Woody Pitkat eager to be part of inaugural Bullring Bash campaign
As the Bullring Bash Quarter Mile Challenge prepares to get its first season started, modified racing wheelmen are making their presence known on the entry list, putting the “star” in “all-star.”
Woody Pitkat, a two-time Valenti Modified Racing Series champion and a three-time Whelen Modified Tour race winner, is planning to run all three of the Bullring Bash races. The Connecticut native is excited to bring competitive modified racing to new tracks further north in New England.
“We’re going to be heading to some new tracks that I haven’t really ventured out at,” said Pitkat. “I always liked going to tracks I haven’t been to before and doing a little bit of traveling… It’ll probably be a little bit different of a fan aspect because we’re going somewhere we haven’t been at.”
“It’ll be nice to go out and try to grab some new fans and get some attention to some people up in that area that probably haven’t seen modifieds up at those tracks.”
It was Pitkat’s car owner Stan Mertz that encouraged Pitkat to drive in Bullring Bash in 2019.
“I didn’t know much about it at first until Stan told me about it,” Pitkat said. “The Bullring Bash, I think, grabbed his attention more than mine, and we started looking into it.”
The staff organized by Bullring Bash founder Josh Vanada was another reason Pitkat chose to throw his hat into the ring for the season.
“I’ve worked with [Josh] in the past at Thompson, and I feel like I have a pretty good relationship with him,” Pitkat said. “He did a really good job when he was at Thompson. A lot of the guys he has there, tech officials and regular officials, it looks like it’s going to be a promising thing.”
Pitkat expects that there will be many more household names that commit to Bullring Bash this summer.
“I think a lot of the people that we get, I would imagine, would be the same familiar faces we have at these other open races,” said Pitkat. “I think a majority of the people that I’ve always raced with, I’ve had a lot of respect for.”
The first race on the Bullring Bash schedule, currently slated for June 16 at White Mountain Motorsports Park, is one Pitkat has circled on his calendar. After all, there is only one inaugural race to win.
“It would be really cool,” said Pitkat on winning the first-ever Bullring Bash race. “I think that out of the box, we’ll hopefully be a contender and if not, we should be able to be consistently in the top-five.”
