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WOODY PITKAT
READY TO DEFEND NAPA SPRING SIZZLER CROWN
WITH NEW TEAM |
Last
year’s NAPA Spring Sizzler was a dream come true for
hometown driver Woody Pitkat as he became the first
driver from Stafford Springs to win “The Greatest
Race in the History of Spring.” Pitkat has since
changed teams from Buzz Chew’s #88 to Kevin Stuart’s
#85 Stuart’s Automotive team and he will go for two
in a row with a new team when he takes the green
flag in the 45th Annual NAPA Spring Sizzler on April
24.
“It’s a little frustrating in that it seems every
couple of years I’m switching teams,” said Pitkat.
“But doing something different allows me to meet a
bunch of new people and have a better relationship
with people that I’ve raced against for most of my
career. I’ve been to the shop a couple of times and
Kevin’s team works really hard on the car and Kevin
has nothing but the best on the car. I’ve been
fortunate enough to find good people and good rides
and I’m excited to go back to Stafford and hopefully
win or at least be in contention for back to back
Sizzler wins with Kevin’s team. It’s probably going
to be a tough feat. Last year was my second year
together with Buzz’s guys and they knew what I liked
in a car and the equipment that we had was a big
help in winning that race. It might take a little
time for me to get acclimated with Kevin’s guys but
races are won at the shop and all of Kevin’s guys
are working hard to make the car bulletproof for the
200 laps and we’re going to give it our best to try
to win the race. One thing I do have that’s
beneficial is Greg Felton, who was my crew chief
with the VMRS car last year, is helping us out and
Spot, my old crew chief from Buzz’s team, has gone
above and beyond to take some phone calls from me as
to what direction to go with the car even though I’m
not racing with him anymore. That just shows the
friendship that we have and his help really means a
lot to me. I think we’re going to be in real good
shape.”
Although Pitkat may be driving a new car and engine
combination he says that there are enough
similarities between the #88 car he drove last year
and the #85 car that he’ll be piloting this season
that the change in teams may not be as big of a
challenge as it might look like from the outside.
“The 85 car is a Troyer chassis and it’s kind of
like what I had when I was driving the #88 car,”
said Pitkat. “The rear end of the car is more
similar to what I had in the #42 VMRS car, so it
should be pretty good on the long run. Kevin has a
relationship with Mike Pettit from his VMRS
experience and if his Tour motors run as good as his
SK motors do, we should be in really good shape.
There’s no reasons why we shouldn’t be good. Kevin
has nothing but the best equipment and it’s all new
stuff and they’ve had a lot of success in the VMRS
with Todd Szegedy driving the car. It might just
take a little time to get used to new guys and what
we want to do on pit road with our pit stops. We
have all the right pieces, we just have to put them
together the right way.”
Pitkat will also be looking to turn some heads
behind the wheel of the #50 Flamingo Motorsports SK
Modified®. Steve Greer, who Pitkat drove for when he
won the 2013 SK Modified® championship, has
purchased the #42 VMRS car that Pitkat piloted to 2
Stafford wins and the VMRS championship last season
and Pitkat will be driving that same car in the SK
Modified® division this season. If the car drives as
good as it did during the three VMRS races at
Stafford last season, Pitkat could be among the
contenders for the track title this season.
“I’m really excited to see how the car will run as
an SK,” said Pitkat. “If it runs as good as it did
last year, I think we might have something for the
boys this year. Steve Greer has given us the car and
engine and we’re going to maintain it at Adam
Skowyra’s shop. I won a championship with Steve and
then we kind of went our separate ways. He gave us a
motor to use last year and with that motor we were
able to give the Skowyra Family their first SK
Modified® win so it’s a nice story that we’re all
back together again.”
Tickets for the “Greatest Race in the History of
Spring” are on sale now at the Speedway Box Office.
Tickets are priced at $38.50 for adult general
admission tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and
children ages 5 and under are admitted free of
charge when accompanied by an adult. Reserved
seating is priced at $42.00 for all ages. As always,
Stafford Motor Speedway offers free parking with
overnight parking available. All tickets are good
for both Saturday and Sunday admission. All ticket
prices include 10% CT Admission Tax. Discount
Tickets will be available at all 57 participating
NAPA Auto Parts stores beginning on Monday April
4th. For a full list of the 57 locations throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode
Island, call the speedway office or visit us on the
web at
www.staffordmotorspeedway.com/participating-napa-auto-parts-stores.
For more information on the 45th Annual NAPA Auto
Parts Spring Sizzler, or to order tickets, contact
the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com.
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Source:
Scott Running / Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted:
March 25, 2016 |
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