[coverattach=1] Street, Maryland - The spectacular 2008 season of Jim Halsey began quietly enough, or so it would seem, considering the fact that this was nothing more than a Quick-8 event - that Halsey himself wasn't even sure he would be competing in to begin with. Sure, Halsey was fresh off his ADRL victory in the season-opener in Houston a few weeks earlier, but what happened on a cool night at a Quick-8 race in North Carolina is the stuff of urban legend. Halsey's original intent for visiting O'Reilly Farmington Dragway in late March was to merely test a new combination, but at the urging of series founder Don Plemmons, wound up joining the Quick-8 Racers Association and competed in its opening event of the season. The event turned out to be a shocker, complete with "YouTube.com" footage filmed from several angles. Among the most talked about final rounds of the season, Halsey, along with local star, Rickie Smith, thundered across the finish line in what is widely regarded as the first side by side, 3-second final round in the history of nitrous doorslammers. Halsey's season was off to a rip roaring start with an upset of Smith, 3.95 to a 3.97.
Even though the Farmington event began as a local, down home Quick-8 event, it actually rang out the 1/8 mile equivalent of a "Shot heard round the world." What made that fateful run in March so special - especially to those in attendance - was the fact that nobody (other than perhaps Halsey) was expecting it. Described as playing "Texas Hold 'Em" with his competition, Halsey unloaded his first and only "3" of the entire event with text book timing. As he taxied past the stunned fans lined up along the return road, someone from the crowd yelled, "You're a pretty good poker player, Halsey! Fundamentally examining each round, Halsey admitted later that he simply didn't need to run a 3.95 until that exact moment.
From his widely publicized 3-second Farmington victory, Halsey then rolled into San Antonio, TX to try out his combination on the professional IHRA circuit. Indeed, Halsey is still one of the last nitrous non-conformists still willing to mix it up with the blower-powered legal Pro Modifieds of the IHRA series. The San Antonio event was to be contested on the 1/8 mile, and was slated as the opening national event for Pro Modified's founding sanction. After qualifying 3rd, Halsey stopped Mike Castellana, Scotty Cannon and Jason Stock, en route to a show down with Billy Harper. Not since Milan Mi, in 2005 had a pair of carburetors lined up to race for the Iron Man trophy. Halsey was first out of the gate, and first to the stripe. The win was Halsey's first IHRA National Event victory since stopping Carl Spiering in Edmonton, ALB Canada 3 years earlier. Even though nitrous entries has made great leaps of progress against their blown opposition in 2008, Halsey's San Antonio win came at time when the outlook for nitrous cars was still quite bleak. With incredible speed though, the tide begin to shift at a rapid rate.
By now, speculation was swirling that 2008 would be a milestone season for nitrous Pro Mods, particularly with the anticipation of a 5.99 elapsed time clocking. Rockingham's IHRA Spring Nationals was the first national event opportunity for someone to break into the fives, but history wasn't quite ready to be written just yet. Halsey qualified 15th, then made a round two exit as he battled ignition troubles. Halsey then went on an extensive testing mission to prepare for ADRL's Valdosta event, vowing to remove what was wrong with his set-up and replace it with what was right. The Valdosta event produced a #5 qualifying effort, but also another round two exit from competition. All the while, Halsey had an 820 cubic inch Gene Fulton special in the hauler, but was reluctant to install it until he completely corrected the ignition troubles before potentially hurting a brand new motor.
In a surprise move to skip the Edmonton ALB, Canada IHRA event in July, Halsey elected instead to try to get a real handle on the brand new combination that could potentially turn the Pro Mod world upside down. Finding the right tune-up didn't come immediately, but the results were worth the wait. In early August, Halsey found himself in another IHRA all-nitrous final round, this time at the storied 1/4 mile in Martin, MI. After knocking off Kenny Lang, Steve Salvadore and Jason Hamstra, Halsey drove around Mike Castellana in the closing moments of a 1/4 mile thriller. Still, the world waited on the first 5.99 to flash across the scoreboard.
Approximately a month later, IHRA traveled to the Northeast for a stop at their longest affiliated track on tour in Epping, NH. Just like the Martin, MI event a month earlier, Castellana and Halsey qualified 1 and 2 respectively, and experienced the identical elimination outcome as well, with Halsey putting the "Big Red Machine" from Maryland in the winner's circle again. Halsey actually predicted a 5.99 pass at this event, but the weather conditions simply wouldn't support it.
