Southeast Gassers Light Up Historic Tennessee Drag Strip

Moonshine, country music, and auto racing—Maynardville is a Tennessee snapshot nestled in the Ridge and Valley region of the Appalachians. Raccoon Valley, to be exact.

The county seat of Union County, Maynardville is about a 30-minute drive north from Knoxville. Route 33, a state highway that passes through the valley, was once part of the infamous Thunder Road, a route used by bootleggers to illegally transport and trade ’shine.

However, this small town of 2500 might be best known for being the birthplace of Roy Acuff, a country music star who achieved Taylor Swift levels of stardom in the 1930s and beyond, from Tennessee on down. In fact, country music royalty Hank Williams once said of Acuff: “He’s the biggest singer this music ever knew. You booked him and you didn’t worry about crowds. For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God.”

Now, I didn’t learn about Maynardville’s claim to fame until after I visited, because I made the trip over for its race track.

Knoxville Dragway sits just south Maynardville’s limits, and was actually built in 1955 as an oval for door-banging stock cars. In 1970, the property was reimagined as an eighth-mile drag strip and since then has welcomed weekly two-lane racing. And, in more recent years, the Southeast Gassers.

This group of racers is wild about drag cars that populated the Sixties strips, namely gassers. These cars are modeled after the NHRA’s popular “Gas” classes that ran back then, and feature such hallmarks as a solid front axle and tall bias-ply rear slicks. Whether it’s the blue 1941 Willys of Stone, Woods, and Cook or the more modern Blasphemi 1955 Chevy built by “Roadkill” TV star Mike Finnegan, gassers are some of the most extreme-looking rides you’ll see at a vintage drag meet.

The Southeast Gasser contingent is no exception. Additionally, these racers are committed to competing in period-correct vehicles and adhere to a strict set of rules, including the use of old-school four-speed manual transmissions. The sanctioning body also features a Super Stock and an Altered class, so you may see a few of those sprinkled throughout the property. The whole scene is an absolute time capsule: Squint and it feels like you’ve time-traveled back to an era of Nixon, the moon landing, and flower power.

The cars wear candy paint with goofy names elegantly hand-lettered on the doors. Big American V-8 engines rumble under flimsy fiberglass hoods with hood scoops pointing to the heavens, while fender-well headers spit hot exhaust behind the spindly front tires. It’s wild wheel stands. It’s rear slicks wrinkling! It’s photo finishes! It’s—well, just have a look for yourself.

I was only able to attend Friday night’s practice session, though most drivers were already on property shaking down their machines. I shot the entire event with one camera body and one lens. We recently welcomed our first mirrorless Canon product into the Hagerty media tech closet, an R6 Mark II, so I opted for a test session with the new tool rather than the trusty old 1DX Mk 1. For glass, I tried the 24-70mm f2 EF lens. I enjoyed using this setup, especially for wider compositions like the “Crazy Pony” portrait or the Corvette menu shot, but ultimately I found myself missing the 85mm f1.4 that works so well in low-lighting with no flash assist.

Anyway, click through the rest of my shots and let me know which ones you dig. Now, I’m going to go listen to some Roy Acuff.