Woody Pitkat Shuffles Four Team Lineup
Two New Modified Rides for Stafford And Tour
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Woody Pitkat begins 2014 with two new teams in his four-team collaboration.
Pitkat, 34, of Stafford, Conn., won his long-sought first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series SK Modified track championship at Stafford Motor Speedway in 2013. He won the title by just two points over Ryan Preece. Preece, 23, of Berlin, Conn., won the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship.
This year Pitkat hopes to take his two new teams to their first victories in NASCAR competition.
Pitkat joined the Skowyra family’s Stafford SK Modified team for 2014.
“They’ve been around for years,” Pitkat said. “They have good equipment and a ton of potential. I hope I can be a piece of the puzzle that helps get them to Victory Lane.”
The car is owned by Les and Tina Skowyra and their son Adam is crew chief. Adam was a crew member with Preece and Flamingo Motorsports in winning the 2013 modified tour championship.
Pitkat also joined the Buzz Chew Chevrolet-Elbow East team and crew chief Ron Ste-Marie to run the tour’s full schedule this year. Pitkat’s goal is to get the first tour win for the Chew team and himself.
“This is the best opportunity of my career on the tour,” Pitkat said.
Pitkat’s best tour finish is second twice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon in 2011 and Stafford in 2012. Entering their fourth year of competition, the Buzz Chew Chevrolet team’s best tour finish is fourth at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H., last year.
Pitkat will continue running the full Sunoco Modified division schedule at Thompson for James Paige and the full late model division schedule at Stafford for Bill Snow.
Pitkat won the coveted Stafford title in a single-season stint with Gunsmoke Stables Racing owned by Steve Greer. In a pre-determined move, Preece became the Gunsmoke team’s driver for 2014 replacing Pitkat.
“In my only season with the team they did what nobody else did for me and I’m thankful for the opportunity,” Pitkat said of winning the track title with the Gunsmoke team.
“Nothing changes between Ryan and me,” Pitkat continued. “Ryan’s always been a good friend and we’ve done a lot of racing together.”
Pitkat won the Stafford title with a record of two wins, 12 top-fives and 14 top-10s in 18 starts. He placed third in the state point race and 13th in national standings. Rocco won the 2013 Sunoco Modified championship over Pitkat at Thompson (Conn.) Speedway Motorsports Park in a point race tiebreaker. Rocco had more feature wins than Pitkat, 5-2.
Pitkat also finished second in Stafford’s late model division point race last year. He placed 14th in the 2013 NASCAR Finalist Division II point standings.
Pitkat grew up watching races at the Stafford and began his racing career in Dare Stocks there as a 17-year-old in 1996. He won Thompson’s late model championship in 2002. He joined the SK Modified ranks in 2004 and won races and rookie-of-the-year awards at Stafford and Thompson.
In a previous format he won a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisional championship and the Thompson Sunoco Modified track championship in 2006. In the current format he won NASCAR’s Connecticut state championship and placed second to Steve Carlson for the 2007 national championship.
At Stafford he won the 2006 and 2012 late model division championships and is second on the all-time feature win list with 39. In the SK Modified division there he’s fifth on the all-time win list with 27.
Pitkat is a full-time school bus mechanic for First Student Bus Company in East Hartford, Conn. He is engaged to Erica Santos, sister of 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Bobby Santos. The couple recently purchased a home together in Sturbridge, Mass.
Stafford Motor Speedway opens with the 43rd annual Spring Sizzler Apr. 27. The race day includes a 200-lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event, a 40-lap SK Modified feature and a 30-lap late model feature. Pitkat expects to compete in all three divisions.
Sources: Paul Schaefer/NASCAR PR