Initially following the trajectory of the today’s younger racing crowd, Pruitt raced a 1991 Fox-body Mustang, but became addicted to the old-school scene like that of the Southeast Gassers and says he simply had to be a part of it. “I’d much rather drive a four-speed than an automatic, and it really makes it fun because you drive the car, it doesn’t drive you. This is just a really fun deal, and you get make a lot of memories doing it.”Pruitt scored the C/Gas crown at Wagler, defeating Rick Cathcart in the
Trouble Maker Studebaker.
Dwight McGuire
“Got the oldest and slowest car here, but we’re here — everybody loves to see this old thing,” Dwight McGuire says with excitement as he introduces us to the Steel Lady — a 1947 Nash with an interesting story, like many of the cars running with the Southeast Gassers. Fortunately, speed isn’t indicative of ones enjoyment level for the sport, as you couldn’t wipe the broad smile off this Kentucky native that calls himself the Hawaiian Hillbilly as he shares the old Nash’s story, clad in his beach-ready attire.
As the tale goes, the original owner, Mel Lewis, turned the Nash from pure show-car to racecar in 1966 and spent $6,000 to have the custom paint scheme applied in 1971, only to have the painter apply the wrong clear-coat, effectively ruining it in his eyes. That, paired with the theft of some of the hot parts he’d bought for it led him to park the car and he never raced it again. With that, it sat in a garage for nearly four decades.