Spring Testing Heats Up – Nick Cole-Mann Resets LS Stick-Shift Record, George Benson Inches Caddy Record Closer to the 6-Second Range, and Jeremy Howell Stick Shifts His Way to 203 MPH!
With April seeing the first events of the season in many parts of the United States, as well as racing series getting underway, we’re also starting to see some impressive runs from a plethora of racers in both events and test sessions.
Some places are still seeing some good air at close to sea level conditions, and people are taking advantage of it. Recently, a pair of stick shift performances, one by a drag-and-drive competitor, as well as a Cadillac nearing the 6-second zone, got our attention.
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All three performances came at a test session on Sunday, April 7th, at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, and although all of them are impressive, the first two get the nod due to the stick shift in the transmission tunnel.
Cole-Mann, who became the first LS H-pattern stick shift to crack a 6-second pass with a 6.95 at 195 mph time slip in January of 2023, has continued to step up his program.
The ’91 Chevrolet S-10 known as ‘Native Nightmare’ lowered that record to a 6.72 at 208 mph at last year’s World Cup Finals in Maryland, and Cole-Mann scored a runner-up at the recently completed TX2K event.
Clocking a best pass of 6.77 at 209 mph during eliminations of TX2K hinted at Cole-Mann possibly lowering the LS stick shift record, and possibly challenging for the overall stick shift record.
At a recent test session at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, Cole-Mann cracked off a 6.64 at 209 mph blast, with an eye-opening 1.149 60 foot time, and eighth-mile numbers of 4.37 at 173 mph from the twin-turbo truck.
That pass not only resets the LS stick shift record, but gets Cole-Mann within just three hundredths of-a-second of the overall quickest stick shift record, held by Jonathan Atkins. “The only thing that separates me and that number 1 spot is a warmer race track,” said Cole-Mann.
Another stick shift racer that made some good laps over the weekend was Jeremy Howell and the ‘FlatFox’ Mustang. Last year’s Stick Shift class winner at Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes has been steadily improving the performance from his flat-plane crank Shelby-style single turbo modular engine.
On his first pass of the day, Howell nailed down a 1.16 60 foot time before the Mustang started to point its nose skyward, forcing Howell to lift. He still rolled it to the finish line after the pedal job, and the 7.29 elapsed time was done at 203 mph!
His second run was off to an improved 1.14 60 foot time, and looked to be solid until it spun on the gear shift to third. “A few more tweaks and testing, and we got us a 6-second ride,” said Howell.
The third performance from US 131 Motorsports Park that piqued our interest is George Benson and his 2009 Cadillac CTS-V. A previous record holder and Street Car Takeover series champion, the street-legal Cadillac might tip the scales at 4200-pounds, but it’s been laying down some impressive 7-second performances.
Benson started the season with a 7.28 at 196 mph blast at Cadillac Attack at Orlando ‘Sick’ World Dragway in Florida just before the start of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, and Benson knew more was on the table. “It would have been the fastest, but had a backfire and blew the intake off,” said Benson.
So he got everything fixed up, and hit a test session at Darlington Raceway, where the result was a 7.15 at 208 mph, giving Benson the record back and making him the first over 200 mph mark.
But Benson wasn’t done yet, so he also participated in the recent US 131 Motorsports Park test session. The twin-turbo 388 cubic inch LS mill pushed the Caddy to an even quicker mark, a 7.05 at 198.94 mph, and Benson said there’s still more left.
With Street Car Braggin Rights on his possible schedule, could we see a final round re-match with Benson and Charger record holder Colby Davis in the Heavyweight class next month?
Written by Derek Putnam. Media courtesy of 1320 Video, Motion Raceworks, Wes Taylor, George Benson, Nick Cole-Mann and Jeremy Howell.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com