Brett LaSala is bringing Snot Rocket to the 30th annual Haltech World Cup Finals with something no one could have said when his move into H-pattern racing was first announced: he’s already put a world-record number on the board. Now the question is whether the Coyote-powered Mustang can turn that speed into round wins against some of the toughest stick-shift racers in the country.
World Cup Finals kicks off Wednesday, November 4, at Maryland International Raceway, and the Grannas Racing Stick Shift class is loaded. Joel Grannas, Nick Cole-Mann, Sean Madden, Jon Rogers and Ryan Pederson — the five names MustangMagazine highlighted back in July — are all locked in. But the competition goes much deeper than those five.
The world’s quickest H-pattern Mustang has something to prove
At FL2K in early October, LaSala reset the H-pattern world record with a 6.458-second quarter-mile pass at 233.44 mph. Snot Rocket went 4.350 seconds at 185.72 mph through the eighth-mile on that record-setting run. It’s a number that puts the Mustang squarely among the favorites heading into Maryland — not a car trying to prove it can keep up.
But FL2K also showed how quickly a promising weekend can turn. LaSala lined up alongside Josh Manning’s Stormbreaker Corvette during eliminations when Snot Rocket suffered a left-rear tire failure at more than 220 mph. The Mustang sustained significant body damage, and LaSala escaped without injury. The team faced a short turnaround to get back in shape for World Cup Finals.
Manning, meanwhile, recorded a 6.488 at 215.5 mph at FL2K, while Cleetus McFarland and Leroy ultimately took home the Outlaw Stick Shift victory. Those results make this week’s competition particularly interesting: the record belongs to LaSala, but the most recent major event went to another racer on the World Cup list.
A stacked field with only 16 qualifying positions
Seventeen cars are listed for a 16-car Stick Shift ladder, making qualifying important before the first elimination round even begins. Plenty of drivers in the field have already run deep into the sixes, and the competition includes established winners, world-record contenders and more than a few cars capable of spoiling Snot Rocket’s weekend.
The five rivals from July are ready
Joel Grannas — Peeled Orange Mustang
Grannas brings his 2JZ-powered Peeled Orange Mustang into Maryland as one of the most experienced names in the class. He held the H-pattern record earlier this season before LaSala moved the mark at FL2K. There’s also an unusual connection: Snot Rocket uses a Grannas Racing ATLAS transmission based on a TREMEC gearbox, meaning the two Mustang programs share more than a place on the entry list. For fans of high-horsepower H-pattern Mustangs, this is one matchup that would be worth seeing.
Nick Cole-Mann — Native Nightmare S10
Cole-Mann is another serious threat in the Native Nightmare S10. At TX2K earlier this year, he qualified atop the Stick Shift field with a 6.81 at 212 mph, ahead of Jonathan Atkins and Ryan Pederson. The S10 has already shown it can run near the front of a major-event qualifying sheet, and Cole-Mann’s experience could be just as valuable as the performance number.
Sean Madden — Django Corvette
Madden may be one of the hottest competitors coming into World Cup. His ProCharged Django Corvette won the Outlaw Stick portion of September’s Wisconsin Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge, beating Patrick Lewis in the final. With a 6.555-second pass at 214.96 mph earlier in the year, Madden has both the pace and a recent elimination victory on his résumé. He’s the kind of challenger who can capitalize if Snot Rocket leaves even a little on the table.
Jon Rogers — IDSTTFMF 240SX
Jon Rogers is bringing his Nissan 240SX, IDSTTFMF, into the same field. With so much attention on the Mustangs, Corvettes and Cole-Mann’s S10, it would be easy to overlook the imports. World Cup’s domestic-versus-import mix is what makes this class especially interesting, and Rogers is among the established H-pattern names LaSala set out to challenge.
Ryan Pederson — Speedy Peedy Corvette
Pederson is locked in with his Speedy Peedy Corvette after helping put on September’s Wisconsin Outlaw Stick Shift Challenge. At TX2K, Pederson qualified third with a 6.99 at 199 mph, reinforcing that he knows how to put a competitive number down against a deep field. His Corvette adds another seasoned contender to a weekend where one clean run can make a big difference.
Don’t forget Josh Manning, Cleetus and the rest
Josh Manning has already shared an elimination pairing with LaSala at FL2K, and his 6.488-second performance there makes Stormbreaker one of the more compelling World Cup entries. Then there’s Cleetus McFarland, who arrives on the list with Leroy after winning FL2K’s Outlaw Stick Shift class. That race gave McFarland the trophy even as LaSala left with the record — exactly the distinction that makes this weekend worth watching.
Jonathan Atkins and Grubbworm are locked in, as are Joel Steele and the Widowmaker Mustang. Steele has a connection to Snot Rocket’s history, having previously owned the Mustang that became Snot Rocket 2.0. Jonathan Miller’s The Curse, Lando Ortega’s LandoTuned Mustang and Yandro Ulloa’s TT Minion give Ford fans several other entries to follow. Patrick Lewis, whose Betty White Corvette reached September’s Wisconsin Outlaw final, is also in, along with Jomar Gomez, Thomas West, Al Reinke and Devin Schultz.
World-record speed is one thing. Winning the weekend is another.
LaSala has already answered the biggest performance question surrounding his switch to an H-pattern transmission. A 6.458 at more than 233 mph will do that. What World Cup Finals offers is a different challenge: qualifying well, stringing together clean passes and staying ahead of a field that has been winning races while the Snot Rocket team has pushed for records.
Madden has a recent Wisconsin victory. McFarland is fresh off a win at FL2K. Manning is running within hundredths of LaSala’s record pass. Grannas, Cole-Mann and the rest bring the kind of stick-shift experience that can turn a close race in either direction. And with the car coming off a difficult ending at FL2K, there will be plenty of attention on how Snot Rocket performs once it rolls back into the beams.
That is the real storyline heading into the World Cup Finals. Brett LaSala has already shown Snot Rocket can be the quickest H-pattern car in the world. Starting Wednesday, he’ll have a chance to show it can be the one still standing when the racing is over.
Featured photo: Brett LaSala Racing / brettlasala.com. Earlier photograph of Brett with Snot Rocket 3.0
