The Outlaw Predetor Series “Fueled By Haters” Set To Roll In 2025

Story By: RON SZCZERBA / OUTLAW PREDATOR SERIES – FONDA, NY – One year ago, during the off season from racing the idea for the Outlaw Predator Series was thought up by Cole Nelson and Roy Kilmartin who Cole was driving Go-Kart’s for at the time. But what exactly is the “Fueled by Haters” all about?

“We coined that slogan after a ton of backlash from the Go-Kart Racing world,” Nelson said recently. “Basically, our success was fueled by hate and it pushed us to keep doing what we were doing and the majority of the naysayers eventually stopped hating and started supporting us.”

The 2024 Outlaw Predator Series season included 11 races at six different tracks with seven different winners, only three of which were repeat winners. For 2025 the series will expand to 12 races at six different tracks, two of which will be new tracks to the series. The series also has a sponsor for the 2025 season and will be known as the Outlaw Predator Series presented by “1972 Oil”, an independent dealer for AMSOIL INC as the official sponsor.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

As stated earlier, Cole raced for Roy in 2023 and 2024 and they are the ones that had the original idea for the series, the idea coming about during the off season between the two years. In 2023, Dodge City Speedway had a class called the Mower Tire Predator Open Pro, but they only had three Go-Kart’s week in and week out and it never really took off. One of Cole’s friends was one of the three who competed in the class.

“We were up to Caroga Creek one time, I was racing for Roy at that time, and we were toying around with the idea of an open class with treaded racing tires,” Nelson said. “I was intrigued and did some looking around because there was nothing like that around here. I found a set of treaded racing tires on Facebook Marketplace, we decided to put them on Devin Humphrey’s #26H and tried them at Caroga Creek.”

“I had a blast with them and the Go-Kart was a lot faster with those tires on it than the tires that they normally use,” Humphrey’s said afterwards.”

More thought was put into the idea which never really materialized so they took a step back to think it over further and just race whatever the HTP Unlimited’s were gonna run for an unlimited class including an unlimited motor and Carlisle lawn mower tires. But they were waiting for a rulebook to come out and it never came.

“We were building a Go-Kart and waiting for a rulebook but when it gets to be February, and you don’t have a rule book it’s kind of hard to build your Go-Kart,” Nelson said. “Very hard to dial in and start buying things without a rule book, going too far with it, and then getting told it is illegal. Finally, one day mid-February, Roy called me and said lets pull the trigger on the outlaws, we already had a name figured out and he said let’s do it.”

In about two weeks’ time, a rulebook was thrown together by Cole and Roy, they set themselves up as a tire dealer, put together a schedule, and set themselves up at the 2024 Fonda Speedway car show as the Outlaw Predator Series.

“That’s how it all started,” Nelson said.

STEPPING AWAY, TAKING THE REIGNS, AND ADDING STAFF TO THE SERIES

At the end of the 2024 season, Roy stepped away and at that point Cole took over as promoter of the Outlaw Predator Series. But he brought in a couple of key people to help him with the series including Luke Rakoske as Race Director and David Squires as the Head Flagger.

“I grew up with David, flagging on top of the beer booth at Fonda,” Nelson said. “As the promoter I will still race in the events but now I have those two to handle the other stuff. I won’t do anything that is gonna put me in the cross hairs, when I’m on the track someone else will be making the calls. Last year we didn’t have that and didn’t have anyone to make calls that needed to be called.”

The Outlaw Predator Series uses Delaware restarts, which is unheard of in anything but the Late Models. Cole always liked the idea of Delaware restarts because it rewards the leader track position.

“In Go-Kart racing everything after the initial green is single file which causes crappy racing in my opinion,” he said. “With the Delaware restarts we don’t have that. We had a list of ideas that if we started the series we were going to do in order to do things different than the normal Go-Kart racing.”

