With regular driver Jimmy Blewett sitting out for the next few events in the SK Modified division at Stafford, the operators at Petty Cash Motorsports went looking for a fill-in driver with the experience to contend for victories at the historic half-mile.
They found a guy who knows better than almost anyone else how to get to victory lane at Stafford Speedway.
Woody Pitkat, the second winningest driver of all-time at Stafford, will take over the Petty Cash Motorsports ride for tonight at Stafford, filling in for the injured Blewett.
Stafford host its regular 40-lap SK Modified feature tonight and then the non-points TC 13 Shootout following the regular feature. The top-13 finishers in the regular SK Modified feature transfer to the 13-lap TC 13 Shootout.
Pitkat drove a second team car for Petty Cash Motorsports in the NAPA SK 5K at Stafford on Aug. 4.
Blewett, who was third in the SK Modified standings at Stafford, was diagnosed with a neck injury this week and will likely miss the next three events for the division. He hopes to return to action for the season ending event on Sept. 29.
“It’s a cool opportunity,” Pitkat said. “I was [Blewett’s] teammate at the SK 5K. I’ve been friends with Jimmy for a long time. … I’m glad to be able to fill in for him. Obviously we wish he was there to race. The main thing was the fact that I’ve worked with [crew chief JJ Vece] in the past.”
After Christopher passed away in Sept. 2017 Pitkat replaced him in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team owner Danny Watts’ car. Petty Cash Motorsports crew chief JJ Vece was a crew member on the Watts owned car with Christopher in 2017.
“When Teddy [Christopher] passed away I was working with him on Danny Watts’ [NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team],” Vece said. “I told Danny we should get Woody to drive his car and I was the one that called Woody and asked him to do that. Now I’m calling Woody to ask him to drive for us for the [memorial event for Christopher].”
At this point, Pitkat is only scheduled to run tonight’s event for the team. Team officials are unclear if they will continue to run the car without Blewett in coming weeks.
Pitkat sits second on the track’s all-time win list with 83 victories overall. Thirty of those 83 wins came behind the wheel of an SK Modified at Stafford. Pitkat is a two-time Late Model champion at Stafford and also was the 2013 SK Modified division champion. He has two wins this season at Stafford in Open Modified events.
The late Ted Christopher is the track’s all-time winningest driver with 131 victories overall. The TC 13 Shootout has seen five different winners since it was introduced in 2018. Glen Reen won the inaugural event. Keith Rocco (2019), Todd Owen (2020), David Arute (2021) and Mike Christopher Jr. (2022) have also won the event.
“Our goal is to get into that into that TC 13 Shootout at the end of the night and try to come home victors of that,” Pitkat said.
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