Hartman got the win with a huge upset of five-time Prostalgia winner Peter Gallen. The win came after an extensive cleanup for oil that saw Gallen switch lanes moments before the run. Despite the change, Hartman got off the line first and never looked back in winning his first race of the season.

Hartman ran a 5.915 elapsed time at 239.39 mph in the final, besting Gallen’s 6.035 at 241.32.

“I can’t even say how exciting this is,” Hartman said. “My dad and I have been racing nitro cars for 22 years and this is our first win together in a nitro car. To have this opportunity given to us by Bob and Cathie is just awesome.”

The final was made even more dramatic as both teams were forced to wait nearly an hour to make the run following an extensive cleanup for oil. During that time both Gallen and Hartman had time to get out of their cars and think through their runs before strapping back in and settling things on the track.

“I got out of the car once which I normally don’t like to do, but we were waiting a long time. It gives you a lot to think about and it puts a lot in your head, but once the car starts that all leaves you mind,” Hartman said. “We weren’t concerned at all. We knew the IHRA would do a great job to get it all cleaned up and of course they did just that. We followed that mess with two great runs. We both ran good numbers and we simply beat him to the line which is a great accomplishment against a team like Gallen.”

While Hartman and Gallen certainly put on a show, there was great racing throughout the evening in Nitro Jam’s newest class. In the consolation rounds of Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car Mike McIntire got around John Dunn, Rick Krafft defeated Aaron Armstrong and Steve Nichols got the best of Greg Jacobsmeyer.

Despite the great evening of racing, Hartman’s emotional win certainly stole the show. In his first race of the season legendary tuner and racer Hartman reached the final in the “Bullet Bob” machine with an opening round win over McIntire, while Gallen moved on with a round one win over Jacobsmeyer. Gallen had low E.T. of the first round at 6.032.