HALSEY HOLDS HIS OWN
Thu, 2009-08-06 11:30
Usually when high-dollar sponsors invade drag racing, the "little guy" gets pushed around.
Jim Halsey, however, has stood his ground just fine with the big boys in the American Drag Racing League's Pro Nitrous class.
Through the first six races in 2009, Halsey is blowing away the competition. His easily atop the Nitrous points standings with a 3,071 total, followed by Shannon Jenkins (2,039) and Khalid Al-Balooshi (1777).
"I can't complain about how things have gone," said Halsey, who pilots an 820-cubic inch 1968 Camaro.
Jim Halsey, however, has stood his ground just fine with the big boys in the American Drag Racing League's Pro Nitrous class.
Through the first six races in 2009, Halsey is blowing away the competition. His easily atop the Nitrous points standings with a 3,071 total, followed by Shannon Jenkins (2,039) and Khalid Al-Balooshi (1777).
"I can't complain about how things have gone," said Halsey, who pilots an 820-cubic inch 1968 Camaro.
At the ADRL's most recent race, the U.S. Drags II in Dinwiddie, Va., on July 25, Halsey used a holeshot to defeat Al-Balooshi in the finals.
"That was a big win at Virginia and it was just one more step in sewing up the points lead," Halsey said.
Al-Balooshi is part of the Al-Anabi Awesome Pro Modified team, a heavily financed four car operation sponsored by Sheik Khalid Al-Thani of Qatar. The Al-Anabi Awesome Motorsports team carries a heavily fortified Pro Nitrous engine program from Reher-Morrison.
Halsey, meanwhile, has a four-man crew based out of Aberdeen, Md. He utilizes Gene Fulton engines in his high-powered doorslammer.
"Other people feel we're the underdog, but we don't see things that way," the 41-year-old Halsey said. "That Al-Anabi bunch of cars is very good and like Warren Johnson has said 'if you buy the best of everything you should be good.' I know we are very proud of what we have been able to do. As for the engine builders (Gene Fulton and David Reher), I just think it's good competition and everybody needs good competition."
Halsey returns to action Friday and Saturday at the ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags II at Madison, Ill., near St. Louis. The 10-race ADRL season concludes Oct. 23-24 with the World Finals V at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis.
"We're excited about the race in St. Louis and we will be ready to go," Halsey said. "My main goal for St. Louis is to get my teammate, Pat Stoken into the top eight in the standings for the Battle for the Belts."
Stoken is presently ninth in the Pro Nitrous standings, 48 points behind eighth-place Burton Auxier.
Although Halsey seems to fly under the Pro Nitrous radar, it's hard to ignore his accomplishments. Namely, the fact that he was the first nitrous Pro Mod driver to ever record a five-second pass.
Back on Oct. 4-5, 2008, he had a phenomenal performance at The Shakedown at E-Town outlaw race in Englishtown, N.J. He registered a 5.998-second elapsed time at the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park's quarter-mile in qualifying and then he set the E.T. and speed mark again with a 5.958-second pass at 240.72 mph in a semifinal win.
"If you have to say one thing about my career, making that first five-second pass was probably the most exciting thing I've done," Halsey said.
Halsey began his career by competing in bracket races with Super Comp and Super Gas cars in the early 1990s. He got his feet wet in Pro Modified driving a ZR-1 Corvette sponsored by Castrol GTX. Following the 1995 season, he left the sport to spend more time working at Crouse Construction, the family-owned business in Aberdeen.
In 2000, he began racing again and by 2004 he was campaigning his first 1968 Camaro. Now, he's driving his fourth '68 Camaro in the Pro Nitrous class.
"When I first started driving my 1968 Camaro there were not a lot of them out there," Halsey said. "I don't know why I keep getting '68 Camaros, maybe me being born in 1968 has something to do with it. I just know when we go to the track, we're always testing something to try and make our car more consistent to win rounds."
Jim Halsey, however, has stood his ground just fine with the big boys in the American Drag Racing League's Pro Nitrous class.Through the first six races in 2009, Halsey is blowing away the competition. His easily atop the Nitrous points standings with a 3,071 total, followed by Shannon Jenkins (2,039) and Khalid Al-Balooshi (1777).
"I can't complain about how things have gone," said Halsey, who pilots an 820-cubic inch 1968 Camaro.
Usually when high-dollar sponsors invade drag racing, the "little guy" gets pushed around.
Roger Richards Photos
Through the first six races in 2009, Halsey is blowing away the competition. His easily atop the Nitrous points standings with a 3,071 total, followed by Shannon Jenkins (2,039) and Khalid Al-Balooshi (1777).
"I can't complain about how things have gone," said Halsey, who pilots an 820-cubic inch 1968 Camaro.
At the ADRL's most recent race, the U.S. Drags II in Dinwiddie, Va., on July 25, Halsey used a holeshot to defeat Al-Balooshi in the finals.
"That was a big win at Virginia and it was just one more step in sewing up the points lead," Halsey said.
Al-Balooshi is part of the Al-Anabi Awesome Pro Modified team, a heavily financed four car operation sponsored by Sheik Khalid Al-Thani of Qatar. The Al-Anabi Awesome Motorsports team carries a heavily fortified Pro Nitrous engine program from Reher-Morrison.
Halsey, meanwhile, has a four-man crew based out of Aberdeen, Md. He utilizes Gene Fulton engines in his high-powered doorslammer.
"Other people feel we're the underdog, but we don't see things that way," the 41-year-old Halsey said. "That Al-Anabi bunch of cars is very good and like Warren Johnson has said 'if you buy the best of everything you should be good.' I know we are very proud of what we have been able to do. As for the engine builders (Gene Fulton and David Reher), I just think it's good competition and everybody needs good competition."
Halsey returns to action Friday and Saturday at the ADRL Hardee’s Gateway Drags II at Madison, Ill., near St. Louis. The 10-race ADRL season concludes Oct. 23-24 with the World Finals V at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis.
"We're excited about the race in St. Louis and we will be ready to go," Halsey said. "My main goal for St. Louis is to get my teammate, Pat Stoken into the top eight in the standings for the Battle for the Belts."
Stoken is presently ninth in the Pro Nitrous standings, 48 points behind eighth-place Burton Auxier.
Although Halsey seems to fly under the Pro Nitrous radar, it's hard to ignore his accomplishments. Namely, the fact that he was the first nitrous Pro Mod driver to ever record a five-second pass.
Back on Oct. 4-5, 2008, he had a phenomenal performance at The Shakedown at E-Town outlaw race in Englishtown, N.J. He registered a 5.998-second elapsed time at the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park's quarter-mile in qualifying and then he set the E.T. and speed mark again with a 5.958-second pass at 240.72 mph in a semifinal win.
"If you have to say one thing about my career, making that first five-second pass was probably the most exciting thing I've done," Halsey said.
Halsey began his career by competing in bracket races with Super Comp and Super Gas cars in the early 1990s. He got his feet wet in Pro Modified driving a ZR-1 Corvette sponsored by Castrol GTX. Following the 1995 season, he left the sport to spend more time working at Crouse Construction, the family-owned business in Aberdeen.
In 2000, he began racing again and by 2004 he was campaigning his first 1968 Camaro. Now, he's driving his fourth '68 Camaro in the Pro Nitrous class.
"When I first started driving my 1968 Camaro there were not a lot of them out there," Halsey said. "I don't know why I keep getting '68 Camaros, maybe me being born in 1968 has something to do with it. I just know when we go to the track, we're always testing something to try and make our car more consistent to win rounds."
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