DIALED IN made an allowance for a vintage rear-engine dragster with a 1970s chassis ,” explains Merritt Snyder , the MANDRA president , who himself races a 1965 Mercury Comet .
Among the diverse offering of American cars within the organization , you ’ ll also see the occasional altered and in an extreme case of diversity , the Austin brothers campaign a variety of unique entries , including a dragster powered by a Jaguar motor . “ It ’ s all about the people , and we ’ ve got a great group of them here ,” insists Snyder . “ I went to my first drag race in 1962 with my buddy , Paul , who is here today !”
Another club in attendance with a long and storied history is the Pro Stick organization , which features a huge roster of high-winding , hard-launching race cars that still use a clutch , and manually shift the old-fashioned way . Club founder Eric Kitchen first got the idea to form the group in the early 1990s after he attended a couple stick car races in Kentucky .
“ It was there I learned about the Classic Gear Jammers organization who race in Virginia and North Carolina , and so me and a couple guys had the idea that maybe this same format would work in the Maryland area , so in June of 1996 we held our first race at 75 / 80 Dragway and we had seven cars show up ,” Kitchen recalls .
It was instantly obvious that people loved watching stick cars banging gears side by side , and the club quickly began to grow . At the most recent running of the Beaver Springs event , 59 Pro Stick members made the trip to be a part of the show .
“ We typically schedule about 12-14 races per year , and we ’ ve been a part of Beaver Springs ’ Labor Day weekend as well as the Memorial weekend for quite a few years ,” says Kitchen .
Pro Stick as well as MANDRA have their respective points programs and each club holds season-ending banquets to honor their top finishers . “ It ’ s very competitive and a whole lot of fun !” says Kitchen .
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