{"id":101999,"date":"2025-08-20T05:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T05:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/jim-halsey-talks-yellowbullet-nationals\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T05:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T05:44:10","slug":"jim-halsey-talks-yellowbullet-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/jim-halsey-talks-yellowbullet-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Halsey Talks YellowBullet Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few events on the outlaw drag racing calendar carry the mystique of the YellowBullet Nationals. Each Labor Day weekend, Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland, transforms into a festival of horsepower and community, and this year will mark the 16th running of the event. Track owner and Pro Mod veteran Jim Halsey has been there every step of the way, helping Monty Mikho turn what started as a message board gathering into one of the sport\u2019s signature happenings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun,\u201d Halsey said. \u201cI get all jacked up the week or two before, nervous about how we\u2019re going to get it done, but it always comes together. I remember the years when we had 700-plus cars here \u2013 it was out of control. We had to limit classes just to finish the event, racing until two or three in the morning. It was total chaos, but that was the magic of YellowBullet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chaos is part of the charm, but so is the social aspect. For Halsey, the YellowBullet Nationals isn\u2019t just about record-setting passes \u2013 it\u2019s about culture, community, and keeping drag racing alive on the East Coast. \u201cThe purpose of the event is to be more of a social event,\u201d he explained. \u201cPeople come because everybody they care about is here. You can\u2019t miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That spirit is reflected in the class lineup. This year\u2019s event again features Pro Modified as the marquee attraction, with $50,000 on the line. Pro 275 racers will chase $20,000, while Limited Drag Radial, Ultra Street, Top Sportsman, and 8.50 Index racers will all race for $10,000. Warriors Outlaw, Pro Dial, and 10.00 Index round out the program, each offering serious payouts and plenty of grassroots energy. New for 2025 is a Pro Import category, bringing 2JZ and rotary-powered machines into the mix. \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen some testing,\u201d Halsey noted. \u201cA couple of those cars have run 6.50s at over 210 mph in the quarter mile. They\u2019ll be fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event has become synonymous with Cecil County Dragway, a track Halsey has steadily improved year after year in partnership with Mikho. \u201cWhen Monty first brought the race here, people thought the track needed a lot of work,\u201d Halsey admitted. \u201cWe\u2019ve continued to invest and make improvements so the event can stay here. With tracks closing across the East Coast, it\u2019s important that Cecil County keeps thriving. That\u2019s what keeps this race alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Of course, Halsey isn\u2019t just the track operator \u2013 he\u2019s also one of the sport\u2019s most accomplished Pro Mod drivers. A four-time PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion, he\u2019ll roll his new \u201cBlacklist\u201d Camaro through the gates for this year\u2019s YellowBullet Nationals. Built after a crash sidelined his previous ride, Blacklist has only about 20 test runs, but Halsey says the car came around quickly. \u201cWe ordered an exact copy of the one we wrecked because that was a really good car,\u201d he said. \u201cThis one came around in two runs. When you know you\u2019ve got something good, you know pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift in Halsey\u2019s own program mirrors his vision for the event. \u201cWe want to show everybody what a nitrous car can do,\u201d he explained. \u201cInstead of being limited by rules that slow us down, we\u2019re using the rules we\u2019ve set up for YellowBullet to prove nitrous cars can still compete. It\u2019s a lot of work \u2013 sometimes it means tearing an engine apart between rounds, swapping pistons in 45 minutes \u2013 but that\u2019s how we run. We want to push the combination forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pushing forward has always been the DNA of the YellowBullet Nationals. When Mikho first scheduled the race opposite NHRA\u2019s U.S. Nationals, it was a statement of independence \u2013 a gathering place for outlaw racers who felt outside the mainstream. Sixteen years later, it has grown into a Labor Day tradition, a celebration of every corner of the drag racing spectrum.<\/p>\n

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Chris Sears Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYellowBullet is bigger than just racing,\u201d Halsey said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the people, the atmosphere, the memories. You can have the best on-track show in the world, but if you miss the social side, you\u2019ll struggle. This event has both. That\u2019s why people cancel plans, take off work, and make sure they\u2019re here. You can\u2019t miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With full pits, packed grandstands, and everything from Pro Mods to imports in the lanes, the 2025 YellowBullet Nationals promises another weekend of organized chaos in Rising Sun. For Halsey, that\u2019s exactly the way it should be.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on August 20, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Jim Halsey Talks YellowBullet Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few events on the outlaw drag racing calendar carry the mystique of the YellowBullet Nationals. Each Labor Day weekend, Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland, transforms into a festival of horsepower and community, and this year will mark the 16th running of the event. Track owner and Pro Mod veteran Jim Halsey has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}