Canada’s totally formidable Hodgson Racing nitro nostalgia Funny Car team collected their first win of the season – taking top class honours for the Legacy NFC eliminator portion of last weekend’s FMP NHRA Arizona Nationals — at Phoenix AZ.

With driver Nathan Sitko at the helm, the win came just after another superb final round finish for the team just two weeks prior at Bakersfield’s Good Virbrations “March Meet.

Nathan and company put on an impressive display within extremely hot track and atmospheric conditions which were present at the event — where track temps soared into the high 140s F!!

That included qualifying #1 (with low ET of the event at 4.717 secs) and then betting progressively quicker during each round of eliminations with their Pacemaker/Bubble Up tribute car from Edmonton AB.

After defeating Eliy Stafford and Todd Plate in rounds 1-2 of the 8-car field, Nathan was set for a showdown versus top rival Ryan Horan in the final round. But when Horan’s car would not fire – he did single for the title with a winning 4.799 secs 236.71 mph.

“It was a big weekend for our team,” said Nathan Sitko. “Everyone brought their best to the track again. It was very challenging conditions on the track, but also in the pit area due to the heat. We got the car to run well after a couple stumbles. We found our stride to qualify number 1 and took it from there.”

“I’m so happy to have the team I do, they really work so well together. It was great to finish the job this weekend with a win!”

11 cars were entered for the entertaining 1000′ format Legacy NFC event and they produced a 8-car bump spot of 4.921 secs.

Posted by Bruce Biegler
Photos by David Ostaszewski