Nostalgia drag racing of the Southeast Gassers Association flare paired exceptionally well with Crusin’ The Coast and Gulfport Dragway for the third annual Gulf Coast Nationals. Records in performance were noted but more importantly, record attendance for Gulfport and SEGA were witnessed on a historic weekend where SEGA contested two points championship races in one weekend for the first time in series history. The premier gasser drag racing in the world cruised through two races on a historic weekend that showcased first time winners, championship performances, and action that exemplifies some of the best in drag racing today.
“You are lined up all the way down to the quarter mile on both sides – it’s a half mile of people on the fence,” is how the track announcer of Gulfport Dragway called the scene of attendees for the Gulf Coast Nationals both nights. One track gate worker remarked that “they are lined up double file all the way back to the main road,” as an observation of getting people into the facility to watch SEGA drag racing. By the end of two days of racing, SEGA and Gulfport Dragway during the famed Crusin’ The Coast had enjoyed the best two-day crowd attendance for both parties in their respective histories. Fans that were in attendance came far and wide from such places as Iowa, Texas, and further with many exclaiming “the best drag racing,” or “great track and great racing” showcasing that the SEGA and Gulfport Dragway partnership is one that though displaying nostalgia drag racing just makes sense in the modern day.
RACE ONE – FRIDAY
Typically, on a normal SEGA race weekend, Friday is reserved for test and tune. At Gulfport Dragway, it would be a championship racing evening instead. In what may be the first purposely scheduled points earning event set in the evening and night for SEGA, it proved to light up with action with the championship categories of A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, H/Gas, A/FX, and Super Stock.
In A/Gas, all eyes seemed fixated on Chase Howard. At the previous event he was a finalist but, in an attempt, to win and take the points lead from 2024 defending champion, Leslie Horne, he rolled his Chevelle gasser. Could Chase come back at this double header event with a car that was rolled and be competitive? He answered with a resounding yes to all the onlookers by qualifying number 1 for the category with a 5.15 elapsed time and then reestablishing the A/Gas record in a round 1 bye setting the mark to a 5.14ET. It was clear that Chase had the best car with the second place qualifier, Ben Christopher, mustering only a 5.22ET. In the second round, Chase muscled his Chevelle to a 5.19ET, the second quickest pass in eliminations. Though quick, it wasn’t a winning pass. Chase was late to leave and Greg Stelse would illuminate the win-light on a massive hole-shot win stopping the clocks at a 5.44ET. Greg would advance to the Final after defeating Barry Lynn in his Little Red Wagon Chevy Chevelle Wagon gasser in the semi-final matchup. Greg’s opponent in the final would be Leslie Horne who had dispatched Dean Jonas and Allan Pittman to earn a bye in the semi-finals to go into the final paired match-up. Leslie with the outright points lead at this point was aiming for his third victory of the season while Greg was in his first final of three years of SEGA competition. Both had nursed wounded hot rods to the final – Greg with an engine issue and Leslie with a clutch matter. The two friends and rivals staged quicker than expected. It was Greg quicker than Leslie off the line and to the stripe. Greg Stelse, who hails from Waupaca, Wisconsin, in his 1957 Pontiac gasser known as The Joker, earned his first ever SEGA win in it’s quickest and fastest category. It was a race years in the making and one that showcased exactly why we don’t race on paper but instead the track itself.
B/Gas would display championship contender twist and turns as well for Ken Rainwater and Ted McKee. In his Rocky Top Missile Chevy II gasser, Ted McKee did exactly what he needed to do at the previous race in Knoxville, win. Though Ken Rainwater was in the points lead going into Gulfport, Ted was in striking distance. Strike is exactly what Ted did in race one. After qualifying second with a 5.67ET he would advance to the final after victories over John McLaughlin and Wayne Swafford with a semi-final bye. His opponent would be the number one qualifier at a 5.64ET, Ken Rainwater in his Renegade Chevy II. Ken advanced through Micheal Oden and Charlie Lee while getting a bye in round two. The final round would be comprised of the number one and two qualifiers and point holders. In this final round match it would be Ted McKee besting a fading Ken Rainwater to earn his second victory in a row and gaining precious points on the point leader Rainwater.
