At six-foot, three inches tall, and weighing 250 pounds, Ken Regenthal is an imposing figure. And he admits he once drove a race car with an automatic transmission. 

Regenthal is a stick-shift racer through and through. Even though he didn't race in the old Modified days, he's racing as much of this competition style as he can with various series, including the Carolina-based Gearjammers. 

For the last 13 years, Regenthal has been the driving force behind the Clemmons Concrete Stick-Shift Nationals, an event comprised of high-rpm, manual transmission-equipped doorslammers. The event started at Farmington Dragway, a popular eighth-mile destination outside of Winston-Salem, NC., but was moved this year when paving delays made the track unavailable. Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, NC., serves as this season's host track. 

"Mark Joyce and I started this in 2012," Regenthal said. Well, we started in Mooresville and had two of them there. Then he moved to Farmington, and at Farmington, we only had five cars at the first race. Now I ended up winning the race, which isn't that great with just five cars."

Those five cars were a hit, however, at least with one potential sponsor. Racemart, a local speed shop, approached Regenthal inquiring what they could do to grow the event. When Regenthal suggested helping him grow the sponsorship package, they came aboard helping to contribute to the  $15,000 raised for the next event.

Suddenly, Regenthal and his fellow stick-shift racers were running for a quality purse that paid the winner $3,000.

"We paid all kinds of places, and that went really well for probably six years," Regenthal said.

Regenthal kept reinvesting every bit of the sponsorship program, which had as many as 120 sponsors pitching in $200 apiece.

"Some gave more," Regenthal said.

One of those, Butner Construction, increased the winner's purse to $5000. Then about two years ago, Butcher Trucking added another $10,000 to the purse. 

Then the racers requested a Friday test and tune, which then turned into a Friday Gambler's race with a $5,000 purse from Scarlett's Performance.

"I pay everybody, and we run it just like the Gear Jammer format," Regenthal explained. "We got the main race; if you lose the first round of the main race, you fall back in the second chance race. And even if you lose it, I pay them $20, $25 for gas money. So you almost get paid to race because there's no entry fees for car and drivers. It's absolutely free because the money I collect pays the whole purse."

Regenthal's Clemmons Concrete Stick-Shift Nationals is not beholden to any series sponsor and serves as a great melting pot for all nationwide stick-shift series.

"The Pro Stick group has really been supportive of me. Kevin Kitchen and his gang, Eric Kitchen, they sponsor, and they come, and they join in the fun and give money," Regenthal said. "They're really good people. I guess the free and I pay, the five, $10,000 win's pretty good for this kind of racing plus no entry fee. And it's been a smash."

Regenthal said the event has attracted as many as 173 entries.

"Last year, it hurt a little bit because the fuel's $5 a gallon," Regenthal said. "We had 130. But this year, expecting 175 to 200."

If Regenthal's name sounds familiar, it's because he was one of the original Top Sportsman Quick Eight racers who pioneered Pro Modified racing. Regenthal was one of the "World's Fastest Group" of the era in fielding the world's fastest 1963 Corvette for a fair amount of time.

Those days provide excellent memories, but for now, he's content racing his Gene Fulton-built, 355-inch, stick-shifted 1967 Corvette Stingray that leaves on the chip. He figures it would be an A or B/Modified Production in another day and time.

"Our goal is to always keep the fun factor at a high level for the racers," Regenthal said. "We try to keep the money right for them. This is not a money-maker deal for us. It's all about keeping this racing alive and well."