might need a few extra minutes if we ran into something catastrophic , but everything was fine .”
With a freshened bullet , Halsey was ready for the final round against Ward . That ’ s where things got interesting , as Ward ’ s screw-blown ’ 68 Firebird wouldn ’ t start . After Ward and his team agreed to give Halsey the extra time he needed for maintenance before the final , Halsey was offered a similar proposition . The rulebook stated Halsey could take the win on a single since Ward couldn ’ t get his car started , or he could give Ward and company the opportunity to make repairs and run the race .
“ I noticed after a few minutes that he wasn ’ t
WHEN DEREK WARD ’ S CAR WOULDN ’ T START FOR THE FINAL , HALSEY AGREED TO GIVE THEM TIME TO FIX IT , FORFEITING HIS RIGHT TO TAKE THE WIN ON A SINGLE . WHILE THE MOVE DIDN ’ T PLAY OUT IN HIS FAVOR , HALSEY DOESN ’ T REGRET HIS DECISION . starting and there was a problem ,” Halsey remembered . “ Wes came over and asked me what I wanted to do . I ’ ll be honest , my answer was , ‘ It ’ s your race .’ It ’ s Wes ’ s race . It ’ s not my race . And I didn ’ t want to win on a single either . He said he would like to run the final as a pair , so I was like , ‘ Well , then send them back to fix it . We ’ ll run as a pair .’”
Following a mad thrash to replace the starter on Ward ’ s car in Melanie Salemi ’ s pit area , both finalists returned to the ready line for the final round . The two were separated by just four thousandths of a second in the semis , so everyone anticipated a side-by-side race . Halsey and Ward were nearly identical at the 60-foot mark , but Halsey carried the front wheels a little too hard and had to pedal to a 4.304 at 126.09 , while Ward charged to a winning 3.625 .
“ We had a little glitch in the run against Todd , in which the car was a little slower than we expected it to be ,” Halsey said . “ We found a little
problem there . We were pretty excited about it . But we missed the balance of the car just enough to where it got up on the wheelie bar and rattled the tires a little bit . Other than that , I ’ m still proud of the outcome . Happy with the results . Of course , I ’ d rather win , but for the first race out , running the numbers we ran and getting to the finals was quite a feat .”
Halsey , the owner / operator of Cecil County Dragway along with his wife , Cathy , has no qualms about his decision to wait for Ward . He felt it was the right thing to do at the time , and weeks after watching the win light come on in the other lane , Halsey still believes it was the right thing to do .
“ Derek ’ s a customer of ours . He races at Cecil . He ’ s a local guy . Good dude . I ’ m sure if the shoe was on the other foot , he ’ d have waited for me ,” Halsey said . “ I wouldn ’ t change my decision . Even knowing the outcome , I wouldn ’ t have changed it .” DI
112 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 188