For C/Gas it would be a story of former champions in the category reminding the field of their ability to threaten the field with round wins. The top spot in qualifying was determined by the third digit behind the decimal place. Jerren Perdue, who has made it a habit of claiming the number one spot settled in just behind the pole with a 6.004ET while Todd Oden, the 2024 champion, just edged Jerren with a 6.002ET. Todd, who has struggled in 2025 from off track health matters to on track mechanical issues, continued the qualifying performance all the way to the final round. Jerren Perdue seemed poised to make yet again another final but he would be stopped by third place qualifier and two-time C/Gas champion Tim Hall on a hole-shot win. In the final, the previous three championship seasons were represented by the finalists for the category. Both do not have a chance at the 2025 title but still deadly to the competition in the field. In a close final, that had a hectic start with a small fuel leak causing commotion before staging with the Double XX gasser, Todd would outperform Tim with a 5.99ET pass who went over the stripe at a 6.03ET. It was a much-needed win for Todd and one that showed even with the backup motor that they have found the performance they’re known for in the 1958 Chevy gasser dubbed the Double XX.
With Super Stock the expectation was that Jerry Dean, the 2024 defending champion and 2025 dominant points leader, would continue such dominance over the category and cruise to a 2025 championship lock at Gulfport Dragway. It started right with a qualifying effort of a 6.35ET that put him ahead of the second qualifier with nearly a half a second. No shock that Jerry advanced to the final after a bye in round one, and win-lights against John wise and Kenny Philliips. To his credit, Byant Dalton Sr., who is second in points kept pace against the competition and Jerry making the final as well. Jerry didn’t slip in the final, rather, he earned the Gulfport Dragway victory in race one by performing with the best elapsed time of eliminations with a 6.40ET.
Though smaller fields in A/FX and H/Gas SEGA racing were in competition at the Gulf Coast Nationals that didn’t eliminate drama and championship implications. In A/FX, Jeffery Ferguson in the Wild-N-Wooly II Chevy II methanol powered machine was looking to defend the home state turf being a resident of Mississippi. He wouldn’t make eliminations though with engine damage in a test session on Thursday night. On competition Friday the four A/FXers of Randy Jensen, Allen Platt, Rob Walden, and Todd Wimberly staged up for heads up elimination action. By the end of the night, Todd Wimberly in his Southern Comfort Falcon held the SEGA A/FX trophy defeating Allen Platt who qualified number one in the final. Credit to Larry Noel for making the haul to southern Mississippi as the only H/Gas car. He represented the distinct qualities of the class well with his beautiful in-line six-cylinder Ford powered Anglia known as the Crazy Pony.
The race under the lights of Gulfport Dragway had the star and cars of SEGA shine before the swollen crowd of Crusin’ The Coast goers. A first-time winner, championship chases tightened, and even championships put out of reach but for the lead competitor were on display before a record Friday night SEGA crowd. For several categories, the action on day two for race two would seem to be expectation as usual while other classes would prove the expectation of twists from race one to race two.
RACE TWO – SATURDAY
At 1PM Central time on Saturday at Gulfport Dragway, before another capacity crowd, a first for SEGA ignited with championship race two on the same weekend of racing. A few categories would seem copies of the night into the day where others lived up to a night-to-day difference across the SEGA racing categories.
Leslie Horne fired up his Chick Magnet 1955 Chevy gasser on Saturday as the points leader looking to extend the lead with the hope to best his competitors by one more win-light therefore taking home a Gulfport Dragway SEGA cup as he did in 2024. He didn’t qualify in the top spot, that was Ben Christopher with a 5.19ET. Leslie staged up his gasser in round one as the fourth qualifier with a 5.27ET against Brad Henry in his blue 1941 Willys gasser known as Wild Child. The end of the race was wild as Leslie broke a transmission off the line and the Wild Child turned on the win light. Brad would meet the number 1 qualifier in the semi-final round. It would be the Chevy II of Ben Christopher defeating the Wild Child to advance to the final. In that final, Ben would face the number two qualifier who was just a step behind in performance with a 5.20ET. This competitor defeated Barry Lynn in round one and Kenneth Phillips in the semi-final to have a chance to win his first race of the weekend and his second on the season, Chase Howard. The Happy Daze gasser of Ben Christopher went into the final with low ET of eliminations to his credit while the USA-1 gasser for Chase had been consistent along with its driver being consistent knowing what needed to be done. Getting it done was Chase Howard as Ben red lighted. For Chase it capped a monumental weekend. After his roll-over at Knoxville Dragway in the final it was an immense amount of work to field the car again in competition. That work was done not just to a caliber to be able to race but rather a car tuned after a wreck that accomplished a re-establishing of a class record in elapsed time and a championship race win. Chase Howard will enter the last race of the season as the A/Gas points leader.
