If you are one of those people who believe that cars ought to have three pedals, that there is no place for the letter "D" on the vehicle's shift knob, you are doing driving the old, hard way. It is not a case of being distrustful of automatic transmission, but of putting into practice the fundamentalist idea of what one understands, one knows.

Manual transmission, or "stick shift drivetrain," is not as easy to operate as an automatic transmission, but that is nothing compared to its restrictions-free driving. Vehicles with manual drivetrains can be launched hard at high RPM and creep smoothly away from a stop, while their shifts can vary from easy cruising style to U-joint-snapping harsh. That is one drive application that does not exist in theory where, by the way, the idea behind the automatic transmission is hatched.

As testament to the preference on manual transmission over the automatic, industry mover Bill Hays, who founded Hays Clutches back in the 50s, created Centerforce to specialize in performance drivetrains and push the envelope of automotive technology. With headquarters in Prescott, Arizona, Centerforce is a three-generation, family-owned business. Years of experience and useful hand-me-down R&D of Centerforce make Hays a household name. Centerforce clutches bearing Hays' name are found on thousands of high performance vehicles around the world and on original equipment of major car manufacturers.

In its pioneering years, two more important improvements that Centerforce high performance clutches have introduced to the automotive industry are greater holding power and the ability to handle increased heat. Holding power depends on the capability of the drivetrain's pressure plate. This is often improved by augmenting the plate's spring tension, at the expense of higher pedal pressure, called "stick over center."

Worse comes to worst, high pedal pressure can lead to firewall flex, where pedals mount on top of one another and put the vehicle's Z-bars and clutch linkage at the risk of breakage. Aimed at optimizing the manual transmission system, Hays designed and patented the Centerforce Weighted Clutch System. Featuring a precision-engineered pressure plate that combines increased clamping force and easy pedal effort, the Centerforce Weighted Clutch System seeks to prevent the diaphragm's tendency to "stick over center."

Next came the award-winning Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch System. It was awarded The Best New Performance Street Product Award by SEMA, and Hot Rod Magazine's Best New Performance Product Award for the Dual Friction design. As member of SEMA since 1977, Centerforce has been nominated to the Manufacturer of the Year award many times, winning it in 1998. Also in 1998 Bill Hays was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame for his work in the performance aftermarket industry.

In its decades of experience in the hot rod industry, Centerforce has managed to produce a wide array of clutch systems earmarked for different uses. Centerforce offers a multilevel line of precision drivetrains to meet the requirements of a wide range of vehicles and their intended uses.

If there's one thing that Bill Hays learned in his 50 years of hard work, it is that manual transmission is best personalized. To obtain the proper system, it is advised that a complete verification and qualification of the vehicle, not only by its make and model year, but also "define" its intended use, is made before tweaking on your vehicle's transmission system.