COLE NELSON GREW UP AT THE FONDA SPEEDWAY

Cole grew up as a race fan at the Fonda Speedway, going to the track with his father, both cheering for Jack and Ronnie Johnson as big fans of both drivers. “I always flagged on top of the beer booth at Fonda at a young age, and I once flagged at Albany Saratoga along with the Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modified Series (MVVDMS) until I started racing myself,” he said. “I also helped out at the Short Track Super Series (STSS) series events at Fonda, assisting Joe Kriss the last couple of seasons.”

2025 will be Cole Nelson’s fourth season of racing but now he is fully committed to racing the 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series as his main focus, hoping to help grow it.

“I bought the Go-Kart off of Roy and will be racing for myself this year,” he said. “I’d like to see the 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series be the shift in Go-Kart racing to get away from the slick tires and tire prep. My hope for this series is that it becomes similar to the Super DIRTcar Series, the STSS, or the Super Late Model Series of Go-Kart’s, that big draw that people go to the races for. To provide an option for drivers who can’t afford big car racing, that is what the goal is to become the next best thing for everyone.”

RECAPPING THE 2024 OUTLAW PREDATOR SEASON

The Outlaw Predator Series ran a total of 11 racing events at six different tracks during the 2024 season with Matt Chavis leading the way with a total of three wins. Brandon Colgan and Nick Ryder were next in line with two victories apiece followed by Cole Nelson, Ezra Rouse, Devin Humphrey, and Nick Sitterly all with one win apiece.

Nelson was crowned as the 2024 Outlaw Predator Point Champion with a total of 601 points followed by Nick Sitterly (579 points), Nick Ryder (435 points), Brandon Colgan (433 points), Matt Chavis (430 points), Ezra Rouse (372 points), Alex Kilmartin (350 points), Devin Humphrey (270 points), Ryan Perrot (134 points), and Ryan Pepicelli (101 points).

If the name Nick Sitterly doesn’t look familiar to you it really should as he is the son of local racing great Otto Sitterly! Otto has a Go-Kart track located in Canajoharie, NY called the O-Ring, and they have two events scheduled for the 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series in 2025. “I have been trying to get Otto in a Go-Kart for a race or two in our series,” Nelson said. “Hopefully one day that will happen when he isn’t busy with his own racing schedule.”

A LOOK AHEAD TO THE 2025 1972 OIL OUTLAW PREDATOR SEASON AND BONUSES TO BE PAID OUT

A twelve race season is on tap for the 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series “Fueled by Haters” in 2025 with two new tracks on the schedule in a total of six different speedways. Two of the events will be 50 laps in distance and three of them will be big money paying events. All 12 races will be point races and will count towards the $1,500 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series Championship for the 2025 season.

For the complete 2025 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series schedule you can go to their Outlaw Predator Series Facebook page.

Some series notes from Cole Nelson state that all features in 2025 will be 30-laps in distance with all heat races being 12-laps in length. Delaware double file restarts will be utilized along with Burris Racing Treads for tires and Semi-Open 212 Predator Engines for motors.

$1,500 is guaranteed to the “Mr. Outlaw 25” as the 2025 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series Champion.

Southside Beverage will be paying a $25 Hard Charger Award to the driver who advances the most positions in feature events in all races throughout the season. At the end of the 2025 season, a driver will be crowned the “Southside Beverage Hard Charger of the Year” which is determined by the driver who advances the most positions in both heat races and feature events throughout the 2025 season.

Chavis Motorsports will sponsor the Rookie of the Year Award which will pay $500 to the highest finishing rookie who competes in a minimum of 75% of the series events in 2025.

The 1972 Oil Outlaw Predator Series “Fueled by Haters” will begin there 2025 season on Friday through Sunday March 21-23 at the Fonda Speedway car show at Viaport Rotterdam. The series will have a booth set up where schedules will be handed out and one of their competitors, Go-Kart’s will be on display as well. The first racing event of the 2025 season will take place on April 18 at the Dreamfield Speedway located on the Afton Fairgrounds.