Dirt
13th Annual Stick Shift Nationals
Brandon White , main event $ 10K winner
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Brandon White , Mark Charcalla highlight winners at Piedmont By Van Abernethy
The 13th annual Greg Butcher Trucking Stick Shift Nationals went off without a hitch at North Carolina ’ s Piedmont Dragway in mid-June . A last-minute venue change forced the event to be moved from its normal home at Farmington Dragway due to a renovation project that is still ongoing .
Event organizer Ken Regenthal was forced to search for an area track that had an available weekend , and Piedmont stepped up to host the event on short notice . “ Rick Moore was very instrumental in working that out , so a huge thanks to him for his efforts ,” says Regenthal .
Per usual , the completely free-to-enter event got kicked off on Friday night with the Scarlette ’ s Performance Gamblers Race . Amazingly , the last two racers standing on Friday night was a repeat meeting of last year ’ s main event , and with the same outcome as 2022 , when Mark Charcalla got past his arch nemesis , Colton Kirchner , for the first payday of the event . These two racers have been battling it out for years and have met in the finals of many big events , especially within the Pro Stick organization , where both men have won championships .
For Saturday ’ s main event , racers brought their A-game as they battled it out for $ 10K to win , along with the coveted Stick Shift Nationals trophy . The growing oddity within the event ’ s 13- year history is the fact that there ’ s never been a repeat winner in the main event , and the streak continues in 2023 as Virginia ’ s Brandon White drove Steve McCreary ’ s 1957 Chevy to the winner ’ s
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circle , getting past the “ Shagnasty ” Plymouth of Jim Ward in the thrilling finals .
No surprise , this was the biggest win of White ’ s career . “ I bracket race a lot , and I ’ ve won a few $ 5K races , but this is my biggest payday ever ,” says White as he hoisted the custom trophy .
White endures a lot of good-natured ribbing at the track because he ’ s driving a different car at nearly every event it seems . “ I ’ ve got a good friend , almost like a brother , who ’ s got an S-10 and a Camaro ... they ’ re both bracket vehicles and we share them . I have my own car , and my uncle has a 1969 Camaro that I also race . And finally , my boss , Steve McCreary , has about 12 cars , and sometimes I race one of them too !” laughs White .
The Stick Shift Nationals-winning 1957 Chevy is a 4-speed Lenco-equipped car McCreary constructed in the 1980s . He used it for Pro Street events and would also drive it to local cruise-ins and car shows . “ It ’ s just an old home-built car
Jim Ward , main event runner-up
that still has a lot of the same parts and pieces from when it was built , and it just works great .”
White says the real secret formula that makes this car so deadly is the fact that it doesn ’ t have a whole lot of power . “ Hey , 6.30s isn ’ t exactly slow , but this is a car that goes down the track every time – no matter what track we ’ re on – and that ’ s always been the goal ,” says White .
The Second Chance race was won by Jimmy Hull , as the Mt . Airy , North Carolina , resident
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY AND GREG BURROW
34 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 184