The Quickest H-Pattern Stick Shift In The World Switching to An Automatic?
The drag racing world has a ton of ways to separate drivers, cars and combinations into specialized classes and events. One of the most interesting classes to watch at any event is stick shift, because the unpredictable nature of the clutch, traction and the always-present “you could miss a shift” makes for an interesting watch.
The current quickest stick shift, H-pattern, clutch assisted transmission car in the world belongs to Jonathan Atkins, and the ‘Grubbworm’ 1997 Chevrolet Camaro has a 6.61 at 216 mph time slip to put in that spot.
A longtime runner of the LT1 engine platform used in 1992 through 1997 GM cars and trucks, Jonathan has also made some brutally quick runs with a gen-1 small block Chevrolet.
Jonathan won the Stick Shift class at Lights Out 14 at SGMP in February this year, and recently scored the runner-up spot in Stick Shift at The Reunion at Bradenton Motorsports Park on April 22nd.
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Today, Jonathan posted on social media that the Camaro will get a change many wouldn’t expect: switching to an automatic.
“Grubbworm has made a reputation for itself as a manual and still stands as the quickest H-pattern, clutch assisted trans equipped vehicle on Earth,” said Jonathan. “Hopefully that record will continue to stand for a while.”
Jonathan did say this won’t be the last time the manual will be in the transmission tunnel. “This isn't the end of manuals for me however,” he said. “I still plan to swap the manual back in for FL2K and World Cup Finals at the end of the year. For now, there just really isn't any stick races left capable of producing a field of competitive cars other than those two (events) and TX2K.”
Jonathan will swap in an Advanced Racing Transmissions Turbo 400 and a Circle D Specialties converter. “It's time to swap things up and race close to home for a while,” Jonathan said. “If we can do pretty good in the local shootouts, maybe we will give X275 (heads-up class) a shot.”
To check out some of the footage of the ‘Grubbworm’ at FL2K, including the record pass, click below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks, Richard Kacprzak and Jonathan Atkins.