Daytona 500 Countdown: day minus 21

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With 21 days remaining until the 2013 Daytona 500, Mac’s Motor City Garage honors the oldest continuously operating racing team in NASCAR: the Wood Brothers. 

 

The official record shows that the Wood Brothers made their first official NASCAR appearance at Martinsville on May 17, 1953, with a ’53 Lincoln driven by Glen Wood. He finished 30th, collecting $25. From that humble start, the Woods have gone on to become one of the storied teams in NASCAR.

The list of top drivers who have raced the 21 for the Wood Brothers is nearly endless, but it includes Curtis Turner, Banjo Matthews, Marvin Panch, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, Donnie Allison. Neil Bonnet, Buddy Baker, Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd, and Bill Elliott.

Of course, the operation’s greatest success came in the 1970s. when the Wood Bros. teamed up with David Pearson to form one side of arguably the greatest rivalry in NASCAR history: the epic Pearson vs. Petty battle. Its most memorable moment is probably the final lap of the 1976 Daytona 500, in which both Petty and Pearson crashed, but Pearson limped his battered Mercury over the finish line for the victory.

The Wood Brothers’ history is still being written. In 2011, the team’s youngest driver ever, 20 year-old Trevor Bayne, scored a Cinderella victory in the Daytona 500. You can find more memorable Wood Brothers cars and moments in the gallery below.

 

3 thoughts on “Daytona 500 Countdown: day minus 21”

  1. I love the photo of the upside-down ’63 Galaxie. Didn’t realize Lorenzen drove for the Woods. Not for long, apparently.

  2. The photo with all of the foglights on the front must be from the Daytona 24 Hour race. I don’t have a reference handy, but my guess is that it’s from 1975 or 1976. As a Bicentennial gesture, the FIA allowed stock cars to run at LeMans in a special class during the 1976 race. Only two cars participated, Bud Moore’s #15 Ford and Hershel McGriff’s #90 Charger. This Daytona 24 photo may have been a test by the Woods Brothers to see if they wanted to make the effort overseas.

    The #21 car is 4th on the list of all-time wins by car number with ninety-one. Most of those were by the Woods Brothers. More amazing is the 5th on the list. Jeff Gordon scored every one of its eighty-six wins.

    • Exactly, 1976 Daytona 24. Was driven by the Pearson and Bowsher families. Class win, 16th overall. Boss 429 power.

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