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After its scheduled season opener was preempted by track equipment troubles and bad weather in Georgia last month, the South East Gassers Association (SEGA) finally got its 2022 campaign underway Apr. 9, with the inaugural SEGA Gene Cromer Memorial at historic Shady Side Dragway in Shelby, NC.

"Gene Cromer is the man who inspired me so many years ago to get into drag racing," SEGA founder and organizer Quain Stott told a packed house during pre-race ceremonies. "He was instrumental in the formation of SEGA, too, a Gasser pioneer who helped me see what had to be done to create a period-correct experience like we have right now for all you fans and racers here today. We all owe a lot to Gene and all what he did for drag racing."

Eighty-four total entries were on hand, with event victories going to A/Gas veteran Leslie Horne, young gun Colby Welch in B/Gas, Tim Hall in C/Gas, and Rick Varner in Super Stock. Also performing as exhibition classes were several A/FX entries and a couple of H/Gas teams.

HORNE BLOWS THEM AWAY IN A/GAS - Though SEGA does not announce elapsed times or speeds, Horne set the stage early by lowering the A/Gas ET record in round one of qualifying. He then officially secured the honor with an even quicker back-up pass in the second preliminary round.

Horne seemed a little surprised at his early speed, however, explaining he'd been seriously ill with Covid for more than two months over the winter and had little time or energy to devote to the car in the off season.

"I was joking earlier that maybe we just need to not touch it to run better next time," Horne said. "We just brought it back just like we was here at Shadyside for the final (race) here last year."

Following Horne and his "Chick Magnet" '55 Chevy on the 16-car A/G qualifying list were Terry Housley, Ben Christopher, Gabriel Burrell, who narrowly edged out Horne for the 2021 championship, and Todd Blackwell.

Horne made easy work of 16th-place starter Marlin Short in his "Short Temper" Ford Coupe in round one of racing, then beat Chase Howard and his "All Business" '67 Chevelle in round two. That set up a semi-final match with Burrell in the "Southern Flyer" 1931 Ford Tudor, in which Horne made his quickest run of eliminations, just three hundredths off his best qualifying pass, to advance to the A/Gas final.

Waiting for him there would be Christopher with his "Happy Daze" Chevy II, who coincidentally ran beside Horne for both of his record-setting qualifying runs. In eliminations, Christopher initially took down Robert Frazier's "Black & Blue" Barracuda with a huge holeshot, then survived a very close battle with Ken Phillips and his "Silver Streak II" C2 Corvette before making a leisurely solo pass in the semis when Varner's A/G-entered Nova experienced mechanical trouble prior to the run.

The final saw Horne post another quick, solid, stripe-to-stripe effort to secure the event win over Christopher.

"You don't ever take Ben lightly. So I was on the tree and I got him pretty good there," Horne stated in Shady Side's victory lane. "And once I got him on the tree it was pretty well over with. I actually short shifted her a little bit when I went on down through there. Good way to start the year, especially after all we've been through. In fact, my son's still sick, so I hope everyone would just keep him in their thoughts."

YOUNG GUN WELCH BRINGS HOME B/GAS GOLD - In B/Gas, Welch drove "Moonbeam," his self-built, Boss 354-powered '65 Falcon Ranchero to the top spot in qualifying over 25 other entries, earning a first-round bye for eliminations, in which he ran even quicker than his qualifying effort.

Round two found him paired up against 12th-place starter Art Copeland, who shut his "Kryptonite" '41 Chevy down early while Welch ran quicker still in reaching round three. He slowed a little once there, but still ran well enough to easily handle the challenge of number-six qualifier Kevin Burt and his "II-nd Coming" Chevy II.

In the semis, Welch posted low time for the race to handily defeat Jerry Birch and his "Freebird" Nova, who had previously eliminated 2021 class champ Ken Rainwater from the quarter finals. Meanwhile, Bill Revels in his 1963 "Black Betty" Mercury Comet survived from the 14th-place qualifying slot by defeating Zak Hall, Mike Blackwell, and Ray Fassel before making his own competition bye through the semis and into the final round.

When the final tree dropped, Welch left first and held the lead for the full eighth mile at Shady Side, though Revels gave good chase and kept things close to the stripe, falling short by about a car's length.

"On that last one it shook the tires a little bit, I believe due to the track temp dropping, but that little Ford motor pulled on the big end and we were still able to pull off the win.

"So it was not a good launch, and probably over 50 percent of the race is won right there, but fortunately that motor always pulls, so I still felt confident I was gonna' pull through with it," Welch said.

The win was Welch's second in a row at Shady Side Dragway, where he wrapped up his 2021 SEGA season with a win last November.

"Yeah, it's really good to get a win early this year," the 19-year-old driver added. "It's a good start and we're gonna' try to keep the ball rolling."

TIM HALL WINS C/GAS - After a season of frustration for Hall in 2021, he said it felt like a weight lifted from his shoulders when he crossed the finish line and saw the win light to take the SEGA C/Gas win home from Shady Side Dragway to nearby Abbeville, SC.

"Last year, we ran six finals and couldn't win even one of them. And here this year, first one we go to the final again and it works out right away," Hall said. "So that's a lot better start out to the points than it was last year and hopefully we can get things done this year."

Hall opened with a top-qualifying pass in his "Scalded Dog" '67 Rambler American, then improved in round two of qualifying to hold on to the number-one spot for eliminations. Ricky Jones in the "Stud Muffin" Nova wagon was close behind in second, with eventual finalist Todd Oden slotting in third, followed by Josh Pruitt and Alexis Phillips to round out the top five of 16 C/G entries.

Hall had an easy time with SEGA newcomer Matthew Miller in round one, then made a solo pass with his best ET of the event in round two when Ernie Smith couldn't answer the call to race. He then bounced second-season driver Phillips from her career-first, semi-finals appearance after also posting her first top-five start in the "Flower Power" Tri-Five Chevy.

Waiting for Hall on the opposite side of the ladder would be 2017 SEGA D/Gas champion Oden and his big, black "Double XX" '58 Chevy after dispatching Dwight McGuire, Billy Wilson and series newcomer Zach Buff, whose family also owns the Shady Side facility.

Both Hall and Oden improved on their semi-finals times in the final, but Hall led from start to finish after taking a slight lead off the green light.

"I took a little bit on the tree from him and then ran just a little bit quicker, but it was probably a fender at the most all the way down," Hall recalled. "I was just hoping it'd get there before the car blew up or something.  It was that close."

THE DIRT MAN COMETH - The Super Stock race title went to Rick Varner in "The Dirt Man" '67 Camaro after he qualified on top of a 14-car field. Varner made it past Dale Morton and his '57 Ford in the opening round of racing, followed by a second-round bye and a semi-finals advancement past fourth-place qualifier Rick Cathcart and his "Saturday Night Special" Chevy II.

His opponent in the final would be second-place starter Mark Hackett, who bounced Don Wilhot from the opening round, Tyler York from round two, and Tim Bailey from the semis. When the tree dropped for the final, Varner left first and expanded his lead with each passing foot of asphalt.   

"To be honest, this is not even a real good motor combination," Varner claimed afterward. "We've got a lot better motor coming it, but it worked out good all day. We got to race a lot of times and it gave us steady wins. Good start to the year."

The South East Gassers Association will be back in action May 7, at Lassiter Mountain Dragway in Mt. Olive, AL, another period-correct, dedicated eighth-mile facility.