Woody Pitkat Lands With Team Owner Eddie Harvey On Whelen Modified Tour


(Press Release from NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications)

Woody Pitkat (Photo: Shawn Courchesne/RaceDayCT)

There is going to be a new driver and team combination in town when the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rolls into New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Musket 250 presented by Whelen next month.

Woody Pitkat will team with Eddie Harvey Racing for the longest race of the season, and will also drive the No. 1 for the final two races of the year at Stafford Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

The hope is that the combination will make a run at the Whelen Modified Tour title in 2020.

“It’s just been a 10 year friendship and the timing is right,” Harvey told NASCAR.com. “For the last three years, every time we have come north to race, I’ve been going out to dinner with Woody at least one of the nights. How we have never come together before is beyond me, but we never really thought about it.”

Pitkat is no stranger to winning success. He has four career Whelen Modified Tour wins, with the most recent of them coming with Danny Watts Racing this season in May at Wall Stadium Speedway in New Jersey. He’s a former NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champion at both Stafford and Thompson as well.

RACING-REFERENCE: Woody Pitkat Career Stats

“I think it’s a good deal,” Pitkat told NASCAR.com. “I’ve had a long relationship with Eddie back since I was running with David Hill and going down south. Eddie called me and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m fortunate enough that he is giving me the opportunity to do it.”

This season, Harvey has competed in 10 of the 11 races with three different drivers behind the wheel. Burt Myers drove the car to four finishes inside the top seven in the first four races of the season, before chasing and eventually earning his 10th NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified championship at Bowman Gray Stadium. Jeff Rocco and George Brunnhoelzl III have also competed for the North Carolina based car owner.

Harvey is a former championship car owner on the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

“I’ve never really driven an LFR car in a race, I practiced Bobby Santos’ a few times, but I’ve never been able to race it. I’m looking forward to something new, and I’ve seen what the LFR brand has accomplished on the tour,” Pitkat said. “You’ve seen what some of the people who have switched have done. Every time I have talked to Eddie has been really fun. I’m hoping we will be good right off the trailer.”

Pitkat and Harvey have picked the most prestigious race of the 16-event championship points schedule to begin their pairing. The Musket 250 presented by Whelen puts drivers, equipment and teams to the test, with live pit stops and strategy playing a major role in the final laps.

“They finished third in the race last year and I think it was the first time Burt Myers had ever seen the place,” Pitkat said. “The race comes down the strategy, and if anything, it will give me a chance to get acclimated to the equipment. We will have to stay on the lead lap and be in contention at the end. I’m going to places like Loudon, Thompson and Stafford, and I feel like those are my key tracks.”

“I just want to give him an opportunity to turn it up and have some good races under him,” Harvey said.


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Comments

  1. Sounds like a good choice for both hope it works out , the tour could use another solid competitor, best of luck

  2. New wheels for Woody!! Go get’m.

  3. Seekonk fan says

    Elect. How is the tour getting another competitor ? Woody has been on the tour all year long.

  4. Woody in Ed Harvey’s #1 a good combo for sure. Ed is one of LFR’s original customers, so look for Rob’s support in their efforts.

  5. Seekonk I said a solid competitor not just mid pack like the last few years , he was a solid competitor in the 88

  6. You guys do love your Woody don’t you? So what’s the deal with him? Why do you like him so much?
    You know that 50 car Ronnie Williams is doing so well with at Stafford. Woody’s ride. Before he was replaced by Dowling who raced it to a second place in 2017. They try to make his replacement in the 82 mutual but in the middle of the season clearly there was a problem. And again replaced by Dowling so now we’ll see the rubber meet the road and if Chase can milk more out of a car once again.
    On the other hand he steps into Dan Avery’s car at Thompson and turns heads with great finishes.
    My take is Pitkat is an old school, have helmet, will travel racer. If it’s a good car he’ll probably get the most out of it but over time won’t make it better. Capable but lacks the one ingredient needed these days to be in the top tier. He’s just not user friendly. He says what he thinks to a fault and is incapable of hiding his true feelings. Over time it rubs some people the wrong way. Compared to guys like Dowling and Williams that are so buttoned up it takes a jaws of life to get a real emotion out of them.
    Eddie Harvey trying yet another driver. Do you think this will be the secret sauce they need to get some really good finishes. We’ll see but I wouldn’t count on it.

