chance to see what Switzer could do with his car .
“ He took the car that I was racing at the time and probably the first weekend , picked it up close to a tenth . So it was a pretty quick turnaround ,” Halsey says .
Still , Halsey and Switzer felt the car was behind . He bought his current car , another ’ 68 Camaro , used from Jerry Bickel Race Cars . It was already set up for a torque converter , giving
HALSEY CONTINUED TO RACE HIS FAMED RED CAMARO FOR A FEW YEARS AFTER IT WAS REBUILT FOLLOWING ITS NEAR DEMISE IN A SHOP FIRE IN 2012 . HE STEPPED UP TO HIS CURRENT CAR IN 2017 .
Halsey one more reason to make the switch over to a Neal Chance converter from a clutch .
One thing that didn ’ t change when Halsey put together the new car was the engine builder . Gene Fulton was one of , if not the go-to guy , for big nitrous engines when Halsey went into the 5s with his Fulton-built 800ci powerplant . But other engine builders had become more prominent by the mid-2010s . Regardless , Halsey stuck with Fulton , though he upgraded to a 959ci mill .
“ I ’ ve been loyal to everyone ,” Halsey says . “ If it ’ s racing or work or whatever , as long as I feel that I ’ m getting the right product and treated fairly , I ’ m pretty loyal . We had run numbers prior to our stopping that were pretty close to the numbers that they were running when we came back . We knew that the engine program was fairly good .”
The 2017 season was a bit of a developmental year for Halsey as the team got accustomed to the new car and learned its nuances . It showed signs of promise , but it wasn ’ t a late-round player just yet .
“ It took us a year to get everything sorted out ,” Halsey says . “ You pick at it . Instead of making aborted runs and swinging for the fence , you make small changes and you make small progression .”
Halsey came out swinging in 2018 . He reached the final round at the third race on the PDRA tour , the Summer Drags at U . S . 131 Motorsports Park in Martin , Michigan . Another runner-up finish followed a few races later at the World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park , where he set a new class E . T . record in the semifinals .
In just two seasons , Halsey had returned to a point where he could qualify in the top five , set records and win rounds . He was competing with the stars of Pro Nitrous , which at the time included Tommy Franklin , Jason Harris , Jay Cox and Lizzy Musi . The class was continuing to rapidly evolve , as drivers and engine builders like Pat Musi , Charlie Buck , and Fulton charged toward the 3.50s .
“ I think we got to a competitive level with them ,” Halsey says of the top Pro Nitrous drivers at the time . “ I would say this : they motivated me . Hopefully I motivated them as well . So I think we all picked it up together trying to outrun each other .”
The record-setting performance at the World Finals was a preview of what was to come in 2019 . Halsey went on a tear , winning the first two races of the season . He suffered early exits at the next two races , but picked back up with a runner-up and two more wins at the final three races of the PDRA season . He decisively earned his first-ever major national series championship , winning it by over six rounds ’ worth of points .
“ That ’ s pretty motivational ,” Halsey says . “ I ’ ve won track championships , like local series championships and stuff like that . But nothing ever big ; nothing on the national level , anyway . One year ( 2009 ) in ADRL , I think we had a sizable lead and then lost in the semifinals in the Battle of the Belts , which I just had an off day that day . But nothing is more motivational than winning , that ’ s for sure .”
With his long-awaited and well-deserved first championship in hand , Halsey went into defense mode for the 2020 PDRA season . When the season finally started two months later than scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Halsey admittedly struggled .
“ We were trying to test some stuff while we were actually racing the car , instead of testing it during testing only ,” Halsey says . “ We ran OK . I think we went to a final or two , but we just weren ’ t as good as we were in 2019 for the first half of the year or so .”
Halsey started to bounce back , ultimately picking up his first win of the season at the penultimate race on the abbreviated six-race schedule , DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park . He went into the World Finals just one round behind Franklin .
The two drivers qualified on opposite sides of the ladder , meaning they wouldn ’ t face each other until the final round – if they both made it that far . Halsey earned 9 points more than Franklin did in qualifying , tightening up the championship battle .
Franklin ’ s Musi-powered “ Jungle Rat ” ’ 69 Camaro was a hundredth quicker than Halsey ’ s “ Daddy Shark ” ’ 68 Camaro in the first two rounds of eliminations . Franklin unexpectedly slowed to a 3.815 in a losing battle with Matt Guenther in the semifinals , while Halsey picked up in a big way with his 3.645-second victory over 2020 Mid-West Drag Racing Series Pro Mod champion Ron Muenks . It was all Halsey needed to claim the 2020 world championship – by just 9 points – in a dramatic , come-from-behind triumph . The final round wasn ’ t contested , as rain and fog prevented the completion of the event .
The second consecutive championship was a meaningful victory for Halsey , but in the process he also accomplished a major feat for Fulton
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