Third-generation Fuel Altered racer Kyle Hough is taking the family legacy where it's never been before. He's taking the Nanook nitro-burning tradition right to the top of the nostalgia food chain and into Nostalgia Top Fuel. 

Hough, who grew up seeking to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Dave and father Rick's, got his chance to drive the Nanook Fuel Altered when he turned 17. However, he got a hankering to chart a path of his own.

"My dad and I were loading up the Fuel Altered to go racing in Edmonton in a few weeks," Hough explained. "I told my dad I wanted to do something different. It just so happened there were a couple of Top Fuel cars that came up for sale on Facebook, and I said let's go Nostalgia Top Fuel racing."

Hough quickly began scouring the internet, looking for the right car.

"I was going to make an offer on one car, but Bobby Hilton bought it 10 minutes later," Hough said. "I was like, man, lost out on that car. But I saw Butch Blair had his car up for sale, and it's been up for sale for a while, so I made a call, and the rest is history."

While the Hough family has mainly sported Fuel Altereds for nearly five and a half decades, it's not out of the norm for them to go racing in other nitro classes. The original driver of Nanook, Kyle's grandfather Dave actually drove the original Plymouth aero Super Shops Nitro Funny Car on the big show in 1978.

But interestingly enough, before putting together a deal to purchase Butch Blairs Nostalgia Top Fuel car, Hough was initially looking to go down another path. 

"The big plan was to get out of nitro racing and run something simpler like 7.0 pro," Hough said. "I told my dad, let's do something easier and not as much work and can still go out and have fun. But I realized I'm not cut out for that. I got nitro in my veins. I've been a third-generation Fuel Altered driver for years, and it was time for me to be a first-generation Top Fuel driver."

The third-gen Hough got his first big break, unfortunately, through family tragedy. When his dad took over driving from his grandfather, the road was tough. Two major accidents, including a devastating crash in an exhibition run at the 2006 Gatornationals, which resulted in his father having to amputate his right hand, forced him out of the seat. 

Hough would immediately live up to expectations and shine out of the gate. In his rookie season in 2012, he captured the IHRA Nitro Jam championship on the season's final day in a dramatic fashion. Then in 2016, he was able to race his way to win at the NHRA Heritage Series season finale in Bakersfield, California, the ultra-popular California Hot Rod Reunion.

Since announcing his move to the Nostalgia Top Fuel ranks next season, Hough has been welcomed into the class with open arms, and many competitors in the Nostalgia Top Fuel ranks have reached out to offer advice. Like two-time Heritage Series Top Fuel Champion Adam Sorokin, championship-winning crew chief Pete Kaiser, and many other drivers who pilot Nostalgia Top Fuel cars in the midwest.

But Hough, whose Fuel Altered license was signed by two-time NHRA World Champion Del Worsham, is overly excited for the new challenge next season and looks forward to lining up and going head to head against some of the best in the class.

"I told Adam Sorokin off the trailer qualifying round one, him and me at Bakersfield," Hough said. "But I may have to switch up and run Bryan Hall. I took Bryan Hall's Fuel Altered virginity at the March Meet a few years back, and I may have to let him take my Top Fuel one. We'll see."

But while Hough is excited to start the next chapter in his career, he believes he still has some unfinished business to attend to in Fuel Altered before switching to Nostalgia Top Fuel. 

"I'd love to win the March Meet in the Fuel Altered. I'd love to win Boise, the Night-Fire Nationals in the Fuel Altered, but I'd also love to win the California Hot Rod Reunion again in the Fuel Altered."