Recess Over, Steve Halpin Returns To Pro Stock Racing in 2018

After a small hiatus, Steve Halpin is returning to the seat of a Pro Stock race car in 2018.

Halpin, the Rookie of the Year on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour in 2012, will compete in a number of Tour events in 2018 while also competing in major events within his home province of New Brunswick. Halpin’s season will begin with the Lucas Oil 150 at Petty International Raceway on Saturday, May 19th.

The team took the 2017 season off to rebuild and come into the current year stronger than ever.

“We took the year off completely to save some money and build a new race car,” said Halpin of the break. “Three of our crew guys work shift work and the rest of our crew works in construction. It puts us all in the busy season on both work commitments and racing. We’re going to make the best of our schedules, have some fun and do some racing this year.”

The new bullet in the shop has been put together with the hard work of long time friend and crew chief Geoff Armstrong and Dean Clattenburg.

“We have a beautiful new Clattenburg Racing Fabrication (CRF) car for 2018,” said Halpin. “We have spent some money to upgrade our program to ultimately be more competitive when we hit the track. I cannot thank Geoff and GD Fabrication enough. Geoff went above and beyond to build this new car with great support and help from Dean and CRF. We’ve got a strong piece for this year.”

Armstrong is equally excited to be back with Halpin as the two set out to tour the Maritimes again.

“I haven’t been able to commit to all the races Steve has done within a season since 2013,” said Armstrong. “GD Fabrication has some great customers that keep me busy but I am also looking forward to working with the No. 03 team in 2018. The car is our house car from the GD Fabrication shop with a brand new CRF chassis and we can’t wait to get to the track beginning in May at Petty Raceway.”

Armstrong’s GD Fabrication shop is the official dealer for CRF chassis in Atlantic Canada.

Photo by McCarthy Photographic

Halpin is playing a “wait and see” approach with his racing schedule. While the first half of the season has some question marks, the team does have some big races circled on their calendar.

“Our schedule is tentative at this point. We’re planning on running the first few Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour races of the year to see where we sit after the start of the year. We will be at the three 250-lap races (IWK 250 at Riverside Speedway, Toromont Cat 250 at Scotia Speedworld and the Pro Stock 250 at Speedway 660). We are also looking hard at the additional races at Petty International Raceway (in the Bumper to Bumper Petty $5k Pro Stock Challenge). That is an awesome deal to give guys a chance at some good money whether they are a full time driver or not.”

Halpin’s No. 03 carries sponsorship from AJ Mallette and Sons, L. Halpin Excavation and Boyle Construction. The team is actively searching for marketing partners and those with interest can contact Halpin or Armstrong.

Ahead of the 2018 season, the team has launched a Facebook page to keep fans updated on their racing ventures. The page can be found by searching “Steve Halpin Racing” on the social media platform. Fans can listen to Race Time Radio on Sunday, April 15th to hear Halpin further discuss his upcoming season.

Featured Photo by Speedway 660