Here in the United States, the vast majority of new cars are sold with automatic transmissions of some kind. Even the new Corvette Stingray has a manual transmission “take rate” of just 37% – clearly, the average driver prefers one less pedal on the floor. But the market for manual transmission vehicles will never go away, because enthusiasts will always prefer to pick their own gears with a stick-shift.

Tremec, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of manual gearboxes, and factory supplier for cars like the Viper, GT500, and ZL1, had a lot of different cars equipped with their transmissions to choose from at the 2014 SEMA show.

To demonstrate the range of motorsports their Magnum XL 6-speed can be used for, we found two perfect examples: Watson Racing’s drag car, and Ford Racing School’s road course Mustangs.

Watson’s 2015 Mustang was built with the intention of having a car that could make eight second passes at the dragstrip with the factory independent rear suspension. A ROUSH supercharger perched atop the 5.0 liter Coyote V8 provides the necessary power, and the Tremec transmission has to be capable of making smooth, lightning quick upshifts as well as withstanding the pounding of launch after launch.

The Ford Racing School chose upgraded Tremec Magnum XLR boxes to handle the rigors of constant abuse from student race drivers, with custom gear ratios optimized for road race use, capable of withstanding 700 foot-pounds of torque. Both examples show just how well Tremec has the motorsports market covered – no matter what your automotive passion is, Tremec can get you into gear.