Then came Englishtown. Much more than just an event, a dominating performance or even a stunning record run, Englishtown as a whole was something better described as a historical experience. Not only did the race for the fives end at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park that weekend, Halsey touched the magical barrier 5 times before the event was through. His first 5.99 during Saturday's qualifying session brought the event completely to a halt, as Halsey was honored during a starting line ceremony.
Two weeks later, Halsey was again blistering a 1/4 mile strip, this time at Rockingham, while competing in Pro Modified's legal national event sanctioning body, IHRA. Halsey clocked a pair of 5's during the rain-shortened qualifying sessions, then two more 5-second elapsed times during eliminations, eventually finishing the event with a semi-final outing. The string of consistency is what most people remember about Halsey's end of the year run. A string of four 5-second runs in a row were recorded at Englishtown. Halsey then packed up and went to Rockingham where he ran four more 5-second passes in a row.
Jim Halsey's 2008 accomplishments include winning the season-opening events of three separate leagues: ADRL, IHRA and Quick-8 Racers Association. Halsey went on to capture 3 IHRA National Event trophies in 2008, in addition to clocking the first 5-second nitrous run in outlaw trim at Englishtown, as well as the first 5-second pass in IHRA's legal sanction of Pro Modified.
The 2008 season would be tough for any racer to duplicate, but Jim Halsey plans to give it everything he's got in 2009. "My goal in 2009 is to win a world championship in any series," says Halsey. "I've also got to give so much credit and thanks to my crew," added Halsey. "At the end of the day I'm the one who gets all the credit, but my crew, Eric, Cathy, Allen, Greg - those guys work as hard or harder at it than I do."
In breaking news just announced, Jim Halsey took delivery of his brand new outlaw 1968 Camaro today from Tim McAmis Race Cars. Halsey and team could likely test the car in December at select southern locations. I
t's been a historic and tide-shifting year for nitrous competitors, none more so than Jim Halsey. Staying the course of nitrous technology was more of a way of life, rather than a simple power-adder of choice. "I would have quit racing before I switched," declares Halsey. The winds of change have been a welcome and rapid reversal for nitrous competitors like Halsey, and as the most recent elapsed time milestone was conquered, Jim Halsey has carved out a path that has etched his name in history.
Jim Halsey wishes to thank:
Cathy Crouse
Eric Davis
Allen Lay
Richard Crouse
Gene Fulton
Tim McAmis
Patrick and Constance Smith
yellowbullet.com
Story and photo by: Van Abernethy Press Releases
Even though the Farmington event began as a local, down home Quick-8 event, it actually rang out the 1/8 mile equivalent of a "Shot heard round the world." What made that fateful run in March so special - especially to those in attendance - was the fact that nobody (other than perhaps Halsey) was expecting it. Described as playing "Texas Hold 'Em" with his competition, Halsey unloaded his first and only "3" of the entire event with text book timing. As he taxied past the stunned fans lined up along the return road, someone from the crowd yelled, "You're a pretty good poker player, Halsey! Fundamentally examining each round, Halsey admitted later that he simply didn't need to run a 3.95 until that exact moment.
From his widely publicized 3-second Farmington victory, Halsey then rolled into San Antonio, TX to try out his combination on the professional IHRA circuit. Indeed, Halsey is still one of the last nitrous non-conformists still willing to mix it up with the blower-powered legal Pro Modifieds of the IHRA series. The San Antonio event was to be contested on the 1/8 mile, and was slated as the opening national event for Pro Modified's founding sanction. After qualifying 3rd, Halsey stopped Mike Castellana, Scotty Cannon and Jason Stock, en route to a show down with Billy Harper. Not since Milan Mi, in 2005 had a pair of carburetors lined up to race for the Iron Man trophy. Halsey was first out of the gate, and first to the stripe. The win was Halsey's first IHRA National Event victory since stopping Carl Spiering in Edmonton, ALB Canada 3 years earlier. Even though nitrous entries has made great leaps of progress against their blown opposition in 2008, Halsey's San Antonio win came at time when the outlook for nitrous cars was still quite bleak. With incredible speed though, the tide begin to shift at a rapid rate.
