Nathan Sitko Makes His Top Alcohol
Debut
By Nathan Sitko
Photos by Sheryl Ogonoski
17-year-old Nathan Sitko burns out in anticipation of his first official competition.
Photo by Sheryl Ogonoski
What a great weekend for drag racing at Edmonton's Budweiser
Motorsports Park. Although it was hot, the track surface was in good
shape. Our weekend started out a little troublesome, as we were going to
have to start all over again with the fuel system…a freshened blower,
fixed block, and a few little "problems" that we found along the
way all contributed to the fact that we were back at square one…again.
The first pass of the weekend was planned to be a half-track check out
pass. What it turned out to be was about a 100-foot blast due to the fuel
shut-off valve coming apart, which made the motor lose all power. Just for
the record, we went through the finish line at a 13.866 ET at 54.51 MPH.
Nathan Sitko lines up against Serge Dion for his first TAD match race.
Photo by Sheryl Ogonoski
The next run was very thrilling to me because being a new driver to the
class, this would be the first time I would ever race side-by-side against
someone. We fixed the fuel problem and then it was off to my first actual
race. We lost the round, but it wasn't that big of a deal to us. Serge
Dion, who we were racing, ran a 6.090 ET at 220.64 MPH against our 6.629
ET at 213.47 MPH.
On the next run, we again improved my personal best ET, running a 6.567
at 207.37 MPH against Serge's burst-panel blowing 6.657 ET at 147.03
MPH.
The Sitko family and Top Alcohol racing have been synonymous for years.
Pictured are Lawrence Bosse, Kenny Sitko (dad), Irene Sitko (mom), Steven
Sitko, and of course, Nathan in the cockpit. Photo by Sheryl Ogonoski
The next day we set out to not hurt any parts, but try to go a little
bit quicker and faster. The first run of the day was a 6.526 ET at 208.04
MPH versus Serge Dion's 6.090 ET at 221.13 MPH.
For us the weekend ended on a good note, winning the final run against
our match race partner Serge Dion. On this run, Serge got a bit too close
to the wall for comfort and shut it down about half track, running through
at a 7.245 ET at 125.45 MPH. Our car did much of the same as the run
before, running at 6.520 ET at 208.23 MPH.
Nathan lets announcer Gord Craig and the crowd know what it feels like
to be a 17-year-old TAD driver.
Photo by Sheryl Ogonoski
All in all, it was a great weekend, and a very thrilling one, too. I
had just gotten my license to race about two weeks prior to this weekend's
match race and me being so young (17), there were a few worries but all
were forgotten by the end of the weekend. Serge and I ended up 2-2 in the
rounds this weekend, so we'll have to see what happens next time!
Nathan Sitko
Driver of the Sitko Family Racing Top Alcohol Dragster
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/sitkofamilyracing
