The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
RACING HALL OF FAMER GLEN WOOD DIES AT 93
Glen Wood, the courtly and innovative patriarch of the famed Wood Brothers Racing team who had been the oldest living member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, died Friday. He was 93.
Wood Brothers announced the death of its team founder on social media, saying he died in Stuart, Virginia, after a long illness.
Wood Brothers is the longest continuous Cup team in NASCAR and has weathered lean years over nearly seven decades, including seasons in which the organization ran only a partial schedule. The team has been credited with revolutionizing pit stops from routine service calls into carefully orchestrated strategic events that can win or lose races.
Wood and younger brother Leonard co-founded Wood Brothers Racing in 1953. Glen Wood won four races as a driver over an 11-year racing career, but in 1998 was nonetheless named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers — a list that included 20 drivers who had once raced a Wood Brothers car.
“In building the famed Wood Brothers Racing at the very beginnings of our sport, Glen laid a foundation for NASCAR excellence that remains to this day,” NASCAR Chairman Jim France said. “As both a driver and a team owner, he was, and always will be, the gold standard. But personally, even more significant than his exemplary on-track record, he was a true gentleman and a close confidant to my father, mother and brother.”
Wood in 2011 was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in a contentious decision in which many voters felt Glen and Leonard should be elected together as one entity. It was former Wood Brothers driver Kyle Petty who swayed the room, arguing the brothers could be separated. Glen Wood was elected as part of the Hall’s third class, and Leonard Wood was elected the next year.
The Wood brothers came from humble beginnings but built a race team ahead of its time that still competes at NASCAR’s top level. The team has won 99 races in more than 1,500 starts in NASCAR’s elite division and they did it with an array of manufacturers and multiple star drivers.
“We started racing in 1950 with a car we bought for $50,” Glen Wood told The Associated Press as the team readied for its 1,000th start in 2000. “We put No. 50 on the side of the car because it just seemed like the right thing to do. Now here we are 50 years later.”
The car number was eventually changed to No. 21, which is now one of the most iconic numbers in NASCAR. Wood Brothers has won at least one NASCAR race in each of the last six decades.
Among those who raced for the team were David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Curtis Turner and A.J. Foyt. The team won the Daytona 500 in 1963 (Tiny Lund), 1968 (Yarborough), 1972 (Foyt), 1976 (Pearson) and 2011 (Trevor Bayne). Pearson waged most of his battles with rival Richard Petty while driving for Wood Brothers.
Foyt drove 13 races for the Wood Brothers in 1971 and 1972, winning four races along with seven poles.