It was certainly a night and day experience for Ted McKee and the Rocky Top Missile in Saturday’s portion of the Gulf Coast Nationals in B/Gas. In his first qualifier a float broke off in the carburetor causing the Rocky Top Missile to turn into the Rocky Top Fountain gushing fuel causing him to be shut off. In the next attempt he launched from the right lane and the car darted toward the center-line causing Ted to pedal without regaining traction. He rolled into round 1 as a defending winner from the night before but only the tenth and last qualifier at 12.63ET. He would face number one qualifier Micheal Oden with a pace of 5.71ET. For Ted, the Rocky Top Missile wasn’t straight and true once again just as it had been in qualifying allowing Oden in his Double Down Chevy gasser to get to the stripe first on a strong pass. Ted would have to wait and hope that Ken Rainwater would be put out early to have hope at the last race of the year concerning his viability for a 2025 championship. Ken Rainwater wouldn’t get far himself on the Saturday race day. He did win his round one pairing with Kelvin Cannon but he would be put on the trailer by Charlie Lee who bested him also in the Southern Nationals final at Brainerd Motorsports Park. Charlie would then face Michael Oden in a semi-final pairing were Oden would go red, therefore Charlie in his Mustang gasser advanced to the final round. To face him in the final it was to be Wayne Swafford in his nearly solid red Chevy II known as Leroy. Swafford’s performance with the aid of Brian Harris tuning had turned a noticeable corner and making a final for the first time in 2025 was certainly evidence of the driver’s and car’s capabilities. Wayne in fact qualified number two with a 5.71ET being only a thousandth behind Oden going into eliminations. Leroy with Swafford at the wheel had dispatched from competition in round one John McLaughlin, then Mike Blackwell, through a bye in the semis to be in the final pairing for B/Gas. The white with red racing stripes Mustang for Charlie Lee and the solid red white topped Chevy II staged up in golden hour poised to launch down Gulfport Dragway. At the stripe Wayne Swafford put up his best elapsed time of race day with a 5.66ET to Charlie Lee’s 5.70ET but it was a hole shot win for Charlie instead of Wayne’s first of 2025. Charlie Lee goes back to Sparta, Tennessee, with his second victory of 2025. The championship for B/Gas will go to the final race to be decided.
The C/Gas category served up a similar race to the one that was completed on Friday night. For this race Jerren Perdue, the points leader, would qualify number one with a 5.99ET. Again, Jerren wouldn’t be able to capitalize fully to a race win with his day ending in the semi-finals. As in race one, Tim Hall, the 2022 and 2023 champion in C/Gas, put Jerren on the trailer. As it was on Friday night, Tim would face Todd Oden in the final. Other than a different time of day and a lane flip, it felt as if it was a complete redo. A repeat of the Friday final is what we got with Todd Oden sweeping the Gulf Coast Nationals in C/Gas at Gulfport Dragway.
No surprise that in Super Stock Jerry Dean would sweep the race weekend on the Gulf Coast. He did it once again from the number one spot and was again on top over all the competition by the end of race two for the weekend. In the final his competition was Allen Lovelady in his Camaro super stocker. It was Allen’s first ever SEGA final in competition. Though Jerry Dean and Karen Mitchell are certainly dominant in the category. The other competitors certainly strive for victory within SEGA championship drag racing.
For the final in A/FX it was again Todd Wimberly and Allen Platt. There was a struggle for Allen to race overcoming transmission issues. Todd and his Southern Comfort seemed just that, comfortable in performance in competition. At the end of eliminations for A/FX it was Todd Wimberly sweeping the Gulf Coast Nationals.
The lone H/Gas competitor, Larry Noel, in his Crazy Pony Anglia gasser was awarded the win. He didn’t do it by simply being on the property. He represented the class rightly by doing the burnout, staging, sending, and illuminating a win light. Over the weekend, Larry stated that he did find performance that beforehand they hadn’t enjoyed. His qualifying mark was a 7.42ET and in his single round he was able to lower his mark to a 7.29ET.
At the close of the weekend, we have three championship categories locked up by their top competitor in their respective category; A/FX – Todd Wimberly; Super Stock – Jerry Dean; C/Gas – Jerren Purdue. For A/Gas and B/Gas there is very much a championship fight that will conclude at Shadyside Dragway. In A/Gas it’s a battle between Chase Howard and Leslie Horne. For B/Gas it is a fight between Ken Rainwater and Ted McKee.
The event that was held at Gulfport Dragway was a tremendous event for the track and series. Records on track and in the stands were recorded. Stories that lifted hopes and dashed them were witnessed in a singular event and championship chases as a whole. The place that touts itself as “The Racecation Destination” certainly proved to be the correct destination for the Southeast Gassers Association.
This story was originally published on October 17, 2025. 
