Last season the press was on for Woody Pitkat in getting to know a new SK Modified team at Stafford Motor Speedway. It was a new relationship that proved championship worthy.
For 2014 he has nearly a whole offseason to get know another new organization as he prepares to defend his first SK Modified title at Stafford.
Pitkat, who lost his ride from 2013 with owner Steve Greer in the SK Modifeid division at Stafford, will replace Michael Bennett with the Skowyra family owned SK Modified team at the legendary half-mile oval in 2014.
It means Pitkat has all his Modified rides lined up for 2014. He revealed last week to RaceDayCT that he would drive for Buzz Chew Racing on the NASCAR Modified Tour in 2014. He will also return with SK Modified team owner Jimmy Paige at Thompson Speedway.
“It’s nice to know earlier than later,” Pitkat said of finalizing the deal to run for the Skowyra team. “This is probably the first year where I’ve got all my ducks in a row pretty early with the Tour ride and then this deal.”
With a just a handful of week left before the start of the 2013 season, Pitkat and Greer came together and the matchup, with Earl Pelletier as the crew chief, led to a championship run at Stafford. Pitkat edged fellow NASCAR Modified Tour regular Ryan Preece by two points in the standings at Stafford in 2013. Multiple sources have said Preece is likely in line to replace Pitkat in the Greer owned car next year at Stafford.
“I would have liked to have been able to do something with Steve and Earl because the year we had, I felt like at the end of the year we had kind of hit on something special and I wish I could have brought that into next year,” Pitkat said. “But, the racing game is a funny thing and I guess it’s time to open up another chapter to this book of racing that I have.”
Adam Skowyra, who once drove the car Pitkat will now pilot, will serve as the crew chief for the team owned by his parents Les and Tina Skowyra.
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Adam Skowyra said. “He just won a championship and he’s been in a position to do that many times in his career there. I feel like we can give him a car capable of repeating that championship. It feels good. We consider him one of the better SK [Modified] drivers at Stafford and to have him is a great opportunity for this team. … There’s definitely some pressure on our end to give him a car good enough to perform and be able to run for wins, but I think we can do it.”
Said Pitkat: “It’s nice to have it done. It gives me all winter to gel with those guys and see what they do and get on the same page with them.”
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