The Quickest Field Ever for TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout
The stage was set at the Whipple Superchargers 2023 NMRA World Finals for the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout drag racing finale of the season. The build up for the third shootout of the season had everyone revving with anticipation to see who would show up, if any grudges from the previous 2023 shootouts would carry over to the season showdown and, when the tire smoke cleared, would we see a repeat or first-time winner?
The TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout takes the quickest eight H-pattern manual transmission cars from the NMRA True Street class and pits them against each other in a staggered-start elimination format that gives all eight qualifiers a shot at winning the title and taking home the top prize. Normally that prize is a McLeod Racing RXT clutch kit for the winner and a $500 McCleod gift certificate for the runner up, but for the last shootout of 2023 both TREMEC and McLeod Racing decided to sweeten the pot by adding $1,000 each for the winner if the car is equipped with a TREMEC transmission and/or a McLeod Racing clutch. That put an extra $2,000 up for grabs to the winner!
It was one of many firsts we saw at this event. In addition to such a big cash purse, it was also the quickest ever TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout field with an average qualifying E/T of 9.558 seconds. Besides one entry from West Virginia, it was exclusively a battle of North versus South racers with three qualifiers from Florida and four from Ohio.
Multiple racers added their own variables to the competition. Ohio’s Dan Watts had just fired up a new engine in his car for the first time the night before showing up on Friday of the event. He was also chasing a fuel pressure gremlin. Mike Niehaus from Ohio detected a possible clutch or clutch-cable issue during test-n-tune on Friday. Florida’s Kyle Miller encountered a heat issue affecting his clutch during the True Street cruise that had him fighting to get an average E/T good enough to qualify.
All eight racers who made the final TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout of 2023 didn’t hold anything back during their True Street runs. This put on quite a show and gave us a tight field where the staggered start wouldn’t be as large a factor as in our previous two shootouts this year. It also gave us one more first: this was the quickest field ever for TREMEC Stick Shift Shoout, with qualifying cars running between 8.717 and 10.125 second E/Ts.
Who would come out on top? Would there be any huge upsets? We didn’t know, but it was certain this was going to be the most exciting TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout from start to finish ever! Follow the action in the photos and captions for run-by-run details.
The first matchup of round one saw fellow Floridians Kyle Miller and Rob Thompson face off. Thompson held a slight advantage off the line with his 9.87 dial-in to Miller’s 9.63. He increased that advantage after Miller was slow on the green with a .767 reaction time to Thompson’s .409 off the line. Every millisecond of that head start was needed though, as Miller reeled Thompson in approaching the finish line. Thompson got to the line first with just an 11-hunderedths lead on Miller for one of the closest finishes ever in a TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout.Next up in round one was Dan Addair in his 1987 Mustang (9.32 dial-in) versus Dwayne Hickman (9.97 dial-in). Hickman had the advantage off the line but his slow reaction time of .482 to Addair’s .351 gave up more than a tenth of that at the start. Before half track, Addair had pulled ahead of Hickman on his way to a [email protected] run that would seal his first round victory against Hickman’s [email protected] pass.The random chip draw for round one pairings ironically put the “slowest” Stick Shift Shootout competitor Jeff McCool (10.12 dial-in) against low-qualifier Mike Niehaus and his 8.71 dial-in. This gave McCool a big jump at the line, but he knew Niehaus would be able to make that up easily if his car had a solid run. But during testing and True Street runs Niehaus thought he felt something not right with his clutch or clutch cable, so there was a cloud of concern on whether the car would run as expected and whether the clutch would decide to send him home early.Jeff McCool knew he would need his best pass ever to get the win light over Niehaus. His 1981 Mustang gave him just that, a [email protected] against Niehaus’ [email protected] pass. It was McCool’s quickest ever pass in the Mustang, but that created a serious problem. The roll cage in McCool’s Mustang wasn’t certified to go that quick. In an act of true good sportsmanship, McCool reported the violation on his own to officials, who at his insistence issues a DQ for his run. That that made Niehaus the automatic winner. “I didn’t want to win like that,” said McCool about self-reporting the violation. The final pairing of round one saw TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Orlando winner Jeff Smith (9.34 dial-in) line up against Dan Watts. Getting to Bowling Green for the last shootout of the season was a herculean task for Watts, who had blown up his engine only a few weeks before. Getting his car back together and race-worthy for the NMRA World Finals redefined the meaning of last-minute thrash. After surviving True Street time trials, many wondered if the new engine would hold up for the shootout.A slow start by Jeff Smith and a quick start by Dan Watts had the race neck-and-neck approaching mid-track. But Smith had traction problems that allowed Watts to take the lead and never look back, winning with a [email protected] over Smith’s [email protected] pass. Dan Watts’ whirlwind race weekend would continue for at least one more round to keep his hopes alive for winning his first ever drag race event. Back in it after McCool’s DQ in round one, Niehaus’ next challenger was Addair. Addair had a 6-tenths head start at the line over Niehaus because of his slower dial-in. Addair only lost a little bit at the starting line with a .246 reaction time but Niehaus was lightning fast on the green with a .177 R/T. Addair flogged his Mustang for everything it had, running a [email protected] for his second-best run of the weekend. But it wasn’t enough to hold off Niehaus, who rocketed through the lights with a [email protected] pass.It was a battle of the New Edge Mustangs and North versus South for the other semi-final, with Florida’s Thompson looking to take down Ohio’s Watts. Thompson only had a three-tenths advantage off the line. Thompson lost all his starting line advantage, though, getting caught sleeping with a .752 reaction time while Watts dropped the hammer with a .203 reaction time.Despite Thompson running his best pass of the weekend with a [email protected], the race was over at the starting line with his slow reaction time. Watts broke the beams on the top end with a [email protected] that put Thompson on the trailer and had Watts going to the final against Niehaus.The TREMEC Stick Shift final round at the 2023 NMRA World Finals came down to two racers who had anything but a normal path to the final. Watts would have an eight-tenths advantage start on Niehaus, but the 1986 four-eye Fox Mustang had shown it could run anyone down with its consistent 8-second passes. The biggest question for each racer was could their car hold up for one more run, between Niehaus’ clutch or clutch cable issue and Watts’ untested new engine.With an extra $1,000 dollars on the line for Watts and an extra $2,000 for Niehaus if he won, there was not shortage of motivation for both men to set off the win light. Watts was ready, hitting the gas with a .157 reaction time. Niehaus left with a .226 reaction time, so Watts’ lead over the quickest car remained mostly intact. Both cars hooked well and had solid runs going the 60-feet beams.Niehaus filled Watts rearview mirror as the finish line approached. Niehaus posted an [email protected] to Watts’ [email protected], but it was Watts who finished first, illuminating the win light. Not only did this make Watt’s the champion of the final TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout of the year, but it was also his first ever event victory! In addition the new McLeod Racing RXT clutch kit, he also took home an extra $1,000 dollars because his car was equipped with a TREMEC Magnum 6-speed transmission.
