|
PITKAT TO RUN
COOK NASCAR HALL OF FAME TRIBUTE CAR
NASCAR Whelen Modified Title Contender To Pilot Ride At New
Hampshire |
NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour championship contender Woody
Pitkat will sport a different car number and colors
this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but
the marks will be plenty familiar to longtime
modified fans.
Pitkat's regular No. 88 black and blue Chevrolet has
transformed into a red and white No. 38 as a tribute
to NASCAR Hall of Fame-elect Jerry Cook for
Saturday’s F.W. Webb 100. The throwback scheme
features a red paint with white lettering and
numbers outlined in black, and the look comes
complete with Cook’s primary sponsors Hollebrand
Trucking and B&M Speed Shop. The No. 88 team’s
present day sponsor Buzz Chew Chevrolet is also
feature on the car with a retro logo.
Although Cook had retired from competition by the
time New Hampshire’s “Magic Mile” opened in 1990,
the track is the most prominent venue the Whelen
Modified Tour visits, providing a fitting place for
the tribute to take place.
The selection of the Buzz Chew Motorsports team for
this tribute opportunity was also apt. Pitkat is the
defending winner of the F.W. Webb 100 and is just
one point out of first in the 2015 championship
race.
“This is a great honor to have Buzz Chew Racing and
Woody Pitkat carry my colors and number at New
Hampshire,” Cook said. “Being elected to the NASCAR
Hall of Fame is as great as it gets. It’s out of
this world for sure.”
Cook barnstormed his way up and down the East Coast
chasing wins and points. He compiled 342 checkered
flags in 1,474 starts and earned six NASCAR modified
division national championships from 1971-77. Only
six drivers in the history of NASCAR racing at all
levels have more series titles than the Rome, New
York, native.
“All of the racing they did, the accomplishments he
had and the championships he won, it’s a huge honor
for our team to be able to do this,” Pitkat said.
Cook often raced a handful of times a week, and
Pitkat – who maintains an aggressive racing schedule
himself by today’s standards – feels a bit of a
kindship to the man his team is paying tribute to.
“I’m kind of in the same boat because I do a lot of
racing myself,” Pitkat said. “I race four different
cars – he was probably doing it with just one car
back then – but it makes me feel good that I’m kind
of doing the same thing he did.”
Cook will join former competitor and rival Evans,
also from Rome, New York, as the only competitors
from NASCAR’s weekly and regional touring division
ranks to receive NASCAR Hall of Fame election.
In a similar effort, Mystic Missile Racing featured
an Evans tribute paint scheme at New Hampshire in
the September 2011 Whelen Modified Tour event
following his posthumous NASCAR Hall of Fame
election.
“To me it’s a huge honor,” Pitkat said. “I remember
a few years ago when Bobby [Santos] drove the Richie
Evans tribute car and that was really cool.”
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is
scheduled for Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, and will be
broadcast on NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, live
from Charlotte, North Carolina. Cook will be
inducted alongside Bobby Isaac, Terry Labonte, O.
Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner.
|
Source:
Jason Cunningham
/
NASCAR
Posted:
September 24, 2015 |
|
|