  7. Doug, in the second season that Woody drove the Skowyra #50, the car was a SPAFCO/ something mongrel that was owned by Stebbins. It was the car he won the VMRS championship with in 2015. They had some good runs but really bad luck. In2017 they brought out a brand new Troyer car, and Dowling finished 2nd in points. For 2018 they brought out another new Troyer car which Ronnie won the championship with. Point being that Woody is a great driver, who when given good equipment, gets good results. I think the combination of Woody and Ed Harvey will be a potential team for the NWMT championship.

  8. Hey Doug didn’t williams just get bounced from the 21 tour car , did he rub someone the wrong way

  9. That was some pretty terrific historical context Rob. You’re right of course, a good driver needs good equipment.
    I guess in this round of musical chairs I would think the Dowling situation would have a greater upside since they’re getting a chassis guy as well as a driver. But we’ll see won’t we. One or both teams will get better or they won’t and results will tell the tale.
    Williams did get bounced from the 21. What was the reason? Performance? Williams school commitments? Blewett bringing more resources to a partnership? Lack of chemistry? Do you know Elect? I don’t. His supporters think he’s special as a driver and yet he isn’t landing any of these short term NWMT open seats. What’s up with that?
    We all have our favorites. I just think Dowling is a river that runs very deep. Young, knows chassis’s and seems to get along with most people. He’s a rain maker. But it’s only one view from on fan in the cheap seats.

  10. When it comes to racing, in any form there are several things that must be in place to run well. You need good equipment, your not going to win in inferior stuff. Your driver must be able to diagnose the car. Your crew chief must know how to adjust the car based on what the driver tells him. You need money, your not gonna win running someone else’s take off. But I think foremost you need chemistry. When you show up at the track, you should be having fun, not bickering. The most successful teams have all of the above. There are some teams in tour, and tour Type racing, who are back markers but would probly do very well in another form of racing. But personally to me it should be about having fun, because if your not, why do it.

  11. Doug I don’t know we can all speculate but in the end the one being bounced and the one doing the bouncing know for sure , as far as Woody , he can be seen in the pits still visiting or hanging with his old team’s so I don’t think he leaves or gets released ( bounced) on bad terms , one big one is Steven Grear who continues to help Woody after woody got him a SK championship even knowing going in it was going to be a one year deal, I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t think woody is as bad as some seem to think

  12. I’m having a flash back Elect. 2017, Dowling wins his first race in the 50 and Dodge is telling us how Pitkat is in the celebration and only wishing the best for the team.
    What I know about Pitkat is only he is an extremely good friend to those that are friends. Fans and those that aren’t friends he will suffer to the extent he can but it’s hard for him.
    Don’t count me as saying Pitkat is bad at anything. I may not be a fan but I’m not ignorant of his extensive record of achievement. All I’m saying is drivers have strengths and weaknesses. His skill set may be more old school take it or leave it then team building. We’ll see how these moves pan out.

  13. Woody seems to be a guy that just loves to race. Like the fact he shows up and drives anything from mini stocks to tour cars and has won a lot of races. He seems able to get what he needs to out of good cars and with good guys calling shots like Buzz Chew car 42 Valenti car. He must do something right because he has raced and won a lot and I can not ever remember him owning a car or having a family ride, it says something in this day and age of racing when you can short track race as long as he has in other people’s equipment, those opportunities are less and less. One thing seems Dowling has that others don’t is good knack for set up. A lot of cars Williams is driving with success mainly 50 sk, and 25 tour car Chase won in. On more than one occasion 25 team has credited Dowling with set up ideas they feel took them to another level when he filled in for Pennik. Woody doesn’t seem to have that knack for making a car better. He does seem to take care of equipment and consistently perform to the best of what he is given to drive is capable of.

  14. Actually Unbiased said it perfectly.
    Dowling did not have good runs in the 00 in the Stafford Opens. What he did do is suggest they start from scratch, re-spring the car and the result was a win in the VMRS race. That’s what Dowling can bring to a team in addition to a darned good driver. Pitkat as Unbiased said is a darned good driver.

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