![]() ![]() The car is great, but it seems like I’m a little late on the one-two shift and sometimes early on the four-five shift. “It’s one more gear change, and I’ve struggled a little to get to where I’m supposed to be. ![]() “A while back, we put an LS motor in my car and moved it to GT, so I could use a five-speed,” Zaskowski said. And he maintains that it’s possible to be very consistent with a manual trans, provided the driver hits all the shift points consistently. Zaskowski believes that by nature a clutch is more forgiving than a torque converter. ![]() It definitely took a few runs to get used to it.” Then you’re sitting on the starting line with the clutch and the gas pedal to the floor. I’d never been quicker than 11.60s, and this was a full second faster. “When I first learned to drive, we put our backup 283 motor in it. “I did have an H/SA ’69 Camaro, but mostly, it’s been my stick-shift Super Stock Camaro. “My dad and uncle always raced stick cars, so when I got started, that’s what I drove,” said Zaskowski. Zaskowski comes from a family of stick-shift die-hards, including his father, Bill, and his uncle, Jim, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Zaskowski has won a total of seven national events, most recently the 2016 JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals in Bowling Green, Ky. Here are a few of them.Īrguably, today’s best stick-shift class racer is Brad Zaskowski, who races his ’87 Camaro in the GT/H class. Thankfully, there are a few die-hards left who would rather fight than switch. Some racers cite the cost of a manual setup, while for others it’s a possible lack of talent. Today, there are few options for a clutch pedal when it comes to an OEM street car, and that trend is also apparent on the racetrack, where it seems fewer and fewer Super Stock and Stock racers are willing to go the manual route. Say what you want about stick-shift cars, but they are never boring, no matter the elapsed time. Whether or not you’ve ever raced a car with a manual transmission, it’s hard to deny the appeal of dumping a clutch pedal and slamming gears as you make your way down the dragstrip. ![]()
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