AFTER BEING GRANTED TIME TO FIX THE ISSUE , WARD ’ S TEAM AND SEVERAL BYSTANDERS STARTED PUSHING WARD AND HIS CAR BACK THROUGH THE STAGING LANES AND INTO MELANIE SALEMI ’ S PIT AREA FOR REPAIRS .
out a tire-shaking Dustin Nesloney , the 2022 MWDRS Pro Mod champion . He lined up next to PDRA Pro Nitrous young gun Marcus Butner in the third round , winning on a holeshot with a 3.673 at 206.45 to Butner ’ s 3.667 . Ward then drew two-time NHRA Pro Mod world champion Stevie “ Fast ” Jackson , who won Lights Out 15 in Radial vs . the World in his new screw-blown Motion Raceworks “ Shadow 3.0 ” the weekend before WSOPM . Eager to go 2-0 , Jackson went red by . 070 , while Ward streaked to a 3.639 at 207.85 to move on to the final round .
“ Everybody wanted Stevie to win ,” Ward says . “ He got a little anxious and went red . He said he shook the tires a little bit down the track . We made a good run . Three out of the four cars went a . 63 that round . The cars were pretty close together .”
The excitement was only just beginning for Ward and his team . They serviced the car and agreed to give final-round opponent Jim Halsey and team some extra time to freshen the nitrous engine in Halsey ’ s ’ 68 Camaro . When the two drivers went to fire their engines for the final round , Ward ’ s car wouldn ’ t start . The Salemis quickly realized it was a starter issue and felt they could quickly fix the issue if race promoter Wes Buck , race director Gavin Carter , and Halsey would allow them to return to the pits . All parties agreed , and a thrash ensued .
“ I ’ m getting ready to get out of the car . Everybody was like , ‘ No , stay in it ! We ’ re going .’ They were just pushing the car ,” Ward remembers . “ I was like , ‘ You know my trailer ’ s parked waaay down there past the finish line , right ?’ They ’ re like , ‘ No , we ’ re going to Melanie ’ s .’”
Anyone who could get a hand on Ward ’ s Firebird pushed it back through the staging lanes to Melanie Salemi ’ s pit area , where 2023 DI 30
Under 30 honoree Evan Salemi led the charge to get the car up on jackstands and ready for a new starter .
“ Jim [ Salemi ] had the starter plate changed and got it ready . I went under there and stuck the starter on , but they did most of the work and got it ready for the car ,” Ward says . “ They were like , ‘ Just go take a walk and calm down and get ready for the final .’ They took care of
A MAD THRASH TOOK PLACE IN THE SALEMI FAMILY ’ S PIT , WITH BOTH THE WARD AND SALEMI TEAMS WORKING TOGETHER TO GET A NEW STARTER INSTALLED AND READY FOR THE $ 100,000 FINAL ROUND AGAINST HALSEY .
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