowed. After the dust settles from True Street, the eight fastest gear-rowing racers will receive a special Tremec Stick Shift Shootout plaque. Those racers will then will be pitted against each other for bragging rights as the shootout champion. To the envy of everyone, the class winner will walk away with a brand new Tremec transmission of his/her choosing .

True Street participants and their families are also invited to unwind at the Tremec racer appreciation party on Saturday night to share their awesome racing experiences and enjoy free pizza and cold beverages.

If you think you can hang with the best the stick-shift racers the world has to offer, bring your Mustang and your driver-mod to Bradenton this march to find out. Check out the NMRA for more information, and make sure to keep your eyes peeled here as StangTV covers this class, and the rest of the NMRA Spring Break Shootout.