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The Wood Brothers: 50 Years in Racing
and It’s Still All in the Family
PART TWO
By Michael Smith
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Neil Bonnett stepped in to take David Pearson’s place during
the 1979 season and he wasted no time seeing that the Wood Brothers
presence in victory lane continued. In seventeen starts during
the 1979 season Bonnett recorded 3 wins and the winning ways
continued, with Bonnett posting 2 wins in 1980, 3 wins in 1981
and 1 win in 1982, his final full time season with the Wood
Brothers.
Buddy Baker drove the Wood Brothers car during the 1983 and
1984 seasons. Open wheel sensation Bobby Rahal joined the Wood
Brothers team for a single race during the 1984 season, but
dropped out of the event after just 44 laps.
Nineteen eighty-five found a young driver with a famous last
name behind the wheel of the Wood Brothers car. Kyle Petty had
six seasons of driving experience when he signed with the Wood
Brothers, but what he didn’t have was a victory. That first
year, victory eluded Petty, but he raced hard and secured a
9th place finish in the final season points standings, recording
a second, third and fourth place finish, 4 top fives and 10
finishes of between 6th and 10th place.
The following season, 1986, Kyle Petty earned the Wood Brothers
their first victory in two years and the first of his career.
The younger Petty would finish the season with 10th spot in
the championship standings. The following year would find Petty
in victory lane again and he would finish the season 7th in
the points standings, a personal best for him up to that point.
The 1988 season would see Petty and the Wood Brother struggle
a bit, with no victories and only 8 finishes inside the top
10.
Following Kyle Petty’s departure from the team at the end of
the 1988 season, Neil Bonnett returned to run the Wood Brothers
car in 26 events. In the course of the season, Bonnett posted
11 top 10 finishes, despite being plagued by previous injuries.
Again, the season would pass without the Wood Brothers finding
their way to victory lane. Neil Bonnett returned for five races
during the 1990 season and a young Dale Jarrett signed on for
the bulk of the season, running in 24 events, but posting no
wins.
In 1991, perhaps having overcome the first season, new team
jitters, Dale Jarrett drove the Wood Brothers car to a first
place finish at Michigan to score the first win of his career
and the first win for the team in four seasons. While Jarrett
would not return for the 1992 season, Morgan Shepherd did and
he finished 14th in the final season point standings.
It was during the 1993 season that the Wood Brothers recorded
their most recent Winston Cup victory, while running at Atlanta
in May of that year. Perhaps one of the more poignant stories
of racing comes out of that event. Alan Kulwicki, who was the
reigning Winston Cup champion was knocked out of the race and
came down to the Wood Brothers pit area to cheer the team on
to victory. The following week Kulwicki presented the Wood Brothers
team with a bottle of champagne in honor of their victory and,
sadly, within a few days, the champion was killed in a plane
crash. The champagne remains unopened at the Wood Brothers museum.
Morgan Shepherd would continue to drive for the Wood Brothers
team through the 1994 season. Michael Waltrip joined the team
in 1996 and, though he failed to post a victory in a Winston
Cup points event, Waltrip won an emotional Winston Select in
1996.
The team that was originally founded by Glen Wood in 1950 is
gradually being turned over to his three children: sons, Eddie,
Len and daughter Kim who share day-to-day responsibilities and
ownership with their dad. As in the beginning, Wood Brothers
Racing is still very much a family operation.
Elliott Sadler is the Wood Brothers current hot shoe, having
moved up from the ranks of the Busch Grand National Division
to pilot the CITGO Ford in 1999. Sadler traces his racing roots
to the same region of Virginia that produced such stock car
luminaries as Ward and Jeff Burton, Stacy Compton, Sam Ard,
Jack Ingram and Tommy Ellis. Sadler came in second in the 1999
Rookie of the Year chase, finishing just inside the top 25 in
the final points standings.
When interviewed shortly after joining the Wood Brothers team,
Sadler commented that he was a bit overwhelmed in looking at
the extensive collection of trophies and race memorabilia at
the team shop. But what driver wouldn’t feel a bit overwhelmed,
looking at fifty years of racing history, knowing that they
themselves are writing the next chapter?
If the saying is true that great drivers are born, not made,
then the saying must also hold true that it takes greatness
to recognize greatness. The Wood Brothers have shepherded a
legion of great drivers through their 50 years in racing. Great
drivers, even if they are born great, must have a team capable
of putting great equipment under them and capable of making
the equipment hold up under grueling race conditions. Sadler’s
understated personality, and his obvious poise even in difficult
situations, indicates that, in addition to recognizing driving
talent, the Wood Brothers know good people when they see them.
So, how do we write history, when history is still very much
“in the making” as they say? In the pantheon of American stock
car racing, the Wood Brothers must certainly occupy an exalted
place. When NASCAR announced its list of the 50 greatest drivers
in 1998, seventeen of “The 50” had driven a Wood Brothers racecar.
The Wood Brothers have notched a total of 96 wins and 112 pole
positions and many of stock car racing’s current innovations
owe their existence to the ingenuity of the Wood Brothers.
Finally, beyond all of their very tangible success on the track,
the Wood Brothers have also succeeded in the sense that they
have survived an influx of newer, often wealthier teams that
have dominated NASCAR competition of late. The topsy-turvy 2000
season hints that this domination is beginning to wane and the
Wood Brothers stand poised to take a checkered flag in grand
fashion during this their 50th anniversary. When it happens,
it won’t just be folks in Stuart, Virginia that celebrate.
copyright 2000, Michael Smith
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NASCAR
RACING DEPARTMENTS
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NASCAR
AUCTIONS
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NASCAR
RACING WEB SITES
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