While he may not have cited one specific favorite memory, Pitkat said that there were a lot of “little things” that he holds dear from his time being able to work with and foster a friendship with Christopher over the years.

“I have a lot of memories with him from when I had just started racing late models and he’d let me go from track-to-track with him … and I flew to a couple races with him and helped him while I was still running late models and just getting involved with modifieds. For a while, I was still a big late model guy,” Pitkat recalled. “We even go back to his time (working) with the transmissions and him helping fix the transmission in my truck and giving me parts and telling me not to worry about it. It was all that stuff, all the little wise-ass crack remarks that he’d have, the ‘What the f, hey!’ and the ‘You owe me an ice cream, hey!’ and all that stuff.”

“You just have to remember those memories and keep those, because unfortunately, you’ll never see it again.”

As far as the future, Pitkat said he and Watts have had preliminary talks about continuing forward into next season, but that nothing has been firmed up as of yet.

“It’s been thrown out there, but we haven’t really sat down and talked about (next season) yet,” admitted Pitkat. “We kind of just said, ‘Let’s do it one race at a time.’ At first, it was just Loudon, and then ‘You want to keep going?’ and I figured, ‘Yeah, we can keep going; we’re going to my home track (Stafford) and Thompson, my seat’s already in the car … I feel like we’ll have a good piece.'”

“It definitely didn’t start out as well as we would have liked, because they had a notebook for Ted and they had (the car) set up for Ted and I just, unfortunately, couldn’t drive it the way Ted had it set up … so we had to start all over again. That’s the biggest thing that I hate for them is that they were building a notebook with Teddy and getting good results and now they’ve got to start all over again. It was unfortunate, but like I said, it’s really cool that everybody stayed together. If Danny wants to do something next year, I would hope I’d be the first guy he would call to try to do something with for next year.”

In the end, Pitkat says his ultimate goal is to be back full-time on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour chasing a championship.

“When I came so close and had the opportunity to run for a good team, I saw how much time, dedication, work, effort and everything it takes to try and win a title on the Tour,” he explained. “I think that’s what happened when my other deal this year started. I wasn’t trying to be a jerk about it, but I was trying to tell them that it’s a lot of work and time and effort to do this right, and that you’ve got to be in the shop all the time. It’s hard to beat those guys on the Tour that have full-time crew chiefs and full-time people working on the car, because that’s their job.”

“But yeah, (being back in a full-time Tour ride) is my ultimate goal. I don’t have much more to prove in the SKs or late models. I still love to race everything, obviously, but my biggest goal is to run on the championship and one day be in contention again and, hopefully, win the whole thing. I go to my brother-in-law’s house and I see that big trophy down there and just seeing the names and everything that are on it … it would be really cool to have.”

It would also be another small part of continuing the legacy of ‘The King of New England’, who won his one and only Whelen Tour crown in 2008.

“Yeah, it’s just another trophy, but to me, that’s the one that I want,” Pitkat affirmed. “Ted won his and man, it’d be cool to join him on that list one day. This team is carrying on his memory and it’d be an honor to have the opportunity to do the same.”

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network, as well as a periodic contributor to SPEED SPORT Magazine.

Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.

The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77

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