auto vs. manual

A friend of mine at work has a 1980-something civic with intake and exhaust and its a manual. One night after work we decided to race our cars on the freeway, starting from a light in front of the onramp. Off the line I wooped his old piece of ish. However, at around 95mph he started gaining and eventually passed me. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT PI$$ED ME OFF????? And that was an old civic with ***-knows how little hp! Is my automatic transmission destined to get spanked by these manual civics, or is there a way to have the advantage. Will mods like i/h/e help me gain more accelaration at the higher speeds that my auto so despeately lacks? Help me.