HALSEY RIDES WAVE OF MOMENTUM TO WINNER’S CIRCLE; SMITH UPSETS CANNON IN PRO MOD BLOWN FINAL

All Jim Halsey wanted to do was record a five-second run with his nitrous car as he headed into the Al Anabi Shakedown at E’town presented by Speedtech Nitrous. The Street, Md.-based Pro Mod Nitrous racer did so much more.

Halsey was joined by a score of jubilant winners as Von Smith (Pro Mod Blown), Joe Newsham (Outlaw 10.5), Steve Lazzaro (Heavy Street), Dave Hinzman (Drag Radial) and Bill Cannon (8.50 Index) scored victories at the 6th annual event hosted by Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Despite entering the event as a dark horse, Halsey clearly established himself as the driver to beat early in qualifying. Halsey ran the first-ever nitrous run under six seconds on Saturday to qualify No. 1 and on Sunday, he never left the zone en route to pocketing the $20,000 winner’s purse in a convincing victory over Rickie Smith.

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RUN-BY-RUN COVERAGE

 

HALSEY RIDES WAVE OF MOMENTUM TO WINNER’S CIRCLE; SMITH UPSETS CANNON IN PRO MOD BLOWN FINAL

All Jim Halsey wanted to do was record a five-second run with his nitrous car as he headed into the Al Anabi Shakedown at E’town presented by Speedtech Nitrous. The Street, Md.-based Pro Mod Nitrous racer did so much more.

Halsey was joined by a score of jubilant winners as Von Smith (Pro Mod Blown), Joe Newsham (Outlaw 10.5), Steve Lazzaro (Heavy Street), Dave Hinzman (Drag Radial) and Bill Cannon (8.50 Index) scored victories at the 6th annual event hosted by Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Despite entering the event as a dark horse, Halsey clearly established himself as the driver to beat early in qualifying. Halsey ran the first-ever nitrous run under six seconds on Saturday to qualify No. 1 and on Sunday, he never left the zone en route to pocketing the $20,000 winner’s purse in a convincing victory over Rickie Smith.

Halsey recorded an unprecedented 5.959 elapsed time at 240.72 miles per hour to take the win, while recording the quickest run in the history of nitrous-injected doorslammer racing.

His road to the finals was a dominant one as he defeated Billy Glidden (5.966), Shannon Jenkins (5.983) and Khalid Al Balooshi (5.958) before squaring off against Smith.

For his part, Rickie Smith entered eliminations as the third qualifier and defeated John DeCerbo, Milt Decker and Matt Deitch to reach the final round.

Von Smith, like Halsey, was rated a dark horse in the Pro Mod Blown division in the shadow of the unreal 5.7-second barrage turned in by defending IHRA world champion Scott Cannon Jr., in qualifying and eliminations.

In the final round, Smith scored a knockout punch when Cannon inexplicably fouled with a -.156 reaction time behind the wheel of Thomas Patterson’s 1970 Dodge Daytona. He scored a $20,000 payday courtesy of Lend America for the victory.

Smith ran respectable times all weekend as the No. 2 qualifier with a 5.896 elapsed time at 249.95. The Al Anabi Motorsports-sponsored driver from Oak Ridge, Tenn., averted a disastrous first round bout with tire shake when opponent Bill Gibson crossed the center-line.

The former Alcohol Funny Car world champion then ran a 5.853, 247.38 to pull away from Mile Janis. He advanced to the finals on the strength of a 5.950, 241.07 defeating Frank Patille.

Cannon was clearly an example of rolling thunder all weekend by establishing the quickest and fastest marks for a doorslammer, regardless of power adder or sanction, with a 5.738-second run at 252.71 miles per hour during Saturday’s qualifying. He was rewarded $5,000 by Lend America for topping the previous 5.891 low e.t. as the quickest doorslammer.

The son of six-time Pro Modified champion Scotty Cannon, Cannon, Jr., rumbled through the first three rounds of eliminations carding a 5.895, 247.43 to defeat Kevin McCurdy in the first round. This “soft” run was followed by a coasting single in the second round when John Stanley broke.

Cannon showed no signs of easing up in the semi-finals as he blistered Tommy D’Aprile’s 6.002 with an unreal 5.771-second lap at 250.00 miles per hour.

Newsham worked his to the final round of the Outlaw 10.5 division from the No. 4 qualified position, and took out third quickest qualifier Bill Futch in the quarters and top runner Tim Lynch in the semis before running down a Ray Johnson hole shot in the final round.

Lazzaro left no doubt as to who was in charge of the Heavy Street division as he won from the pole and singled when Rocky Dilecce couldn’t make the call for the final round.

Hinzman reached the Drag Radial final round after qualifying No. 2 behind David Wolfe. He needed only a 7.344 elapsed time to defeat Glennie Buckler in the final round of eliminations.

Bill Cannon rounded out the winners as he drove his ’68 Camaro to an 8.596 victory when John Goss rolled the beams and fouled.