Halbrooks eager to join truck series
By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
Michael Halbrooks hopes to use a successful test drive earlier this summer as a springboard to a full-time ride in the NASCAR Truck Racing Series next spring.
Halbrooks, 22, drove 10 laps in June in the Lafferty Motorsports Camping World truck at Hickory, N.C.
Lafferty Motorsports, based in Concord, N.C., provides an opportunity for young drivers to step up to the next level in racing.
Halbrooks hopes that means a full-time ride in 2010, if not sooner.
Halbrooks has been racing since he was just 12 years old and he has been a success at every level. He won his first track championship in a go-cart in 2000 and he hasn’t stop finding a way to get to victory lane.
Halbrooks got his first go-cart when he was just nine, a vehicle that his father purchased from a friend. After spending every Thursday at Sunset Raceway in Baileyton in 1999 practicing, Halbrooks entered his first race a year later and dominated the circuit to win his first championship.
The Hartselle resident had a chance to move up to ARCA racing when he was 15, but his parents didn’t want him to leave high school early.
The biggest holdup in Halbrooks’ dream of driving at the next level is his lack of a corporate or individual sponsorship.
Halbrooks has won track championships in both the go-cart and Outlaw classes. He also won NASCAR Dodge Weekly series Rookie of the Year honors in the Hobby Cup division at Huntsville Speedway in 2003. Most recently, he won the Outlaw class at Moulton Speedway last season.
Now he hopes to move from the local dirt track to the truck series or the ARCA ReMax car series.
While most drivers struggle early when the get into the truck, Halbrooks felt right at home from the moment he went into the first lap.
Halbrooks quickly found the groove at Hickory and hit speeds over 100 miles per hour.
During his test run, Halbrooks was running at about 4,000 rpms.
Now he just needs to line up some financial backing, a challenge in today’s tough economic climate.
