Fans at Farmington Dragway in Mocksville, North Carolina, hadn’t tasted the sweet drag racing fruit of Southeast Gassers Association drag racing since 2022. The 2026 G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals visit, serving as SEGA’s sixth race of the season, was one that fans were certainly glad to sink their teeth into.
“I’ve been going to Farmington for 50 years, and I can’t EVER remember a time with that many fans there to watch! Great time yesterday!”
That’s the yield report from fan Jonathan Boyles as he commented on SEGA racing results posted to Facebook. Cars were on track, producing a wheel-lifting, gear-stabbing, roaring show with lightning in the air off in the distance of the North Carolina sky for a spectacular Southeast Gassers Association Championship Racing return to The Farm.
In the A/Gas championship fight, all the competitors are in the row that Ben Christopher has plowed. Going into Farmington Dragway, he had a firm points lead with three out of five wins, four out of five final round appearances, and in the one race that he missed the final round in A/Gas, he was stopped in the semi-finals. Christopher, being the head plow, continued on The Farm as he was the number one qualifier with a 5.21 elapsed time while the second-place qualifier Leslie Horne stopped the clock at a 5.29ET. In round one, Christopher in his Happy Daze Chevy II gasser would take a bye into the second round with fifteen competitors qualified. He would dispatch Dean Jonas in round two, who had defeated Greg Stelse in The Joker 57’ Pontiac gasser in round one. His semi-final matchup would have him against the most recent race winner at Rockingham Dragway, Kenneth Phillips. The two of only three A/Gas race winners launched, shifted, and raced to a close side-by-side match with Christopher beating Phillips in his Corvette gasser – a winning 5.34 to a losing 5.35. In the final round, Christopher would face the 2025 A/Gas champion Chase Howard.
Howard’s last race was the second race of the year in Alabama at Holiday Raceway, where he was put out to pasture after a round one loss. With an absence from competition to celebrate the introduction of a new child into his family, he rumbled back to championship competition as the third-place qualifier. He would meet in the semifinals the competitor immediately ahead of him in qualifying, Leslie Horne. In the Laris Motorsports Insurance Left Lane, there was Howard in his USA-1 Chevelle gasser. In the Quick Time Performance Right Lane, you had the Chick Magnet 55’ Chevy gasser of Horne. Both cars launched! Howard straight. Horne tracked to the right. Howard tilled on to a win-light while Horne had a slight brush with the wall with a subsequent centerline violation in an attempt to bring his gasser under control.
The A/Gas final for the G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals had the 2025 champion facing the 2026 frontrunner currently for the championship crown. Christopher lined up with his Jason Line bullet between the fenders of his Chevy II while Howard staged with Gene Fulton power under the hood of his Chevelle. The day had yielded great racing, and this final was no different between these two SEGA drag racers. Both competitors produced in the final passes in the 5.20 second range. The quicker of the two passes was a 5.22 with the losing pass clocking a 5.26. It was Howard going the quickest he had of the meet, yet not quick enough against the Happy Daze gasser driven by Christopher, who cultivated his fourth win of the 2026 season.
If Ben Christopher is leading A/Gas, Ted McKee is leading all the competitors in the gasser categories of A, B, and C. He has won every race thus far in 2026 except for the Holiday Raceway Bama Brawl, where he still produced a final round appearance. McKee, in his Rocky Top Missile Chevy II gasser, started working the Farmington Dragway B/Gas field by nearly out-qualifying the second-place racer of Michael Oden by a tenth – 5.62. The G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals would be no different for Ted concerning performance, with him advancing to the final in the eight-car field. The other competitor making up the final round, Kelvin Cannon, made his first-ever final round appearance in SEGA championship competition after years of gasser racing – he did it out of the third qualifying spot with a 5.76. Two Tennesseans in McKee and Cannon grabbed hold of their plows, a Chevy II for McKee, and a 33’ Willys Panel for Cannon dubbed ‘Loose Cannon.’ Both sides of the drag racing Christmas tree illuminated with green lights, but it was Cannon attempting to chase down a leading, quicker, and therefore winning McKee (5.60 to a 5.75). McKee leaves The Farm with the blue-ribbon performance in the event and overall the gas categories thus far in 2026.
C/Gas competition bloomed action that thrust new names into the winning market while the night ended without a declared winner. Jerren Perdue, the 2025 C/Gas champion and current 2026 points leader, continued his leading performance in his Chevy II wagon, qualifying No. 1 with a 6.09. The rest of the top five out of the seventeen-car field were not that far off. Ernie Smith, with his Saturday Night Special four-door Chevy II gasser, was the provisional number one after the first round of qualifying. His 6.11 held for the number two spot while Tony Tatgenhorst in his Wasted Wages gasser closed out the top five with a 6.14ET.
