Woody had another strong showing in the Hillbilly Racing #79 at Stafford. (51 Photo)
Once Pitkat finished with his SK and Late Model, he headed to the Whelen Modified Tour ride.
“We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted too. I knew I would be ok during the race for having so many laps at the track. I just needed to get the car comfortable. I drove right to sixth or seventh about 40 laps in. I might have abused the tire because I’m used to the SK mentality of driving it as hard as you can as quick as you can. I was running around fifth or sixth and just rode to help save the tires.
“We pitted and started to come back through. We got back up to sixth or seventh and was racing with (Todd) Szegedy and just drove it too hard trying to get the spot and spun. I felt bad because the Hills (car owner Roger and Crew Chief David) gave me a good car. After that, I knew I just needed to drive back up through the field and get all I could when I could. I think we were hurt by the cautions at the end. We had a top-five car for sure.”
“The last couple of weeks, we’ve hardly touched the car when we bring it back,” added Pitkat. “We just clean
it, nut and bolt it and move on. When we go to the track, we try different stuff. If it doesn’t work, we go back to what we have. That is why we have won four in a row, because we don’t just sit on the one setup. We still try and improve it.”
Woody is on fire at Stafford. (Jim DuPont Photos)
The win helped Pitkat extend his points lead in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series National Championship. But the wins never come easy. And four-in-a-row doesn’t mean that the TSI Harley-Davidson / The Davidson Company #52 team are sitting on their laurels.
“Wins are never really easy, especially at Stafford," said Pitkat. “A lot of it is luck; maybe 70-percent luck and 30-percent driver and equipment. We’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right times this year. We’ve been in the right places when there are accidents and we get through them. And, from day one, the car has been dead on this year.”
Many wonder, with such a streak, what Pitkat and the team do to prepare. While they don’t do much in the shop, they continue to practice like they are still searching for win number one.
Stafford, Connecticut is Woody Pitkat’s home. But this past weekend, it could have been zeroed right down to the pit area at Stafford Motor Speedway. In addition to the SK Modified race at Thompson on Thursday night, where he finished fifth, Pitkat raced three different cars at Stafford on Saturday night.
Pitkat won the SK Modified event at Stafford, his fourth-straight SK win at the historic Northeast track. Then, he finished seventh in the Late Model class, followed by a 10th-place finish in the 150-lap Whelen Modified Tour race for Hillbilly Racing.
Pitkat Continues Dream Season With Fourth Straight SMS Win
Busy Day at Stafford Also Brings a Top-10 In Tour Car
Pitkat will be back in action with Hillbilly Racing this coming Thursday when the Whelen Modified Tour heads to Thompson. Pitkat will also be racing his SK Modified at the track. He’ll also return to Stafford Friday night for a full slate of Late Model and SK Modified action.
