Santos Family Aims To Extend Stafford NEMA Streak With Woody Pitkat
Brockton, MA — The Santos family hopes to extend a win streak Tuesday night in the Northeastern Midget Association segment of Stafford Motor Speedway’s Xtreme Tuesday. The family will be looking for a fifth straight Stafford win. The Santos 98 that Bobby Santos III has driven to two USAC victories over the last two weeks will come to Stafford with SK Modified® competitor Woody Pitkat behind the wheel.
Although Pitkat has never turned a lap in competition behind the wheel of a NEMA car, he has 39 career victories at Stafford driving SK Modified®, Late Model, and DARE Stock cars. Pitkat is looking forward to the challenge of the NEMA car.
“I’m going to have to get used how the car handles and reacts, but I think that my knowledge of the track will be an advantage for me,” said Pitkat. “My goal for the race is to have fun and finish in front of Erica [Santos].”
Erica Santos, who became NEMA’s first female winner at Stafford in ’07, will be in the Breault #44. The other three wins belong to Bobby.
“We took the #98s home and put the wing on,” said Bobby Santos, Jr. “We’ll see what happens. We’re coming to win. Woody is no stranger to Stafford.”
Bertrand Motorsports will “double team” the event as well. Veteran Jeff Horn, who has a Stafford win, will join defending champion Ray Cabral, the latter looking for a third straight win in as many starts in the Bertrand 47. Horn will be in the #74, a new car.
Cabral and Bertrand, second at Stafford last year, added Monadnock and Lee USA Speedways to the vanquished list so far in ’09. They would love to include Stafford as well. Other than than Santos and Jeff Horn, only Nokie Fornoro, among current competitors, has tasted victory at Stafford. NEMA returned to the storied half mile in 2004 after a 23-year absence. In addition to being one of the fastest stops on the NEMA agenda, Stafford is one of the most challenging.
“There are tracks with a definite mystique, with so much history, where winning is really special,” offers Horn. “Stafford is one of them.”
“It is a quick joint,” says Fornoro. “You have to want to go fast.”
Russ Stoehr (Angelillo 45), Mike Keeler (TSR #63) and Adam Cantor (Cantor 7ny) all come to Stafford off strong efforts at Lee USA Speedway. Other contenders include William and Aaron Wall in the Wall Motorsports cars and Greg Stoehr in the Stoehr 26b.
NEMA NUGGETS: A charter member of NEMA (Johnny DeLeo was the first winner way back in 1953), Stafford has hosted some historic open-cockpit battles. Included on the list are Santos’ $50,000 payday from winning both the Midget and Big Car features on Aug. 15, 2006 and Jerry Wall’s win in the rear-engine “Yellow Jacket” back in 1971 and Denny Zimmerman’s URC win in 1967…Nokie Fornoro’s two Stafford wins were 23 years apart. After he won in 1981, NEMA did not return until 2004 when he won again…Modified drivers Gene Bergin, Geoff Bodine, Bugsy Stevens and Reggie Ruggiero have all had impressive runs with NEMA, with Bergin actually owning two wins.
NEMA Winners at Stafford Motor Speedway
No. Driver First Last
6 Dave Humphrey 1968 1973
5 Lou Fray 1967 1971
3 Johnny Coy, Sr. 1967 1969
3 Johnny Mann 1972 1975
3 Bobby Santos, III 2006 2008
2 Nokie Fornoro 1981 2004
2 Ben Seitz 2005 2006
2 Jerry Wall 1971 1972
One-time Stafford winners:
Johnny DeLeo (1953)
Ronnie Evans (1955)
Jeff Horn (2005)
Ray Roberts (1970)
Erica Santos (2007)