10/09/2024
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ฐ โ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ, ๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ, ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ โ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ง
๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐บ-๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ด, ๐๐ต๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ค, ๐๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ. ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ
OSWEGO, N.Y. โ The John Nicotra Racing supermodified team showed no signs of slowing down in 2024. In fact, the team competed in more events than any other supermodified effort this year with drivers Otto Sitterly and Jon McKennedy.
Sitterly was the only driver to compete in every Oswego Speedway and ISMA-MSS Supermodified Series race this year โ totaling 21 nights of racing between the two series. McKennedy joined the team in early July and proceeded to win four features among six New England Supermodified Series (NESS) races and the two New Hampshire ISMA-MSS shows in eight nights of racing.
And it wasnโt quantity over quality. Nicotra Racing accomplished another championship winning campaign โ including feature wins in three of the biggest supermodified races of the year โ with Sitterly overcoming an 83-point deficit heading into ISMA-MSS Championship Weekend at Evans Mills Raceway Park in September to claim the teamโs third series championship in four years.
โIt was an incredible year,โ Nicotra stated. โWe did a lot of racing and our program kept getting better as the season went on. Otto and the team worked extremely hard, and we added McKennedy to the New England program, and he did a great job, as we expected. Just when you think weโd start to slow down a little, we raced more this year than we have in quite some time. Otto, Jon and all the crew did an amazing job, and our sponsors helped keep the cars on the track and moving in the right direction.โ
๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌโฃ
In ISMA-MSS competition, Sitterly drove the CORR/PAK Merchandising / Flip Electronics / Onyx Hose & Tube / 5 Brothers Produce No. 7 Bodnar chassis to three wins, all coming during the second half of the tourโs 13-race campaign.
After netting three top-five finishes in the seriesโ first eight features, Sitterly broke through on July 27 when he scored his first career Hy-Miler Nationals 100 triumph at Sandusky Speedway, a race that has eluded him over the past number of seasons. Otto started from the pole in the 100-lapper and led wire-to-wire in a convincing drive over Canadian Mark Sammut.
โIt was great to win the Hy-Miler; that was a race I wanted to win before hanging it up. We were mediocre there Friday night, changed some ride heights and stagger for Saturday, and the car really came to life,โ Otto commented.
The Hy-Miler win closed the points gap for Sitterly and Nicotra with four races remaining on the 2024 tour. P7 and P4 finishes in August at Claremont and Lee USA in New Hampshire didnโt do a lot to help the championship effort, and it came down to Championship Weekend at Evans Mills, which for the first time offered a Friday night 40-lapper and Saturday night 100-lapper during their John Burr Classic event to close out the points season. The two nights of racing proved pivotal in the points battle with Trent Stephens and owner Steve Stout.
Otto was flawless at the three-eighths-mile New York North Country oval, capturing both nightโs main events in mostly dominating fashion. The pair of wins was enough to catapult the Canajoharie, N.Y., veteran to the championship in a 115-point swing โ after entering the weekend 83 points down to Stephens and Stout, Otto and Nicotra left with a 32-point advantage over the Ohio-based team to score the title.
โI knew we gained a lot (of points) Friday night. We had one signal planned for the race โ if the 19 ended up in the pits, my crew would signal me. I saw him spin out on the frontstretch, and then I believe I saw him come out of the pits on a later caution, so I knew he was having a rough night. I was in the top three or four and I knew we were in good shape. We got up to second, and I saw I was catching the leader. I couldnโt just ride. When thinking about the race later, you think, โwell, I probably should have just hung out in second to more safely bring home the championship.โ When youโre in the car, you know, you think different. It worked out. Lap traffic always makes it interesting, especially on tight tracks like Evans Mills.โ
๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ-๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฌ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐จโฃ
At Oswego, Sitterly returned to full-time competition in the Novelis Supermodified division behind the wheel of the CORR/PAK / Flip Electronics / Onyx Hose & Tube / 5 Brothers Produce No. 7 Hawk Jr chassis.
