Stick Shift Record Holder Walks us Through What it’s Like to Money Shift (Onboard Video Included)

If there’s one thing that a stick shift drag racer has to fear, it’s the idea that they might accidentally downshift instead of upshifting. During normal driving, something like this can be a little bit of a scare. However, the thought of going from first gear to second and then back to first again when wide open, putting four digits worth of horsepower to the tire, it’s downright terrifying.

Not only would this be an embarrassing moment but it might be something that could create a large amount of carnage as well. At the end of the day, all of that power coursing through the mechanical components of a car being stopped as drag slicks lock-up is definitely one way to have to spend a lot of money that you don’t want to. Locking up the tires is also a good way to send the car in question sideways and into the wall as well.

However, while this is something that nobody would want to go through, it’s something that a lot of stick shift racers do go through. After all, one of the cool things that we like about stick shift racing is that human error is more prevalent. Being able to truly punch your way into the record book is an accomplishment as not just anyone can get behind the wheel of one of these cars and punch the throttle. There’s a lot more input involved.

This time, though, we check in with the driver behind the wheel of the fastest H pattern stick shift car in the world following such a blunder. In the video, Joel Grannas gives us the rundown of his experience at the Hail Mary Derby which included not only set a record. It also meant throwing the car into the wrong gear at the wrong time at wide-open throttle. In addition to the insightful commentary, we also get to see everything go down from onboard the car in question.