DI157
FEATURES
71
Defense Mode
Cecil County Dragway’s Jim Halsey
isn’t letting the challenges of operating
a dragstrip in 2020 stop him from
defending his PDRA Pro Nitrous world
championship.
By Nate Van Wagnen
“All the Track
Will Hold”
88
75
84
88
Branching Out
Jim Howe Jr. races in the outlaw ranks,
but he has the marketing mindset of a
professional. After winning the Limited
Drag Radial title in 2019, he’s chasing
bigger money and more exposure in the
no-prep world.
By Nate Van Wagnen
Two Shots to Shine
Top Fuel veteran TJ Zizzo believes
the NHRA’s new race format for the
post-shutdown season – two days, two
qualifying sessions – will actually benefit
teams, especially small operations like
his.
By Josh Hachat
Racing is Back
Promoters used every trick in the book to
put on the first races of the season since
COVID-19 shut down the country. Our
writers and photographers report back
from Throwdown in T-Town, Wooostock
and more.
By Josh Hachat, Ian Tocher
& Nate Van Wagnen
DEPARTMENTS
71
75
DI COLUMNIST
48 On the Road
51
The racing shutdown kept Van Abernethy away from his
usual schedule of visiting several tracks per month to start
the year. He used the extra time at home to look back
on some favorite memories, like his 2019 visit with “Big
Daddy” Don Garlits.
ON THE COVER NHRA Funny Car veteran Paul Lee
as photographed by Richard Shute at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia.
DI COLUMNIST
The Real Deal
A tense – yet fairly common – incident in the pits
while towing his daughter’s Jr. Dragster made Tommy
D’Aprile reevaluate some of the things he and other Jr.
Dragster parents do that could lead to easily preventable
accidents.
PHOTOS: DANNY STOGNER, JAMES SISK
6 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 157