Quain Stott is the type of guy that people either love or hate. Many people love him because he’s preserving the history of drag racing by organizing a period-correct gasser group called the Southeast Gassers Association. Some people hate him because their cars don’t fit his extremely strict rules package. The fact of the matter is that Quain has helped dozens of racers get their cars sorted out and currently has more than 60 active racers who compete at events all over the Eastern portion of the United States. The interesting part of this equation is that Quain is a world champion Pro Modified racer,who retired a few years ago. Now he’s working harder than ever, thanks his determination to make the Southeast Gassers Association bigger and better. He’s in the shop seven days a week, and he’s capable of doing just about anything with a drag car, including turning the clocks back to 1967 to make sure every last detail is true to the era. His shop full of goodies reflects a desire to draw a dividing line between his organization and the dozens of other “gasser” groups that deviate from the principles of heads up, gear banging, period-correct gasser drag racing.
The Grand Illusion is Quain’s personal car; it’s a 1941 Willys coupe that runs in the A/Gas category. He twists a 331ci small block Chevy north of 10,000 rpm before dropping the clutch, and the dead simple combination is good for more than 2 horsepower per cubic inch. Quain manhandles a Hightower four-speed transmission and runs deep into the 5-second zone in the eighth-mile. When comparing it to his Pro Modified Corvette, which ran nearly two seconds quicker in the eighth-mile, Quain says the gasser is much more challenging and fun to drive.Another competitor in the A/Gas ranks is Sonny Burr and his 1937 Chevy gasser, “The Avenger”. Partially disassembled here, the car features front fenders and a hood top to abide by the 1967 NHRA rulebooks. The Avenger is powered by a mechanically fuel injected big block Chevy. The Southeast Gassers Association rule package does not permit superchargers, automatic transmissions, coilover shocks or any modern electronics.The body hanging from the rafters is one of Quain’s Pro Modified Corvette bodies. He campaigned a championship-winning Pro Mod team for many years and retired from the big leagues a few years ago. His day job consists of being a race organizer, a chassis builder, period-correct gasser consultant, and a fire starter on social media, thanks to his no-nonsense attitude toward heads up gasser racing.Quain is a jack-of-all-trades, and when it comes to working with metal, he has an arsenal of tools that can help him get the job done. A huge band saw, English wheel, metal brake, tubing bender, and more allow him to tackle roll cages, tinwork, suspension component fabrication and anything in between.Larry Noel joined the Southeast Gassers Association with a C/Gas prepared 1956 Chevy that already had some cool parts in place. After the 2016 season, the car went under the knife for another round of upgrades, including a new rear end and trick leaf spring suspension with ladder bars.See these blow proof bell housings? You won’t find any Powerglides, Lencos or anything like that in Quain’s shop. The Southeast Gassers Association maintains a strict rule about transmissions: they must have a manual transmission. The rules allow racers to use a strong, modern transmission such as a Hightower or a Jerico, but it must be configured to shift with a clutch.
