Drag & Performance Shifters

A drag shifter is not a dress-up lever - its action, its gate pattern and its transmission application decide whether it works in your car at all. This page pulls together 24 in-stock shifters from TCI Automotive, Winters, B&M, Hurst, Turbo Action and Steeda Autosports, from $199.95 to $829.95: gate shifters and ratchet shifters for Powerglide, TH350/TH400, 700R4/200R4, Torqueflite 727/904 and Ford C4/C6 automatics, in forward and reverse patterns, plus one short-throw manual shifter for late-model Mustangs. Every spec quoted below comes from that shifter’s own listing - where a listing does not state a detail, this page says so instead of guessing. Every order over $200 ships free.

OUR DRAG & PERFORMANCE SHIFTER PICKS

Product	Spec (from the product listing)	Price	Why it is here
Fastgate Universal Auto Shifter 3 or 4 Speed	FAST-GATE, automatic, floor mount, various 3 or 4-speed applications, kit (per listing)	$257.95	The value pick, and the deepest-stocked shifter on this page when it was built: TCI’s gate shifter covers 3 and 4-speed automatics in one floor-mount kit.
Shifter - TH400 Stock Pattern	Standard Sidewinder, automatic, floor mount, forward pattern, reverse guard, 5 ft cable, hardware included, TH400 (per listing)	$280.99	The gate pick for the common case: Winters’ Sidewinder gate shifter built for a stock-pattern (PRN321) TH400, with its 5 ft cable and hardware in the box.
Pro Ratchet Shifter For 700R4-200R4	Pro Ratchet, built for the 700R4 / 200R4 (per the product title)	$460.95	The ratchet pick: B&M’s Pro Ratchet moves one gear per pull and cannot skip a gear - and this version is the one built for GM’s 700R4 and 200R4 overdrive automatics, which take their own shifter, not a 3-speed one.
Outlaw Shifter 3 Speed Fwd. w/Cover	Outlaw, automatic, floor mount, black, various 3-speed applications, kit, with cover (per listing)	$511.95	The race-cockpit pick: TCI’s Outlaw is the compact pistol-style race shifter class, here in 3-speed forward form with its cover - the version to check against your transmission and pattern before ordering.
Cheetah Scs Shifter - Mopar Reverse Pattern	Cheetah SCS, automatic, floor mount, reverse pattern, 5 ft cable, hardware included, Torqueflite 727 / 904 (per listing)	$635.99	The Mopar top pick: Turbo Action’s Cheetah SCS gate shifter built for reverse-pattern Torqueflite 727 and 904 cars, cable and hardware included - the ceiling of this page’s ladder for a Mopar bracket car.

RATCHET OR GATE: WHAT THE ACTION NAMES MEAN

The two action words in this category describe how the lever is allowed to move. A ratchet shifter - B&M’s Pro Ratchet, Stealth Pro Ratchet, Hammer, Star and Quicksilver here, and Hurst’s Pro-Matic and V-Matic class - lets the lever travel its full stroke but delivers exactly one gear change per pull or push, then returns to centre; you cannot blow past a gear into the next one. A gate shifter - TCI’s Fastgate and Outlaw, B&M’s Pro Gate line, the Winters Sidewinder and Turbo Action’s Cheetah here - moves through a notched gate plate shaped for that transmission and that shift pattern; the gate itself is what stops the lever at each gear. Neither action is better in the abstract: ratchets suit a driver who wants the same full pull every shift, gates suit a driver who wants a positive mechanical stop. What is not optional is matching the shifter to your transmission and pattern - a gate plate or ratchet built for the wrong box is wrong no matter how it feels on the bench. Questions before you order? Call 213-549-4279 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm PT) and we will read the listing with you.

APPLICATION FIRST: FORWARD PATTERN OR REVERSE PATTERN

Before action, before brand: which way does your valve body shift? A stock-pattern automatic runs PRN321 top to bottom (forward pattern); a full-manual reverse valve body flips the forward gears to PRN123 (reverse pattern) - and the shifter has to match the pattern, not just the transmission. That is why this page carries both: Winters builds its TH400 Sidewinder in stock pattern and reverse pattern versions, Hurst’s Reverse Quarter Stick covers Torqueflite 727/904 and Ford C4/C6 in reverse form, and the Cheetah above is a reverse-pattern Torqueflite piece. Overdrive boxes are their own applications too - the Pro Ratchet hero is built for the 700R4/200R4, not adapted from a 3-speed shifter. And a Powerglide is a 2-speed: Powerglide shifters (the Outlaw P/G and the Quarter Stick II on this page) are their own listings for a reason. If you do not know your pattern, check the valve body first - no listing on this page can answer that for your car.

