the fan off when we went back to green and I didn’t. When I was younger I used to blow up motors because I never paid attention so I get real worried if the thing runs over 190. I kept the fan on and I don’t know if that killed the battery. I don’t think it should, but I guess it could have.”

Pitkat came away from the weekend getting a chance to race at a new track, and gained valuable experience in a heavy stock car.

“I didn’t really think it was (a big learning curve). I just didn’t how the tires would react, how long they would last, how much I should save. The car stayed consistent and my Modified is good like that. Every long distance race I have done this year something has happened and I’ve never been able to finish them. I wanted to try and do the whole race so although I was 15 laps down or something like that we were able to get it back together and go back out. For me that was pretty big. I’ve practiced a Busch East car before and I’ve driven a Late Model, but the biggest thing for me was to slow her down. I was getting that SK [Modified] mentality where I would just flatfoot it and the thing would get loose. I had to remember what they taught me in driving school and I was fine after that.

“It was a cool track. I’ve always liked watching people drive way up there by the wall. But it seems everywhere I go to drive I get a little nervous about doing that. The more I got comfortable in the car and got out there and did it the better I got. We were pretty slow right out of the box, but I didn’t want to sail the thing in there and tear the fence down. Once I figured out what I had to do I was good. The heat race was a big confidence booster. I did what I had to do. I didn’t go out there and set the world on fire, but we finished the race.”

Woody's ride at Irwindale.  (NASCAR Photo)

“I just wanted to come here and finish the race,” said Pitkat.  “That to me is a big plus. A top-15 would have been like a win to me, but a 24th place finish in my first race is pretty good. It’s an accomplishment.”

Pitkat successfully qualified for the race and was running on the lead lap when he pitted to change batteries and fell far behind.

“We struggled all weekend with it being tight. We kept working on it though. After we came back out from changing the battery it seemed really good, but I knew we could have gone a little bit more to make it better.

“The battery happened right after that first segment that we pitted. They unplugged the boxes for the kill switch because they thought I was going to hit it. Then it wouldn’t start there so they plugged it back in and jumped it. Then it started sputtering. I shut the fan off and it ran better for a little while. I looked at the voltage after than it was only eight. They were telling me to shut

Woody Pitkat has won 11 times so far this season, and he’s still got a few more chances to add to that tally.  Still, the Connecticut hotshoe was reasonable when it came to setting his expectations for this past weekend’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway (CA).

The race would be Pitkat’s first in a NASCAR Grand National-style car and it would be against the best drivers in that type of machine from both the East and West Coasts.  So even though Pitkat finished 24th in the race after running into electrical problems, he was still satisfied with the result.

Pitkat Finishes NASCAR Toyota All-Star Challenge

Electrical Problems Set Back Team at Irwindale, But Woody Makes it to the End Anyways