Wood Brothers trying to build on remarkable record at Charlotte
May 26, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD, N.C.--Of the 1,399 starts made by Wood Brothers Racing, 106 have come at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
With Trevor Bayne behind the wheel, the Wood Brothers are making their 1,400th
start as an organization in Sunday Night’s
Coca-Cola 600, trying to add to a remarkable record that started with
team founders Glen and Leonard Wood--both NASCAR Hall of Famers--some 63
years ago.
The
Woods have won 98 of the 1,399 races they have started, with six of
those victories coming at Charlotte. Their record there includes
an extraordinary run of 13 consecutive poles from 1973 through 1979, 11
straight by David Pearson and two by Neil Bonnett.
The
Wood Brothers have reached the 1,400-start milestone despite running
primarily as a single-car team and racing predominately on
speedways. Glen Wood’s sons, Len and Eddie now take care of the
day-to-day operation of the team.
Despite
the fabled history of the organization, one of the most memorable
victories was the most recent, Bayne’s surprise win in the
2011 Daytona 500.
"It’s
hard to top the Daytona 500 in 2011 with Trevor Bayne, but looking at
the NASCAR Hall of Fame again, I think 19 of the 25 people
who have been inducted were race car drivers and seven of those have
been in our car--one of which was daddy," Len Wood said.
"That’s the final tally as far as where you stand and how you measure up. I remember in 1998 when NASCAR was celebrating its 50thanniversary
and they had a list of what they called the ‘50 Greatest Drivers,’ and 20 of those drivers had been in our car.
"So
you look back at guys like David Pearson and Cale Yarborough and A.J.
Foyt and Dan Gurney, Marvin Panch, Neil Bonnett--all of those
guys were superstars."
A PLEASANT SURPRISE
As Dale Jarrett put it, you could make a good case for any of the 25 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees on the ballot this year.
That’s why the 1999 Sprint Cup Series champion was surprised to earn induction in his first year of eligibility.
Jarrett
has the credentials, though. In addition to 32 Cup victories and his
1999 title, he has three Daytona 500 wins to his credit,
and that may have been the tipping point for the voting committee.
"I
couldn’t imagine going through that process and trying to pick five out
of those 25 and say this is our group," Jarrett said Sunday
in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center. "I’m very honored, but I
was… I think ‘shocked’ is a good word, but I thought that, once I got up
on the list, it would come one day. But I was ready to accept that
would be down the road…
"It’s
been fantastic, trying to return calls and text messages and things all
week. It’s actually been a lot of fun and gave me a chance
to connect with people that I hadn’t talked with in quite a while."
A FAMILY AFFAIR
The
France family and the Hulman-George family were honored Saturday with
the Bob Russo Founders award for dedication to auto racing,
in a ceremony during Speedweeks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bill
France Sr. founded NASCAR in 1947 and later built Daytona International
Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Son Bill France Jr. took over as NASCAR’s president in 1972 and was the
driving force into making NASCAR the country’s most popular racing
series.
Bill France Jr.’s brother Jim France recently brokered the unification of U.S. sports car racing, and his son Brian
France is NASCAR’s chairman and CEO. Daughter Lesa France Kennedy is chairperson of International Speedway Corporation.
The
Hulman-George family has been synonymous with IndyCar Racing and
Indianapolis Motor Speedway since Tony Hulman purchased the track
and resumed the running of the Indianapolis 500 in 1946, after a hiatus
for World War II.
Long-time NASCAR executive Ken Clapp accepted the award on behalf of the France family.
No comments:
Post a Comment