The Stick Shift Record Continues to Be Re-Written – Sean Madden Set New Eighth-Mile Mark with a 4.21 at 174 MPH in ‘Django’ Corvette at US60 Dragway!
Unlike a lot of the classes and categories we witness on hundreds of tracks around the world, the Stick Shift contingent is usually governed by one rule: a manual transmission in the transmission tunnel.
In some cases, including the popular Outlaw Stick Shift ranks, the stick shift is regulated to a clutch activated H-pattern design shifter, a 10.5-inch width rear tire, no full tube chassis, and no big block engine platforms. No fuel regulations, no weight limits. Just see who can shift their way to the finish line first.
Just a week ago, Joel Grannas broke the H-pattern Stick Shift record that has stood for two years, wheeling his 2JZ-powered Mustang to a 6.490 at 222 mph pass. One week later, Sean Madden added his name to the Stick Shift record book in Kentucky.
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Madden, who like Grannas has been in stick shift game for a while, debuted a freshly built 2016 Corvette at the popular TX2K event in March 2026. After scoring a win at that event with 6.5-second performances from the supercharged combination, he only waited a month before the Corvette rolled into competition again.
That event would be Street Car Braggin Rights at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, and like the first event, Madden rolled to another solid performance to claim the victory.
Madden’s Corvette recently rolled back out for a test session at US 60 Dragway in Kentucky, and showed a little bit more of what the JA Competition small block engine, force fed by a ProCharger 136-mm F4 blower, could do. The result was a new record on the eighth-mile distance, a 4.213 at 174.83 mph time slip!
How much lower can the H-Pattern Stick Shift record be pushed? Chances are we'll see some serious shots at those records at the WI Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge on September 11-12 at Great Lakes Dragaway.
We'll have more updates on the Stick Shift assault on the record book as they occur!
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Sean Madden and Daniel Ryan.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com