CABLE, BRACKET AND LEVER: THE INVISIBLE HALF OF THE JOB

Almost every shifter here works through a cable, and the listings that state a cable length state 5 ft - the Winters Sidewinders, the Hurst Quarter Stick family and the Cheetah all say so in their own listings, and several are listed with hardware included. Treat 5 ft as what those boxes contain, not as a universal fit: cable routing - away from headers and moving parts, in gentle bends - decides whether a given length reaches in your chassis, and cables are sold by length and stroke in the wider range if yours does not. The other invisible half is at the transmission: many race shifters need the bracket and lever kit made for that transmission, and those kits are sold separately in the wider range - check what the exact listing you are buying actually includes before assuming the box is complete. Our Shifter Brackets, Cables and Linkages collection gathers that hardware in one place.

REVERSE LOCKOUT AND NEUTRAL SAFETY: THE RULEBOOK PART

Drag rulebooks (NHRA and IHRA) require a positive reverse lockout and a neutral safety switch on automatic shifters - a lockout you have to deliberately defeat before the lever can reach Reverse, and a switch that keeps the starter from cranking in gear. On this page the lockout is in the open where listings state it: Winters’ Lockout Sidewinder line (the C6 stock-pattern and C4 reverse-pattern shifters here) and B&M’s Pro Gate with Reverse Lockout carry it in their names. Where a listing does not state a lockout or a neutral safety provision, this page does not claim one - switch kits exist in the wider range for shifters built to take them, and your rulebook, not a product page, is the authority for your class. Read the listing for the exact shifter, and if the lockout language is not there, call us before ordering rather than assuming it.

AN HONEST NOTE ON WHAT IS NOT ON THIS PAGE

The wider range linked below also carries the parts that complete or automate a shifter install: knobs, handles and sticks, boots, gate plates sold alone, cables by the length, and the air and electric shift kits (CO2 and solenoid kits built to work with specific named shifters, such as the B&M Pro Bandit and Hurst Quarter Stick families). Those kits are deliberately not padded into this page - they are add-ons that only make sense once you own the shifter they are made for, and each one names that shifter in its own listing. This page also carries just one manual-transmission shifter - Steeda’s Tri-Ax short-throw for 2015-26 Mustangs - because manual shifters are application-specific to a degree even automatics are not; the wider range holds the rest by vehicle. Nothing here is a universal shifter: every unit on this page is built for the transmissions and pattern its listing names.

QUESTIONS RACERS ASK US

Ratchet or gate - which should I buy? Decide by how you shift, then buy by application. A ratchet gives one gear per full pull and centres itself; a gate gives a notched mechanical stop per gear. Both are race-proven actions. The wrong transmission or pattern in either action is simply the wrong shifter.

How do I know if I need a forward or reverse pattern shifter? From your valve body, not your preference: a stock-pattern valve body shifts PRN321 and takes a forward/stock-pattern shifter; a full-manual reverse valve body shifts PRN123 and takes a reverse-pattern shifter. If the transmission was built by someone else, confirm the pattern before ordering - it is the single most common reason a new shifter feels wrong.

Does the shifter include the cable? Many here do - the Winters, Quarter Stick and Cheetah listings state a 5 ft cable and hardware included in their own text. Others do not state contents beyond the shifter itself. Read the exact listing; if cable, bracket or lever are not named, plan on them separately (they are gathered in the brackets and cables collection linked above).

Will a Powerglide shifter work on my TH400? No - a Powerglide is a 2-speed and its shifters are built and gated for two speeds; a TH400 is a 3-speed with its own shifters, two of which are on this page in stock and reverse patterns. Shifters in this category are transmission-specific by design.

Do I need a reverse lockout? If you race under NHRA or IHRA rules, yes - a positive reverse lockout and neutral safety switch are required equipment on an automatic shifter. The Lockout Sidewinder and Pro Gate with Reverse Lockout listings on this page state the lockout in their names; for any other shifter, verify the provision in its listing or ask us before you order.

Shopping the wider range? Browse the full Shifters and Components collection, read our guides on the News & Builds blog, or see the page that came before this one: Racing Steering Wheels (by Diameter, Dish & Bolt Pattern).

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