BENSON, N.C. — Four-time Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous world champion Jim Halsey raced to his sixth No. 1 qualifier award of the 2024 Red Line Oil PDRA Drag Racing Series season Friday night at the ProFabrication PDRA DragWars presented by PST Driveshafts at GALOT Motorsports Park.
A mechanical failure in the final qualifying session led to a frightening crash for the nitrous Pro Modified icon, though, taking him out of competition for the weekend. Halsey, the points leader going into the seventh of eight races, was uninjured in the incident.
With two wins and two runner-up finishes in the last five races, Jim Halsey rolled into DragWars with confidence and the points lead. That confidence only grew when he laid down a 3.611-second pass at 209.72 MPH pass in Thursday’s final test session. He then fired off a 3.645 at 208.68 in the opening qualifying session Friday morning to take the provisional No. 1 spot. Halsey suffered a parts failure in the rear of the car, though, that forced the Brandon Switzer-led team to sit out the second session to make repairs.
Halsey was on a straight and smooth pass in the third and final qualifying session when another parts failure caused his Fulton-powered “Daddy Shark” ’68 Camaro to make a hard left turn across the center line. Halsey narrowly missed the rear wing on Tommy Franklin’s car before impacting the left retaining wall and rolling over. The four-time world champion got out of the car under his own power and was uninjured. The PDRA rulebook doesn’t allow replacement vehicles after qualifying has been completed, so Halsey won’t be able to take his first-round bye run.
Franklin, the three-time and defending world champion, made his best run of the day in the final session next to Halsey, posting a 3.649 at 206.26 in his Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro to qualify No. 2. Fredy Scriba, who is third in points behind Franklin, qualified third in his Musi-powered “Sorcerer” ’69 Camaro with a 3.653 at 206.95.
Six months after GALOT Motorsports Park hosted one of the quickest Pro Boost fields in series history, the North Carolina eighth-mile facility saw an even quicker field at DragWars. Defending world champion Jason Harris drove his ProCharged Southern Diamond Company “Party Time” ’69 Camaro to a 3.598 at 207.91 in the final session to earn his first No. 1 qualifier award of the season. He’ll take on multi-time winner Melanie Salemi, who qualified No. 16 with a 3.676.
“Brandon Stroud [tuner] and I talk about every run, we get everything ironed out best we can, we look at every single detail of the race car, my crew does their job, and the car does its job,” said Harris, who thanked team partners like Pro Line Racing, Southern Diamond Company, Alliance Racewear, and Hoosier Race Tires. “I’ve got one of these unicorn cars that kind of just responds every time you give it something. We knew we could run the .60 flat [in Q2]. I really thought it would probably repeat the .60 flat. The .598 is an awesome run out here in this kind of air. It’s the first No. 1 for me this year, so it feels good.”
Johnny Camp, whose ProCharged “Hells Bells” ’69 Camaro is also tuned by Stroud, qualified No. 2 with a 3.614 at 206.61, lining up the potential for a third consecutive final round between Harris and Camp. Two-time world champion Todd “King Tut” Tutterow, who won the season opener at GALOT, took Justin Smith’s screw-blown Quik Fuel ’69 Camaro to the No. 3 spot with a 3.622 at 208.62.
Former Pro 632 contender Jeremy Huffman’s career-best season in Extreme Pro Stock continued Friday night when he locked in his second No. 1 qualifier award of the season. His 4.076 at 175.71 in the final qualifying session came after making a bold move to replace the newer-style clutch in his 3V Performance-powered Patriot Axe Throwing ’10 Cobalt with his older clutch that hadn’t been used in two or three years. Huffman and team made the switch between the second and third sessions, and it paid off. Next,
Huffman will attempt to earn his first career win in Extreme Pro Stock.
Points leader and past world champion Chris Powers ran a nearly identical 4.078 at 176.28 in his Sonny’s Racing Engines ’21 Camaro next to Huffman to qualify second. Swansboro, North Carolina’s Elijah Morton wasn’t far behind with a 4.091 at 176.70 in his Allen-powered The Lakes RV & Cabin Resort ’19 Mustang to end up third.
Past Pro 632 world champion Amber Franklin Denton, who recently married longtime partner and reigning Super Street world champion Blake Denton, charged to her fifth No. 1 qualifier award of the season, further padding her substantial points lead. Driving her Musi-powered “OG Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro, Franklin Denton recorded a 4.138 at 172.36 in the final qualifying session to take the top spot. The past Pro Jr. Dragster world champion has a shot at locking up another world championship during Saturday eliminations.
Walter Lannigan Jr., currently second in points, laid down a 4.148 at 169.34 in Chris Holdorf’s Nelson-powered Freedom Grow ’10 GTO alongside Franklin Denton to take the No. 2 spot. Andy House, who won in his Pro 632 debut at the season opener at GALOT, qualified third in Meade Baldwin’s Southern Diamond Company ’69 Camaro with a 4.202 at 167.16.
Pro Street young gun Scott Kincaid made waves when he won the season opener at GALOT, capping off a five-race win streak. Six months later, he added his first career No. 1 qualifier award to his list of accomplishments Friday night when he drove his screw-blown ’69 Camaro to a 3.969 at 194.60 in the final qualifying session. The Tennessee native is hoping to sweep the GALOT events on Saturday.
Ethan Steding, the 17-year-old rookie and points leader, qualified second with a 3.986 at 190.92 in his roots-blown P2 Contracting “College Fund” ’24 Camaro. Reigning world champion Bill Riddle also dipped into the 3-second zone with a 3.999 at 189.50 in his roots-blown Corrigan Race Fuels ’89 Camaro to qualify third.
Super Street points leader Dan Whetstine tested between the most recent event on tour just over a month ago and DragWars to stay sharp for the final two races of the season. Determined to claim as many points as possible to pad his points lead, Whetstine and tuner Tim Essick threw down a monster 4.611 at 161.00 in the opening qualifying session to jump to the top of the qualifying order. No one passed Whetstine in the following two sessions, giving him his second No. 1 qualifier award of the season. Whetstine, who went on to win the last time he qualified No. 1, is eager to do the same thing on Saturday to keep that points lead rolling.
Connor McGee, the most recent winner on tour, qualified his nitrous-fed, Fulton-powered ’90 Mustang in the No. 2 spot with a 4.637 at 156.79. North Carolina’s David Knight qualified third with a 4.662 at 160.06 in his turbocharged ’72 Nova.
A trio of 3.70-second runs claimed the top three spots in Elite Top Sportsman, with 2021 world champion Tim Molnar picking up his fourth No. 1 qualifier award of the season on the strength of his 3.747 at 200.17 in his nitrous-fed ’68 Camaro. Bryan LaFlam drove his supercharged BigStuff EFI ’67 Mustang to a 3.766 at 203.65 to qualify second. Glenn Butcher in his nitrous-assisted, Albert-powered ’69 Camaro qualified third with a 3.778 at 197.71.
For the third time this season, Frank Falter IV took his supercharged “Candy Man” ’22 Miller dragster to the No. 1 spot in Elite Top Dragster, posting a 3.708 at 201.55. Canadian Kyle Harris qualified second with a 3.741 at 194.27 in his supercharged ’19 Horton dragster. North Carolina’s own Kellan Farmer, the 2019 world champion, rounded out the top three with a 3.764 at 194.77 in his ProCharged ’20 Race Tech dragster.
North Carolina-based sportsman standout Lauren Freer just missed the 16-car Elite field, but her 4.112 at 170.67 in her ’19 Miller dragster put the Mooresville resident in the No. 1 spot in Top Dragster 48.