Outlaw stick shift racing has grown into one of the most exciting classes in drag racing. If you want to run with the fastest of the fast, you’d better bring some serious horsepower, and be ready to run deep into the six-second zone.

The progression of outlaw stick shift racing has been amazing. Racers have pushed their vehicles to unimaginable limits, and then found ways to go even further. At the top levels of outlaw stick shift racing, engine combinations are running in the 2,500-3,000 horsepower range.

Ryan Pederson is an outlaw stick shift racer and created the WI Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge. He’s seen how much the class has changed and preaches the gospel about how cool stick shift racing is.

“When I first started building my car in 2018, the stick shift record was in the mid-seven-second range. By the time my car was finished, Grubworm held the record at 6.61, and that was held for approximately two years until Nick Cole-Mann threw down a blistering 6.49 at 219 mph in 2024. Stick shift is the most entertaining class to compete in because anything can happen with all the variables we encounter. Everyone is continuously getting faster, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for our class.”

Some people might think that if you’ve got deep enough pockets that you can just jump into the deep end of outlaw stick shift racing and be successful. Those people would be very wrong. These cars are complex, and there are a lot of people behind these builds that help make them run these insane numbers.

“There are countless hours of preparation that go into everyone’s program that’s competing at this level. I have never been to a single event since I started this journey where I didn’t ask another competitor’s opinion about something with my car/program. We all want to win an event, but we want to do it with the best competition by our side from our racing family,” Pederson says.

Pederson has seen the growth in outlaw stick shift racing and wanted to add some fuel to the fire. His WI Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge was created to bring fast stick shift racing to the Midwest. Pederson has plans to keep the WI Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge going and give racers more places to run their stick shift rides.

“Events for our outlaw class have been tough to draw car counts in the past, but over the last two years, we’ve seen a great uptick in car counts, and it’s continuing to grow. We currently have Import VS Domestic – World Cup, Street Car Braggin’ Rights, FL2K, Reunion, TX2K, and WI Outlaw that most of the top 20 cars try to make year after year. This event list is growing, and we are hoping to see some new venues soon,” Pederson states.

It’s hard not to be a fan of outlaw stick shift racing. What’s not to love about six-second cars where the driver is ripping the gears? These racers continue to find new ways to go faster through modern technology. Who knows, we could see a five-second stick shift car someday…