Wood Brothers trying to build on remarkable record at Charlotte

 

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 careof 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.”