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Woody Pitkat Secures Third Career Whelen All-American Series Track Championship
Story By: JASON CUNNINGHAM / NASCAR Photo By: THOMPSON SPEEDWAY MOTORSPORTS PARK
DAYTONA BEACH, FL- January 14, 2016- Exceeding expectations was the theme of Woody Pitkat’s 2015 NASCAR racing season, and there’s no better example of that than his track championship at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
In their initial year together, Pitkat delivered car owner Stan Mertz and the No. 6 team their first NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track title at the northeast Connecticut oval.
With a new combination going up against experienced and accomplished competition, Pitkat was unsure of what could be accomplished heading into the season, but Mertz exuded confidence from the jump.
“Stan is a very upbeat and motivated person,” Pitkat said. “I believe he thought we could go there right away and win races and contend for a championship. I thought we’d have a good shot, but knowing that Keith Rocco, Ryan Preece, Kerry Malone and some others have been there with the same team for many years, I figured it would take a couple of years for us to be able to come out as good as we did.
“I would have never imagined we would come out of there with a championship in our first year together.”
Although the Stafford, Connecticut, native didn’t reach Victory Lane, he piloted the No. 6 Just Get Dirty Racing Apparel Chevrolet to six runner-ups and an average finish of 2.75 in eight Sunoco Modified division feature events to earn the championship by 15 points over defending Thompson titlist Preece.
2015 NASCAR TRACK CHAMPIONS
It marked Pitkat’s second track title at the .625-mile high-banked Thompson oval, the first came in 2006. He has a third NASCAR Division I crown on the résumé from his hometown track Stafford Motor Speedway in 2013.
With his results at Stafford this year, Pitkat’s combined 2015 line included a win, 15 top fives and 20 top 10s in 24 starts which placed him eighth in the Whelen All-American Series Connecticut standings and 48th nationally.
Pitkat’s consistency through the first seven features of the year at Thompson had him in a good position heading into the finale on Sunoco World Series weekend as he had a 14-point lead on Rocco with Preece 18 back. Pitkat was unsure about how good his car would perform following the heat races, but he knew Preece would be a contender.
“Going into that last race I felt like I needed to keep Ryan (Preece) in my sights and not let him get too far ahead of me, then when we started our car was really good and we went right to the front,” Pitkat said. “At that point I really didn’t look too much to see what he was doing because our car was better than I anticipated.”
Pitkat held his spot at the front through some late-race cautions and was positioned to finally get that first win for the team, but Preece worked his way by in the closing circuits for the checkered flag.
“I was pretty disappointed because I really wanted to cap off the year with a win for those guys,” Pitkat said.
They may have lost the battle, but they won the war by a final tally of 438-423.
Pitkat carries a lot of pride in what the team was able to accomplish together so quickly.
“It’s kind of a home grown thing, they build their own motors, which I think is a really neat thing,” Pitkat said. “We race against all of the established motor builders, so I was really down in the dumps that I couldn’t get him his first modified win as an engine builder, but we were able to cap off the championship for Stan as a first-year car owner and that was a huge feat.”
Norm Perry was the team’s engine builder as well as the car chief and crew chief.
“He’s pretty much the MacGyver of the team,” Pitkat said of Perry. “All of the guys worked so hard all year and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work and dedication. They worked so hard during the season in the shop to make sure that thing was bulletproof, and we were able to come out of there with a championship.”
Mertz’s No. 6 team received associate sponsorship from Morningside Lawn & Landscape, Graffiti Works Design Company, Ashaway Performance Engines, NAPA Auto Parts of Tolland and Joe’s Racing Products en route to the Thompson crown.
Pitkat, who is a mechanic by day and plays goalie in a men’s ice hockey league year around, plans to return to Thompson to defend the crown with Mertz’s No. 6 team. He will also compete full-time in the SK Modified division at Stafford, and after finishing third in the 2015 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings he’s looking for an opportunity to return to that tour as well.
Established in 1982, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. In all, 57 paved and dirt tracks throughout the United States and Canada participated in 2015.
Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering is the series’ title sponsor. Whelen Engineering is a leading manufacturer of automotive, aviation, industrial and emergency vehicle lighting. NASCAR tracks and pace cars are among the many showcases for Whelen products.
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