TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship and 2024 Season Recap

The 2024 TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout series as part of the NMRA True Street class gave us quite the thrill ride. The ending wasn’t what we wanted (a painful rainout of the 2024 NMRA World Finals) but throughout the season we saw exciting stick shift manual transmission drag racing. Without a chance to settle things on the race track at the final event, the results from the first two shootouts were used to determine the winner of the first-ever TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship – Kyle Miller took home the title, trophy and TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship ring!

The TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout takes the quickest eight H-pattern shifted manual transmission cars from the NMRA True Street class using each racer’s True Street three-run average to qualify. During eliminations the qualifying racers face off in a bracket with first and second round pairings based on random chip draw.

The first TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship was awarded to the racer who made all three shootouts with the quickest qualifying elapsed-time average. Headed into the 2024 NMRA World Finals, the race for the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout championship was down to four racers. Kyle Miller (9.3195 avg. E/T), Dannie Addair (9.3285 avg E/T), Jeff Smith (9.746 avg. E/T) and Chris Rusch (10.423 avg. E/T).

Black Mustang Mach 1 Drag Racing — Kyle Miller in his TREMEC Magnum six-speed equipped 2004 Ford Mustang Mach 1 was number one qualifier at the NMRA Homecoming race with a two-race E/T average of 9.3195. During eliminations in race one at Gainesville Kyle lost an alternator to put him on the trailer. At race two at Summit Motorsports Park his first round matchup was against the slowest car in the shootout field with two second delayed start and Kyle just didn’t have enough track to catch up. Before the NMRA World Finals one of the heads on his engine lost a valve seat, requiring a thrash rebuild leaving uncertainty about how long the motor would last through True Street.

Then Hurricane Helene happened. What looked to be a blazing hot finish to the first TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship was literally extinguished by the remnants of Hurricane Helene stalling out over the state of Kentucky and raining out Friday and Saturday of the NMRA World Finals. Sunday brought a better weather forecast and hopes the event could be run on an abbreviated schedule. But even with the massive efforts by the NMRA staff and track crew to get the Beech Bend Raceway surface dried out and safe for racing, persistent mist and the ground being so saturated couldn’t be overcome. NMRA officials called the race.

White Fox Body Mustang Drag Racing — Dannie Addair was our second quickest championship qualifier in his 1987 Ford Mustang. Dannie’s Fox Body Mustang uses a turbocharged, pushrod Windsor V8 stroker for motivation. At the first shootout of 2024 he was the low qualifier, but lost in round one because of traction issues off the line. For the second shootout he was the second lowest qualifier behind Kyle Miller, but after his final True Street run the engine showed signs of a blown head gasket and he couldn’t make the call for eliminations. He too was on a fresh, unproven engine for the NMRA World Finals and the third TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout. He was only a hundredth behind Kyle Miller, leaving both racers a razor-thin margin for who would win the championship.

Without qualifying and eliminations at the World Final, the results of the first two TREMEC Stick Shift Shootouts were used to determine the winner of the TREMEC Stick Shootout Championship, with Kyle Mille in his 2004 Mustang Mach 1 clinching the title. Along with the championship ring Kyle also took back to Florida the massively glorious TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout championship trophy crafted by Jerry Barrick of Bunker Hill Fabrications.

Orange Mustang Cobra Drag Racing — Jeff Smith won the first TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout of 2024, and came into the NMRA World Finals with a 9.746 average E/T. That made him a long shot to win the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout championship, requiring both Kyle and Dannie to have trouble on one of their runs or not being able to complete the mandatory qualifying runs and street drive for True Street and the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout. Jeff’s 2004 Ford Mustang Cobra is one of the most consistent stick shift cars you’ll see at the track, and capable of running into the 9.30s that could close the four-tenths gap to take the championship if Miller or Addair did have problems.

“This was not the way I wanted to win this but I am beyond grateful to TREMEC for giving stick shift racers like me a class and opportunity to race for something more than just a win light,” says Kyle Miller. “Dannie and I along with Jeff wanted to settle this on the track. Dannie’s one of the fiercest and most energetic racers I know. We’ll get a chance to face off again and enjoy every second of it.”

Kyle Miller and Mike Kidd with TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout Championship Trophy — Kyle Miller poses with TREMEC’s Mike Kidd while holding the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout championship trophy crafted by Jerry Barrick of Bunker Hill Fabrications and the official shootout championship ring. His 2004 Ford Mustang Mach 1 runs a modified 4.6L Mach 1 DOHC engine backed by a TREMEC Magnum six-speed transmission with McLeod clutch. It has run multiple 8-second passes and future plans call for a new engine with other upgrades to break into the low 8s with the car.

“TREMEC has helped us all a lot, and racers like myself who are doing it all mostly on our own it can feel like a constant, uphill battle to keep racing. I was thrashing between work to get the car back together after a valve seat failure tore up some pistons and nicked an impeller blade on the turbo’s exhaust side. Even with serious questions about the motor I was ready to send it and see how long the car would last with no regrets. I know Dannie was in a similar situation with his car. We both agreed nothing would be held back.”