Nostalgia drag racing at a premier level with the Southeast Gassers Association returns to Knoxville Dragway for its second race date of 2025 this weekend for the MAHLE Motorsports Mountain Madness Nationals. With only four championship race weekends remaining, championship hopes and dreams may very well be lost or found on ole rocky top just north of Knoxville, in Maynardville, Tennessee. The golden era of grasser drag racing from 1967 can be relived this weekend at the Knoxville Dragway, nestled in the valley of roar with the Southeast Gassers.
For the quickest and fastest cars of SEGA, the A/Gas machines, Leslie Horne, the 2024 defending champion rolls into the valley with the at track momentum having won three straight events at Knoxville Dragway. In the class as a whole, many other competitors have momentum in 2025 as well. Second in points Chase Howard was in the final round at Knoxville for the Spring edition. Ben Christopher in his Happy Daze gasser earned a victory at the most recent event with Jason Line horsepower.
With less than a handful of championship races left, two categories where race day outcomes are particularly interesting can be found in the B/Gas and C/Gas classes. Ken Rainwater in his blaring red Renegade gasser, named Chevy II, is leading the B/Gas contingency. If his bid for the 2025 championship is to be halted, the stopping of such a feast needs to happen this race weekend. One aiming to stop the Renegade’s rampage is Ted McKee, an in-state favorite with his University of Tennessee Orange Chevy II known as the Rocky Top Missile. Another in-state favorite is Charlie Lee of Sparta, Tennessee. Though not in the championship chase for the top spot, he has brought out a reworked gasser that in just two races back has won and runnered-up. They’re all chasing Rainwater into the valley of Knoxville Dragway…