By now, speculation was swirling that 2008 would be a milestone season for nitrous Pro Mods, particularly with the anticipation of a 5.99 elapsed time clocking. Rockingham's IHRA Spring Nationals was the first national event opportunity for someone to break into the fives, but history wasn't quite ready to be written just yet. Halsey qualified 15th, then made a round two exit as he battled ignition troubles. Halsey then went on an extensive testing mission to prepare for ADRL's Valdosta event, vowing to remove what was wrong with his set-up and replace it with what was right. The Valdosta event produced a #5 qualifying effort, but also another round two exit from competition. All the while, Halsey had an 820 cubic inch Gene Fulton special in the hauler, but was reluctant to install it until he completely corrected the ignition troubles before potentially hurting a brand new motor.
In a surprise move to skip the Edmonton ALB, Canada IHRA event in July, Halsey elected instead to try to get a real handle on the brand new combination that could potentially turn the Pro Mod world upside down. Finding the right tune-up didn't come immediately, but the results were worth the wait. In early August, Halsey found himself in another IHRA all-nitrous final round, this time at the storied 1/4 mile in Martin, MI. After knocking off Kenny Lang, Steve Salvadore and Jason Hamstra, Halsey drove around Mike Castellana in the closing moments of a 1/4 mile thriller. Still, the world waited on the first 5.99 to flash across the scoreboard.
Approximately a month later, IHRA traveled to the Northeast for a stop at their longest affiliated track on tour in Epping, NH. Just like the Martin, MI event a month earlier, Castellana and Halsey qualified 1 and 2 respectively, and experienced the identical elimination outcome as well, with Halsey putting the "Big Red Machine" from Maryland in the winner's circle again. Halsey actually predicted a 5.99 pass at this event, but the weather conditions simply wouldn't support it.
Then came Englishtown. Much more than just an event, a dominating performance or even a stunning record run, Englishtown as a whole was something better described as a historical experience. Not only did the race for the fives end at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park that weekend, Halsey touched the magical barrier 5 times before the event was through. His first 5.99 during Saturday's qualifying session brought the event completely to a halt, as Halsey was honored during a starting line ceremony.
Two weeks later, Halsey was again blistering a 1/4 mile strip, this time at Rockingham, while competing in Pro Modified's legal national event sanctioning body, IHRA. Halsey clocked a pair of 5's during the rain-shortened qualifying sessions, then two more 5-second elapsed times during eliminations, eventually finishing the event with a semi-final outing. The string of consistency is what most people remember about Halsey's end of the year run. A string of four 5-second runs in a row were recorded at Englishtown. Halsey then packed up and went to Rockingham where he ran four more 5-second passes in a row.
Jim Halsey's 2008 accomplishments include winning the season-opening events of three separate leagues: ADRL, IHRA and Quick-8 Racers Association. Halsey went on to capture 3 IHRA National Event trophies in 2008, in addition to clocking the first 5-second nitrous run in outlaw trim at Englishtown, as well as the first 5-second pass in IHRA's legal sanction of Pro Modified.
The 2008 season would be tough for any racer to duplicate, but Jim Halsey plans to give it everything he's got in 2009. "My goal in 2009 is to win a world championship in any series," says Halsey. "I've also got to give so much credit and thanks to my crew," added Halsey. "At the end of the day I'm the one who gets all the credit, but my crew, Eric, Cathy, Allen, Greg - those guys work as hard or harder at it than I do."
In breaking news just announced, Jim Halsey took delivery of his brand new outlaw 1968 Camaro today from Tim McAmis Race Cars. Halsey and team could likely test the car in December at select southern locations. I
t's been a historic and tide-shifting year for nitrous competitors, none more so than Jim Halsey. Staying the course of nitrous technology was more of a way of life, rather than a simple power-adder of choice. "I would have quit racing before I switched," declares Halsey. The winds of change have been a welcome and rapid reversal for nitrous competitors like Halsey, and as the most recent elapsed time milestone was conquered, Jim Halsey has carved out a path that has etched his name in history.
Jim Halsey wishes to thank:
Cathy Crouse
Eric Davis
Allen Lay
Richard Crouse
Gene Fulton
Tim McAmis
Patrick and Constance Smith
yellowbullet.com
Story and photo by: Van Abernethy Press Releases
