For the competitors of the Southeast Gassers Association, Shadyside Dragway serves as a series home. The first of two visits to this facility operating just outside of Shelby, North Carolina, since the 1950s was race number two for SEGA in their 2025 championship season. The Shelby Nationals presented by Robbins Repairables served up several moments of shock for the packed stands from surprising breakage, long-awaited win-lights, and unexpected winners on April 5th.
The A/Gas category had possibly the most drama at the SEGA home track. In round one of eliminations, heartbreak struck in possibly the most surprising moment of race day involving number one qualifier Ben Christopher.
The Happy Daze gasser rolled into the water box with Christopher looking down the historic dragstrip with nearly a tenth on the second-place qualifier. Christopher went through his normal burnout process, but what was not normal was the metallic pieces coming out of the exhaust and the car going silent. Christopher was pushed back.
Chris Whitley went on to a round one win. “I had an easy walk to the finals,” Christopher exclaimed in an array of emotions and physically displaying frustration at the situation. It was a big blow to one of the top competitors in all of SEGA drag racing.
Round two continued to deliver moments that SEGA fans and participants have anticipated for many races. Leslie Horne, in his 1955 Chevy gasser known as the Chick Magnet, would face Greg Stelse in his 1957 Pontiac gasser dubbed The Joker in round two. They’re fierce competitors but good friends as well. So much so that when Stelse had a distinct knock in his engine during testing, demanding an engine swap, it was Home pulling a Gene Fulton powerplant out of his shop just down the road for Stelse to have a chance to compete.
After a lengthy staging duel, it was Stelse leaving under full power while Home bogged off the line, unable to catch up to a winning Stelse.
Stelse’s team and the Shadyside crowd went wild! “That was a good win for me, just mentally to beat the Chick Magnet – that’s all I wanted,” Stelse stated in relief.
Ultimately, Stelse wouldn’t be in the final in A/Gas. Rather, it would be two Greer, South Carolina natives in Barry Lynn and Chase Howard. The Chevelle Lil’ Red Wagon, wheeled by Lynn, advanced past round one over Alan Pittman and defeated Chris Whitley in round two. He picked up the bye in the semi-final that Ben Christopher was alluding to by “easy walk.” It was Lynn’s first final round appearance since this very race in 2024.
Before winning over Greg Stelse in the semifinals, Chase Howard had defeated Doyle Lynn and Kenneth Phillips to be in the final. Howard, in his USA-1 1967 Chevelle with Scotty Cannon in his corner, went into the final at Shadyside Dragway, the same track where he had won his last race in the 2023 season. It was to be Chevy versus Chevy, even Chevelle versus Chevelle in the A/Gas SEGA final.
Surprisingly, neither were the quickest competitors for the day in A/Gas. Barry Lynn qualified in the seventh position with a 5.48 ET out of twelve cars, while Chase Howard qualified fourth with 5.36 ET. Though Howard edged Lynn on quickness, Lynn is known to be one of the quickest on the lights, making up for what he might not have in elapsed time.
That ability to react would seal the win for Howard in the final as Lynn red-lighted with a -.003 light. Howard powered down the strip nonetheless to his best elapsed time of the day at a 5.33 ET. With relief over him, he remarked, “We finally got us another one at our home track! We’ve been putting in the work back home, and it paid off today.”
The final round match-up of the youngsters of SEGA at the previous race between Brilee Stott and Micheal Oden played out at Shadyside in favor of Oden, who won the round two race in B/Gas. The talk in the category is that of the young competitors performing well, but Oden in the Double Down gasser wouldn’t be able to overcome number one qualifier Ken Rainwater in the semifinals.
Awaiting Rainwater in the final was Ted McKee in the Rocky Top Missile, who qualified fifth. The final showcased two veterans, former champions, racing their Chevrolet Nova gassers for the Shelby Nationals win. The Rocky Top Missile couldn’t lock on to the win for McKee, losing with a 5.73 ET to a winning 5.61 ET for Rainwater in The Renegade. “It’s been a while. 21 [The 2021 season], we won six races and won a championship – this is the first race we’ve won since then. Lot of hard work. Glad to be back!” was Rainwater’s reflection in the moment of the win on the top end.
Jerren Perdue in the Stud Muffin Chevy gasser wagon, who won the season opener in C/Gas, continued the success with a number one qualifying effort of a 6.11 ET. He had the performance over Ernie Smith in a round three match-up with a 6.16 ET, but it wasn’t enough to run down to the stripe the quicker leaving Smith with a 6.22 ET.
After his semi-final bye run, Smith, driving the Saturday Night Special four-door Chevy Nova gasser, would prepare for his first final since his last one ten years ago in SEGA competition. To face him would be the only back-to-back champion (2022 & 2023) of the gasser categories in SEGA history, Tim Hall. This race would serve as Hall’s season opener, with him running a limited schedule in his AMC Rambler known as the Scalded Dog.
Hall was able to hang on to a win, leaving first but keeping his dog on the run while a fuel pump died mid-pass along with the frame breaking. Though work is ahead, there’s nothing like a win to scald you on, and that’s certainly Hall’s sentiments stating, they will “try to be at Alabama probably.”
Kenny Phillips in Super Stock attempted to take out the defending champion Jerry Dean in the final, but it wasn’t meant to be with Dean’s current mastery of the drive and rules in the class. Dean routinely states that they’re “extremely lucky,” but with almost half a second on the field, it’s evident that Dean’s driving, along with crew chief Karen Mitchell’s calls, is hard work and know-how paying off in more wins. It marks back-to-back wins to start the season for Dean.
A/FX and H/Gas are in their first season as championship classes in SEGA. Allen Platt, son of late drag racing great Hubert Platt, was again in the final for A/FX, as he was in the first race of the year.
His opponent would be the young Robbie Walden in Sam Gable’s Moonshot. Walden’s 6.34 ET wasn’t enough of a shot to shake up Platt’s 6.01 ET in the Georgia Shaker III. It was an emotional win for Platt in a replica of his dad’s car, expressing, “I live for this!”
In H/Gas, the Volvo and Volkswagen would face each other yet again at Shadyside as it was at South Georgia Motorsports Park. For back-to-back wins, it would be Robert Fraizer in his Volvo over Doug Loudermilk in his Volkswagen to conquer the Shelby Nationals.
Shadyside held a packed crowd that experienced some of the best that Southeast Gassers Association drag racing has to offer. The unexpected, anticipated, and shocking all occurred. In many of the categories, there isn’t a clear front-runner. Several contenders exist each and every time the Southeast Gassers rev ’em high, drop the clutch, and jam those gears. See the top gassers in the world next at Holiday Raceway in Woodstock, Alabama, on May 2nd and 3rd.
This story was originally published on April 15, 2025. 
