Woody Pitkat
An old familiar face to the SK Modified division at Stafford Speedway is set to make a return Friday.
Long a fixture of weekly racing at his hometown track, Woody Pitkat returns to competition in the SK Modified division at Stafford Speedway Friday.
Pitkat will drive the familiar black, red and gold No. 10A SK Modified in place of driver Dan Avery, who will be serving a suspension for an on-track incident from last week’s feature.
“I had seen that was he was going to have a week off so I just contacted him to see what his plans were, if he was going to just take the week off, or could I throw some interest out there that I’d like to, just go and do it,” Pitkat said. “It worked out good.
“I know he’s got a good car so I figured it would just give me another opportunity to get down there and run an SK [Modified].”
Pitkat runs regularly this season with the Whelen Modified Tour, the Valenti Modified Racing Series and in the SK Modified and Late Model divisions at Thompson Speedway.
Pitkat was a regular for about a decade in the SK Modified division at Stafford and won the 2013 championship at the track. He sits fourth all-time on the track’s SK Modified win list with 30 career victory in the division. His last SK Modified victory at Stafford came on June 10, 2016. He has not started a race in the division since 2016.
“Obviously when I go there and watch when I’m there with the [Valenti Modified Racing Series] or the [NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour], I definitely miss it,” Pitkat said. “I don’t think I miss the 16 weeks in a row that they had before they had a rain out. That grind I don’t think I miss.”
Pitkat is second on the track’s overall all-time win list with 77 career victories. He has 40 career Late Model wins at Stafford, which is third all-time for that division. He won Late Model championships at Stafford in 2006 and 2012.
His win list at Stafford also includes two Whelen Modified Tour victories, two Valenti Modified Racing Series wins and three wins in the track’s former DARE Stock division.
“I told Dan I just want to go down there and have fun,” Pitkat said. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not going to take any chances or do anything stupid to tear the car up. I just want to go down there and have fun and maybe help those guys too. Maybe there’s some feedback that I can give them or [Avery’s teammate Glen Reen] that will help them in the long run.”
Thanks Dan , Good Luck Woody
Good to see Woody back in an SK at SMS, even if only for 1 race. Good luck to Woody and the 10A team Friday night.
They going to saw Woody off at the knees to fit them in that car
Why has Dan Avery been suspended for this week at Stafford? I was at Stafford last week, but apparently missed some key “action”.
Rafter,
From the Stafford penalty page:
#10 SK Modified®, driver Dan Avery
Infraction- Actions detrimental to the sport, on-track, intentional contact with the #25 under yellow.
Penalties- Parked for remainder of feature event. Suspended for next completed event. Placed on probation through the completion of the 2018 season.
https://www.staffordmotorspeedway.com/august-31-2018-lincoln-tech-vmrs-80-penalty-tech-notices/
makes me laugh when a driver gets penalized for contact under yellow…. what is the harm? unless he damages the car he came in contact with. i don’t ever remember seeing TC or Rocco to name a few getting suspended for contact under yellow. Stafford seems to take away all the fun and excitement with their stupid rules… let the drivers show emotion, winners should be allowed to do at least one dounut after the race….
Stafford Suspended Avery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.What about the 11,runs into everything under green and yellow.What in the world are they doing,must be another reason behind it,points or something.That is a joke.
I see why you call yourself blind as a bat , you must have been getting another refreshment when Dan was using his car as a battering ram under yellow which I guess is better than under green and I’m pretty sure that rule is at every track
I wish woody would drive the 99 now that pennick retired! Stafford officials should watch glen reen, he’s a mess on the track!
Glen Reen got a night off earlier in the year for on track incidents. I think it was related to late model but he wasnt allowed to race the SK.
Good to see Woody back. i think the Stafford SK talent pool has taken a big step down this year with the loss of Pennink, Preece and TC. Getting Woody back would help but like someone said earlier this is probably a one race deal. He would look good back in the 99. Does Anyone know what there plans are going forward?
Only 17 SK’s started the feature, I believe that would be a season low. I dont know who was missing aside from Eric Berndt. At least the fan favorite MC jr won.
Berndt came in 7th last night. Notable absences were Kopcik and Bowles.
17 cars last night was the season low the previous being 19 on 6/22, 7/6 & 8/24.
Given the season grind with only one rain out and considering the loss of Pennink the field based on times is still extremely strong in my view. The top two cars from last year in points are still there although Williams holds an all but impossible lead to overcome as long as he shows up.
There have been eight different feature winners and four multi race winners so far that is on the high side and a good thing.
Williams who last won on 7/20 who said with a bit of cockiness at the time they would be winning more races. So far that has not happened.
Christopher winning one race was nice but two firmly establishes that team as a force in the division which is as we all hoped it would be. Last night the best car did win cautions of not. Pitkat and Williams had the second best cars and Dowling overachieved and benefited most by no interruptions.
17 events were completed the previous two years making this year exceptional in terms of events completed and stressful on the teams competing for points. Two event’s to go. It would be nice to know what the least number of rain outs has been for a season.
As far as the 99 goes, Bob Hitchock has stuck to his plan. He had an agreement with Rowan, Bob was either done racing when he turned 60 or when Rowan was done. Bob is done… all though I’m told he may stay on and do some testing for CD.
Missing SK’s we’ve seen at some point this year were the 00, 2, 4, 5, 6, 27, 31, 40, 51, 52, 67, 76, 92, 99.
We know the stories on a few, but I wonder if some have run short of time or cash due to the lack of rainouts? Maybe we’ll see many of them for the Fall Final.
Thanks Doug you are correct Berndt finished 7th. I missed that in the rundown on race monitor. I have all but stopped going to Stafford because the late model and limited lates. I still go on here and check the results so I haven’t completely lost interest yet. Though I have stopped watching the vids online. I agree its been a long season with only one rain out. This is probably the first race where the kids were back in school. So maybe some of the younger drivers were in sports or at college. All in all, the SK’s at Stafford are still one of the best divisions around. Car counts seem to be down across the board at most tracks this time of year. It’s an expensive sport.
AL- Thanks for the update. That is a little disappointing to here that the 99 will not be returning to weekly competition. They had a good car.
cg dude, you’re killing me. The idea is to support the track in some way and you’re comments have been some of the best I’ve read. Only to find out you don’t go to any event? We all love Live Timing when we can’t be at the race but man not supporting Stafford at all? Uncool.