STICK SHIFT NATIONALS

our new record , and it ’ s got be the largest turnout of gear jammers anywhere !” Regenthal says .

What ’ s more , the event had no less than 125 sponsors who supported the event , and Regenthal is forever amazed at how the gathering has grown , most recently with the addition of a gambler ’ s race that was thrown together at the last minute .

“ It all started when a guy from West Virginia called me a week before the race and asked if he could test his car on Friday night ,” Regenthal

says , “ so I said ‘ sure ’ then I told him I ’ d throw in $ 1,000 and make it a gambler ’ s race . We put the word out on Monday and suddenly we had enough sponsors step up to the point that we ended up paying eight places , including $ 1,000 to win . We had 110 cars show up for the Friday night gambler ’ s race and the crazy part is , a week ago I didn ’ t even know it was going to happen !”

Famously , the entire event is completely free for participants to enter , which includes the main event , the “ second-chance ” race , as well as the newly launched gambler ’ s race . Saturday ’ s main

22 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 170