In the first round of competition, Perdue, by his number one qualifying effort, took his bye into round two while a usual cast of eliminators advanced with him, such as Todd Oden, Smith, Tatgenhorst, and Jeff Jones. One long-time associate with the Southeast Gassers Association, who is the SEGA Technical Director that also competes in C/Gas, earned his first-ever round victory in his beautiful ‘57 Chevy named Highstrung – John Leidich. Post round one, Leidich would be trailered by Perdue. Tatgenhorst, who has one win to his credit in 2026, was eliminated by Randy Keifer in his Pontiac wagon. Oden, the multi-time and 2024 champion in C/Gas, was defeated by Jimmy Huff in his Ford Falcon wagon.
In the third round, two wagons faced off between Perdue and Keifer. Perdue in his Ghost of Fulton’s Past solid white Chevy II wagon and Keifer in his Spine Tingler II Pontiac wagon gasser. Wagon versus wagon would be a theme that carried the night, and, in this match, it was Keiffer winning over Perdue with a slim hole-shot. In the semifinals, Keifer had a bye with the structure of the seventeen-car ladder. The other side of the bracket had the number two qualifier Ernie Smith, who had defeated Heath Adams and Jeff Jones along with a bye to appear in the round. Opposing him with a slight performance disadvantage was Jimmy Huff, who had eliminated Mark Hallock and Todd Oden with a bye to make this semifinal round. As they staged, Smith, who had ripped off a 6.10 in round one, a 6.12 in round two, and a third round 6.14, was living in the six-teens while Huff was living in the six-forties. As they launched, Smith was out ahead but then abruptly began to slow as a rear-end failure struck the yellow and blue Saturday Night Special – Huff illuminated the win-light with a 6.58.
The final would be two wagons attempting to shuck the C/Gas win; Keifer in his Pontiac wagon that he has put tremendous work into with its transition from a Super Stocker to C/Gas gasser, and Huff in his flat black and gold roughly hand-lettered Ford Falcon wagon affectionately known as the Hoopty Wagon. Again, it was Huff with the performance disadvantage, with Keifer routinely clocking in with low six-thirties. In the final, it would also be Keifer leaving the line first and getting to the finish line first, turning on the win-light to be the top wagon of the G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals – or so we thought. The post-race scene of this category in this SEGA race is a great reminder that a win-light is an unofficial result until post-race technical procedures have been conducted and passed.
In the Southeast Gassers Association, the winning car is scaled after the final round. Keifer rolled on the scale and was under the minimum weight. He was weighed again and found to be under for the second time, resulting in a disqualification. Huff was notified, weighed, was above the minimum weight requirement, and declared the winner. The disqualifications were not over, though. Huff admitted the next move “knowing better,” as he wrote post-race. Winners cannot go to their pit before going to victory lane and more technical procedure elements. Huff did go to his pit first. He admitted that, disqualifying himself. C/Gas concluded with a double disqualification in the final, with no singular declared top prize winner, all in order with Southeast Gassers Association rules.
The story continues in Super Stock with the two front-runners out front. Jerry Dean has the points lead and a performance lead. He added to his number one qualifying streak with a 6.42 while a chasing Rob Walden checked in with a 6.66 for the No. 2 spot. The rest of the field was in the seven-second range. The number one and two qualifiers bush-hogged through the eight-car Super Stock field. Dean beat Dean Hall and New Yorker John Wisz in his Gold Dust Super Stocker. Walden eliminated Ronnie Jones and Kenny Phillips in his Street Legal hot rod. Dean, in his Last Rebel II Chevy II, has gobbled up four wins in five races coming into the Farmington Dragway event. That lone loss was against Walden in his Strych09 Chevy Impala at his home race at Brainerd Motorsports Park. As they staged up for the final round, ready to send their Super Stockers off into the distance illuminated by lightning, a distant storm was visible. Lightning struck twice! Dean couldn’t manage all the performance that he had off the line while Walden was able to leave smoothly and maintain the lead to the finish-line stripe – a winning 6.61 to a losing 6.69. Dean is certainly ahead, but Walden is mustering enough to maintain pace.
The Farm was a barn burner for Southeast Gassers Association competition. It yielded a spectacular return to Farmington Dragway to the delight of fans near and far for race two of a Carolina Swing that began two weeks earlier at Rockingham Dragway. The G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals was race six on the SEGA Championship tour. The Carolina Swing, which sits in a critical mid-to-late season portion of the schedule, will conclude at another long-awaited return for SEGA – a return to its very root-tips. Who can maintain or perform anew with blue ribbon performance at Greer Dragway?
This story was originally published on August 31, 2026. 
The post The Farm Yields Spectacular Return For SEGA In The G-Force Racing Transmissions Nationals first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
