Post by Admin on May 31, 2022 17:34:38 GMT -8
Sticking with it: National Dragster highlights
May 31, 2022 | By Kevin McKenna, NHRA National Dragster Senior Editor
Driving a manual transmission is something of a lost art, but not every Super Stock and Stock driver is about to sacrifice their clutch pedal.
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. Say what you want about stick-shift cars, but they are never boring, no matter the elapsed time.
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. Some racers cite the cost of a manual setup, while for others it’s a possible lack of talent.
Arguably, today’s best stick-shift class racer is Brad Zaskowski, who races his ’87 Camaro in the GT/H class. Zaskowski has won a total of seven national events, most recently the 2016 JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals in Bowling Green, Ky. 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.
“My dad and uncle always raced stick cars, so when I got started, that’s what I drove,” said Zaskowski. “I did have an H/SA ’69 Camaro, but mostly, it’s been my stick-shift Super Stock Camaro.
“When I first learned to drive, we put our backup 283 motor in it. I’d never been quicker than 11.60s, and this was a full second faster. The hardest was the burnout. Then you’re sitting on the starting line with the clutch and the gas pedal to the floor. It definitely took a few runs to get used to it.”
Zaskowski believes that by nature a clutch is more forgiving than a torque converter. And he maintains that it’s possible to be very consistent with a manual trans, provided the driver hits all the shift points consistently.
“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. “It’s one more gear change, and I’ve struggled a little to get to where I’m supposed to be. 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 just takes practice.”
The Zaskowskis use Liberty transmissions in all their cars, and they don’t feel that reliability is an issue.
“We have good equipment, so we don’t have a lot of issues,” Zaskowski said. “Really, we don’t do much maintenance at all. I run the McLeod soft-lock clutch, and it’s in the car two or three years before we freshen it up. I maybe adjust the clutch a half-dozen times during a season.
“Everyone thinks it’s hard [to race a stick car], but I don’t think it is. For me, I’d probably look like a clown driving an automatic car because I haven’t done it in seven or eight years.”
