ZXdriver99, I don't know where you went to racing school at but it's a proven fact that a automatic is mush faster than a standard. In formula racing and drag racing the automatic rule. So if you have a Macho man standard I have 2 automatic's that shift for shift are much quicker than the best standard transmission driver out there. The problem is most people don't know how to setup a automatic and as they come from the factory setup for nice smooth shifts, but when setup for racing, rule, RULE. Every time you grab a gear with a standard (the best drivers) you lose power to the drivetrain. Do that 5 times and you've lost .5-1 second. Whereas the automatic never does lose power to speak of and shifts much faster than any human could ever think of. Many people from the old days when automatics were shit and the only option was a standard, still think the standard is better, but unfortunetly the fact is the automatic is quicker, but not as cool as a standard. If you and I were to build two cars with the same weight and same engine mods and tires, one with a standard and the other with a automatic, the automatic well beat the standard by 1/2 second or better.
http://home.swipnet.se/e-solutions/ess-racing/
http://www.aus300zxclub.com/tech/saw/saw.htm
http://www.importperformancetrans.com/nissanauto.shtml