OSWEGO – 10-time Oswego Speedway track champion and defending Novelis Supermodified titleholder Otto Sitterly will return to chase a third Oswego Super Challenge championship in 2026, with the Canajoharie veteran set to campaign top wing competition aboard the same Hawk Jr. Chassis that carried him to his unprecedented 10th Speedway championship last season.
Sitterly, already a two-time Oswego Super Challenge champion, captured his latest Speedway crown in 2025 during his return to full-time Oswego competition with a new Hawk Jr. Chassis – only the third fresh car built out of the Hawk shop in several seasons. That same car now carries a Bodnar top wing as Sitterly prepares for the $6,000-to-win Oswego Super Challenge opener for the ISMA/MSS Winged Supermodifieds on Opening Night, Saturday, May 30.
The move comes after the sale of Sitterly’s Bodnar winged car to Jason Simmons Racing, a car in which Sitterly scored nine ISMA/MSS victories between 2021 and 2025, including last season’s lone Oswego winged event.
Despite the chassis change, Sitterly believes much of what his team learned with the Bodnar package will transfer directly to the Hawk.
“We got the wing on the car last weekend to get ready for May 30, and obviously we’re doing this for John Nicotra’s series to support that,” said Sitterly. “We have learned a lot running with the wing quite a bit the last several years, and we have all our notes. It’s the exact same wing ratio on the back of the Hawk car, and shocks and springs are the same ratio, so a lot of our notes should transfer over.”
Sitterly will also have proven power under the hood from Jimmy D’s Speed & Machine – including an engine with some significant personal history to John Nicotra Racing.
“Maybe a little plus with this is the engine,” Sitterly said. “It’s the engine we blew up and burned my leg with when leading the winged race at Oswego a couple years back. We took it to Jim (DeLucia) and he put a whole new bottom end together. It didn’t hurt the top end. We won most of our wing races with that motor and it’s a really good engine. He built it new in 2021. It’ll be interesting to see how the Hawk car fares with it.”
While not committing to a full weekly campaign in 2026, Sitterly said his only immediate focus is on all five rounds of John Nicotra’s Oswego Super Challenge, beginning with the ISMA/MSS winged opener May 30 and continuing June 6 in the 61-lap Jim Shampine Memorial for Novelis Supermodifieds.
“Obviously I want to do the Challenge to support everything Johnny has put together,” Sitterly said. “There are some other big-paying races this year everywhere, both at Oswego and on ISMA – Flamboro, Delaware, Caraway, Mr. Super, the Classic of course at $20,000 to win. That is five races with over $10,000 possible just there, plus Challenge money and point fund money. It’s all good stuff. We are more or less week to week though. The Challenge is the plan so far. We just have to see how the car runs.”
Fans can expect to see Sitterly in both top wing and tail wing trim on Opening Night and June 6, giving the future Hall of Famer a chance to add to one of the most remarkable championship resumes in the sport. Along with 10 Oswego Speedway titles, Sitterly owns three ISMA/MSS championships and two Oswego Super Challenge crowns, and in 2026 will pursue an almost unimaginable 16th overall Supermodified championship.
Sitterly’s last winged start in a Hawk Chassis came in the 2019 Star Classic, marking his first return to that combination in seven seasons.
The five-race Oswego Super Challenge combines the May 30 ISMA/MSS opener, June 6 Jim Shampine Memorial, the August 8 ISMA/MSS 75th Anniversary special, the August 15 Mr. Novelis Supermodified, and the 70th Budweiser International Classic 200 on September 6, paying a $25,000 points fund to the top 10 finishers.
Oswego Speedway’s 75th Anniversary Season opens Saturday, May 30, featuring the 33-lap, $1,333-to-win Pathfinder Bank SBS Ray Hedger Memorial presented by Salmon River Maple Products and Maplewood Bar & Grill, the 30-lap, $2,000-to-win Oswego County Tourism 350 Supermodified feature, and the 50-lap, $6,000-to-win Oswego Super Challenge opener for the ISMA/MSS Winged Supermodifieds. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit OswegoSpeedway.com and click the “Buy Tickets” tab, or follow Oswego Speedway on social media.
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