Woody Pitkat Ready For New Part-Time Whelen Mod Tour Effort With Gunsmoke-Stebbins Racing

Woody Pitkat (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Despite losing his ride with the Goodie Motorsports No. 46 last week, Woody Pitkat plans to be in the lineup when the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to Stafford Motor Speedway on Aug. 4.

Pitkat has helped piece together a new part-time team that he will debut with at the Whelen Modified Tour Stafford 150 on Aug. 4.

Longtime local Gunsmoke Stables Racing team owner Steve Greer will lead the effort. Pitkat won the 2013 SK Modified championship running for Greer.

Greer will team up with team owner Dan Stebbins – who owns the team that Pitkat drives for on the Valenti Modified Racing Series and Modified Touring Series – to form Gunsmoke-Stebbins Racing.

Last Monday management from Pitkat’s former No. 46 Goodie Motorsports team told him they were shutting the team down and selling their equipment. Greer was looking to buy, but when Pitkat contacted team owner Russell Goodale on Tuesday about purchasing equipment he was told the team was actually going to continue to run but change drivers.

Then Greer was able to purchase a car from Jerry Solomito.

“He has obviously has been very very very good to me and every generous to me with everything,” Pitkat said of Greer. “From everything to giving me an [SK Modified ride at Stafford Motor Speedway] in 2013 and winning the championship to giving me a motor when I ran for [car owner Adam Skowyra] at Stafford and he’s always been sponsoring me and helping me with tire money and stuff on the [Whelen Modified Tour]. He’s always been a great. He owns one of the cars that I run the [Valenti Modified Racing Series] and the [Exit Realty Modified Touring Series] with. He talked about wanting to get another car and maybe get rid of that car. When this whole deal kind of was falling apart and broke free last week, he had said that if they were going to sell one of their car owners and at the time it sounded like they were selling everything, and he was willing to buy it. Obviously the next day they told me they were still going racing.”

“Jerry Solomito had a car. … Steve worked out a deal with them and we ended up getting a car. Steve said that he’d like to get his feet wet on the [Whelen Modified Tour] and see what it’s all about with NASCAR and stuff.”

Right now the team is looking at competing in the event on Aug. 4 at Stafford then running the NAPA Fall Final 150 at Stafford on Oct. 1 and the Sunoco World Series of Racing 150 at Thompson Speedway on Oct. 15.

“We’re going to team up with Danny [Stebbins] and those guys up there and maintain it with their team and they’re going to help me crew it at the track,” Pitkat said. “It’s kind of a cool deal because it’s people that I’ve worked with for the last two or three years and know what I like. … We’re kind of putting two teams together to make this thing work. We’ll just go to Stafford how we can do and hopefully we’ll be good when we unload.”

Pitkat is currently ninth in the Whelen Modified Tour standings after seven of 16 events this year. Pitkat said the team is looking for sponsorship. Pitkat stressed that he hopes to compete in all the Whelen Modified Tour events this year and is still looking at options to make that happen.

“I’m still looking for other options for the rest of the year,” Pitkat said. “For now this is just really for those few events.”