Old drag cars are cool, and a group based out of the Carolinas is sweeping the nation as one of the premier nostalgia drag racing groups. The group is called the Southeast Gassers Association, led by Quain Stott, a world champion Pro Mod racer who has poured his heart and soul into making this group an accurate representation of the heyday of drag racing. And while his extremely strict rules can cause some confrontation among other nostalgia groups, the folks who are serious about real heads up drag racing will adhere to Quain’s rule package if they want to join the up-and-coming organization.
The idea is to rewind the clock to 1967 in regard to the cars’ appearance, while also keeping things safe for the drivers. All cars are required to have a straight front axle and a manual transmission, along with a lengthy list of requirements for each classification. As of now, the Southeast Gassers features A/Gas, C/Gas and D/Gas, which are separated by cubic inch-to-weight ratio, just like the old days. A/Gas must weigh 6 pounds per cubic inch, C/Gas weighs in at 8 pounds per cubic inch and D/Gas weighs in at 10 pounds per cubic inch. These weight requirements offer an equal playing field, and other rules in the extensive package offer door-to-door racing, with lots of RPM, big wheelstands, and unpredictable action.
The most recent Southeast Gassers Association race was held at historic Brainerd Motorsports Park in Ringgold, Georgia. Formerly known as Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, the track has been in existence since 1957, and moved to its current location in 1963. The track now runs eighth-mile racing on a weekly basis, and it’s a perfect venue for the Southeast Gassers to do battle. With 50 period-correct gassers on hand, the crowd of thousands were treated to two rounds of qualifying and then four rounds of eliminations to crown a champion in the three classes.
It came down to Todd Oden’s 1958 Chevy from Alabama, taking out Josh Pruitt in the D/Gas finals. Next was Michigan’s Rusty Sampsel in the “Bad Banana” 1955 Chevy, outgunning Dean Harris and the “Gray Ghost” Chevy II in the C/Gas finals. In the final race of the night, it came down to Jimmy Finley’s Mustang fastback, and Donovan Stott’s “White Trash” Anglia. Donovan cut a .007 light and made a killer pass to narrowly beat the Mustang from South Carolina.
Before qualifying, every participant had to pass through tech inspection, which included a weigh-in. Rick Cathcart’s “Troublemaker” Studebaker truck must weigh 10 pounds per cubic inch, per the D/Gas rules. The racers are then required to weigh-in after every winning pass in eliminations.The staging lanes were packed at Brainerd Motorsports Park and the track crew kept the action rolling all evening, despite some breakage and a major oil down.Todd Oden pilots this heavy Chevy, a 1958 Delray, powered by a high-winding 283ci small block. Todd qualified first, and then mowed through the competition on his way to a D/Gas victory.Torturing the slicks and toting the front wheels, Dean Harris is a heavy hitter in the C/Gas ranks. His “Gray Ghost” Chevy II made it all the way to the finals on this late-summer day at Brainerd Motorsports Park.The “Southern Flyer” Ford Falcon of Gabriel Burrell gets plenty of hang time on this qualifying pass. The A/Gas prepared Ford is running Jimmy Huff horsepower.When Kenneth Phillips drops the hammer on this A/Gas Corvette, everyone in the ZIP code takes notice. The small block Chevy revs to the moon and makes big-time horsepower, but it wasn’t enough to beat Donovan Stott in the semi-finals.Josh Owens from the hit TV show “Moonshiners” is a part of the Southeast Gassers Association, piloting a C/Gas Chevy aptly named “White Lightning”.Jimmy Huff is tough on slicks, but he’s a crowd favorite with high-RPM, tire melting burnouts. Jimmy’s “Hoopty Wagon” is a Ford-powered Falcon station wagon that runs in the C/Gas category.The “Bad Banana” is a real-deal, old-school race car, and Rusty Sampsel is the guy behind the wheel. His father, Jack, built the car decades ago, and Rusty is making him proud with outstanding performance. Rusty went on to win the C/Gas category.A crowd of thousands filled the stands surrounding Brainerd’s eighth-mile drag strip, while Tony Turner blazes the slicks on his 1939 Dodge coupe. The high riding coupe runs a stroked and Hilborn-injected 392 Hemi for power.Race organizer, Quain Stott gets in on the action with his A/Gas Willys, leaving with the wheels up, against fellow wheelstander Ben Christopher in his Anglia. These small block Chevy powered gassers put on quite a show, but they’re more concerned with who turns on the win light.As the sun went down, the racing action intensified, as the heads up racing format separated the men from the boys. And though he’s one of the youngest guys in competition, Donovan Stott handled his short wheelbase Anglia and took home the A/Gas victory.
