The popular Legends Nitro Series will return in 2024 with a ten-race schedule spanning across the eight-race NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series and four NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series events where the nostalgic Funny Car racing will complement the action in the Professional categories.
New to Legends Nitro Series are stops at Firebird Motorsports Park in Phoenix during the NHRA Arizona Nationals and the inaugural Summer Nationals which brings competitive nostalgia racing to Woodburn Dragstrip located 30 miles south of Portland. The diehard fan bases at both venues are suited perfectly toward the throwback nitro coupes.
The series has proven wildly popular among fans. The supercharged, nitro-burning engines provide plenty of pop while drivers skillfully control the two-speed machines underneath 1970s-era body styles. The rules format and aesthetics are designed to capture the appeal of the Funny Car match racing heyday for the fans and sponsors while offering competitors a platform to showcase their driving and tuning abilities with event and series titles on the line.
“We were very pleased with the response to the first full season of Legends Nitro Series,” said Bill Windham, co-promoter and competitor. “Bringing these cars to national event audiences and being featured on FOX coverage has brought attention to the category at both staple events and new venues. We are pumped up about going to Phoenix and Woodburn for the first time and returning to the tracks where we put on great racing in 2023.”
Legends Nitro Series supporters Modern Warriors “Your Tactical Specialists,” KC Turbos, Red Line Synthetic Oil, Boychuk Ventures Inc., and others to be revealed in future announcements are enthused about the direction of the series. Racers are gearing up this offseason to battle on the racetrack with Bobby Cottrell set to defend the inaugural Legends Nitro Series series title against a host of viable opponents.
The season begins at the fabled March Meet event at Famoso Dragstrip on March 1-3. Competitors then head to In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals March 21-24. They compete in front of NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series crowds again two weeks later in Phoenix for the NHRA Arizona Nationals April 5-7.
Firebird Raceway in Boise will host Legends Nitro Series at their two signature events – the Ignitor Nitro Opener May 17-19 and the Nightfire Nationals August 2-4. Between the Idaho races on the schedule is a trek east of the Mississippi for back-to-back weekends where the rumble of Legends Nitro Series will first reverberate between the mountains of Thunder Valley Raceway in Bristol during the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals June 7-9. The following weekend, the series looks to build upon last year’s record-breaking turnout at the Wally Parks NHRA Nostalgia Nationals presented by Holley at the historic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky., on June 15-17.
Following the inaugural Summer Nationals at Woodburn Dragstrip on Aug. 23-25, the series will go back to Bakersfield in conjunction with the Wally Parks NHRA Nostalgia Nationals and then conclude at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the NHRA Nevada Nationals on Oct. 31-Nov. 3.
To learn more about Legends Nitro Series, visit www.LegendsNitroSeries.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram @Legendsnitrofunnycars.
To purchase tickets to NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series events that feature Legends Nitro Series, fans can visit www.NHRA.com/tickets. 12 and under are free in general-admission areas with the purchase of an adult ticket. Visit www.nhra.com/hotrodheritage for other events.
This story was originally published on January 17, 2024. 