A pair of P4 finishes opened the season with Ottoโs first podiums coming July 6 with a pair of P3 results in Twin 40-lappers.
Similar to the ISMA-MSS tour, the Nicotra team hit its stride toward the end of the summer when Sitterly won his fifth career $10,000 Mr. Supermodified feature, marking Nicotra Racingโs 51st Oswego super feature win (second all-time in Car Owner Wins to Jim Shampine). The Mr. Super win โ Nicotra Racingโs fourth (Sitterly won his first in 2006 in his self-owned No. 79) โ brought the team into the thick of the Oswego points race heading into Championship Night on August 17.
Otto would enter Championship Night in a near deadlock at the top of the point standings in his bid for a 10th Oswego Novels Supermodified title, but things wouldnโt go his way in the final points feature of the season and heโd slip to finish P4 in Oswegoโs final standings.
Friday, August 30 was a historic day for Sitterly as the nine-time Oswego champion picked up his first career pole for the Budweiser International Classic 200. In his 25-year Oswego super career, a Classic pole had always eluded Sitterly until this year when a 16.076 was good enough to earn him the pole by a 0.062 seconds over Michael Barnes.
After leading the first half of the Bud Classic 200, Otto would go on to a hard-fought P3 podium result in Oswegoโs Labor Day weekend season finale to close out the 2024 season at the Steel Palace. The podium finish would secure a P2 finish in the final 2024 Nicotra-promoted Oswego-ISMA-MSS Challenge points, worth a $3,500 prize.
๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ญ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ ๐๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌโฃ
Nicotra Racing acquired the potent former Jon McKennedy-driven Allegresso super in late 2023, which Otto drove at last yearโs John Burr Classic at Evans Mills, only to retire early with mechanical problems.
When the 2024 ISMA-MSS season kicked off June 1 at Oswego, Sitterly opted to return to the Bodnar chassis that heโd driven to series championships in 2021 and 2022. The Allegresso chassis sat for a time, until Sitterly and Nicotra made plans to return it to competition.
Who better to drive the potent machine than Massachusetts tour-type modified standout Jon McKennedy, the driver whoโd wheeled the car to numerous feature wins throughout New England earlier this decade.
McKennedy wasted no time returning the car to victory lane. In his first weekend with Nicotra Racing July 2-3, heโd score a pair of high-paying NESS triumphs at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine โ first a 50-lapper worth $3,500 and the next night a 100-lap feature worth a cool $10,000.
In mid-August McKennedy would drive the car three consecutive nights beginning with a P2 result with NESS at Thompson Speedway. The next night heโd score his 18th career ISMA win in his first start of the year with the series in the Thursday Night Thunder 75-lapper Claremont Motorsports Park. Heโd close out the three-day stretch with a runner-up result in the Ollie Silva Memorial at Lee USA Speedway.
McKennedy had one more shining moment before closing out his time with Nicotra Racing in 2024. On the same night Otto was securing the teamโs third ISMA-MSS championship at Evans Mills and his fourth win of the season, McKennedy was driving to his fourth win of 2024 with Nicotra about 350 miles east in the 59th Annual Bob Webber Sr. Memorial Star Classic at Star Speedway in New Hampshire.
The win marked McKennedyโs fifth career Star Classic triumph in the first time the race was sanctioned by NESS.
A busy 2024 season isnโt done yet. The John Nicotra Racing team will head to North Carolina this fall for their 30th and 31st nights of the year. ISMA-MSS has joined the North/South Shootout at Caraway Speedway Nov. 8-9, where a 60-lap Saturday night feature will pay $10,000 to win for winged, big-block supers.
Otto Sitterly will be behind the wheel of the Nicotra Racing No. 7 looking to add a fifth feature win this year and a third feature in a row before the 2024 race season officially comes to a close.
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