On Sunday, Pitkat completed the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event that was rained out several weeks back at Thompson. Even with the busy schedule all weekend, Pitkat had enough left in the tank to score a season’s-best seventh-place finish.
“The last time we were there we were really good. We were fast out of the box. The feature we were a little tight, started 15 – pitted halfway through the race. After we came out of the pits, I know we got hit, but I didn’t know what the problem was. All of a sudden something happened. It was weird and hard to tell the crew what it was doing.
“We came in the pits ninth and came out third and it ended up the shock was bad. I just had to hang on and we finished seventh. It was nice to get a top-10 out of there. Considering out luck the last couple of races, it was a good finish. Even with the shock, we can build toward Stafford that’s pretty much the main goal with the Tour car now. Get as much seat time as I can and try to gel with the crew and crew chief so we know what everybody likes going into next year. We’ll just keep on digging.”
Pitkat will be back on track in a tripleheader of racing action on September 30th in the Fall Final event at Stafford Motor Speedway. Pitkat will be completing his 2007 Stafford season in the #48 Late Model and the #52 SK Modified, where he could clinch the NASCAR National Championship with a victory. Then, Pitkat will run the NASCAR Whelen Mod Tour race in the #79 machine.
Even with his busy schedule, Woody is having a season to remember this year. (Jim DuPont Photos)
“We just went there and we were fast out of the box,” said Pitkat of his Hitchcock Pool Water / TSI Harley-Davidson #99 Sunoco Modified. “We were fast the week before and had a good chance at winning and ended up spinning out while leading. We knew going into the last race we could win if we had a good car. I hadn’t won all year and that was the last race and we were so close with the points and we were trying to win the championship. We were trying to win the race too because they guys on the team work so hard. I just went out and tried to win and whatever happened with the points happened. I just tried to get out front as quick as I could, we just wanted to go out there and win and that’s what we did.”
Pitkat followed up the success at Thompson with a third-place finish in the SK Modified at Stafford and a sixth-place run in the Late Model. Pitkat helped his teams load up after the action at Stafford and made the four-plus hour trip to Oswego Speedway in New York to compete in the Race Of Champions Tour-Type Modified event. Pitkat had a good run going with his Coors Light #79 car for Hillbilly Racing at Oswego before bad luck set in.
“We didn’t really get a lot of practice up there, they only give us like eight laps each. They had 47 cars, I had to go in the heat race and won it and started 16th in the feature race. The car was pretty good for the first 40 or 50 laps, but for some reason, the way my lucks been, the carburetor started falling apart and it started running real bad. Instead of just riding around, I just pulled it in tried to get out of there as quick as we could and get back to Thompson.”
Running five races in four days in two states, Woody Pitkat was trying to score more solid finishes to add to his already-impressive resume this season over the weekend. With a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship on the line, Pitkat was out to do his best at Stafford Speedway in the SK Modified on Friday, while trying to get back into the win column at Thompson and get as much experience as possible in two marquis Tour-Type Modified events over the weekend.
It was mission accomplished all the way around, as Pitkat scored his first Sunoco Mod victory of the season at Thompson Int'l Speedway (CT). On Friday, Woody finished third in the SK Modified and sixth in the Late Model, thus closing ever closer to the NASCAR National title. Then on Saturday, Woody finished 28th in the Race of Champions at Oswego, then finished seventh at Thompson in the Mod Tour race, completing a very busy, yet very successful weekend highlighted by Thursday’s Sunoco Modified victory at Thompson.
Woody Pitkat Gets Back Into Thompson Victory Lane
Woody Inching Closer to NASCAR Regional Title
