Before Roush Ruled Michigan, There Was The Wood Brothers

What do Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Dale Jarrett, A.J. Foyt, Buddy Baker, Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler and Bill Elliott all have in common? Besides having competed in NASCAR Cup racing, all of the above once raced for one of racing’s pioneer families: the Wood Brothers.

These days, when you talk about success at Michigan International Speedway- you talk about the “Cat In The Hat” and his stable of stallions at Roush Fenway Racing. It’s obvious Jack Roush takes great pride in his team’s success close to home and desire to take full opportunity to put on a good show for his car manufacturer Ford.

However, before Roush ruled at Michigan International Speedway, there was the Wood Brothers.

MIS made its NASCAR debut on June 15, 1969. The winner that day was the legendary 3-time champion Cale Yarborough. The winner of 83 Cup races had come over to Wood Brothers after several seasons of running his own cars and racing for Banjo Matthews, Herman Beam and Ken Myler among others.

Yarborough repeated the feat the following season in the Motor State 400, winning the race after qualifying 4th, as he did in ‘69. Silly season was almost perpetual in those days with several racers working for several teams. Yarborough was also like another great in his day, David Pearson, in that he might only run a handful of races in a season.

One can’t help but wonder what the record books would look like if Pearson and Yarborough had made more starts.

David Pearson came on board with Wood Brothers in 1972. For seven years, the pairing of the Silver Fox with the legendary Ford-associated organization would prove a prodigious combination. 43 of Pearson’s 105 wins came with the then Virginia-based team, including 8 at Michigan. In fact, Pearson is the all-time wins leader at MIS with 9.

Some years, Pearson was downright dominant. He swept the 1972 AND the 1976 races at Brooklyn. A falling out would mark the end of Pearson’s association with the Woods family and his departure opened the door for a young Neil Bonnett, member of the famed “Alabama Gang.” Bonnett would win 6 races in 3 seasons for Glen and Leonard Wood before moving on himself.

The last Wood Brothers win at MIS came in 1991, when future champion Dale Jarrett won the Champion 400. The August 18th victory was Jarrett’s first career Cup win after he had worked previously for Yarborough and Eric Freedlander among others.

A lot has changed in NASCAR since those days, and so has the Wood Brothers team. Glen’s sons Eddie and Len took over running the team in the late 1980s, and after she had graduated from high, sister Kim came on board to handle administrative tasks.

The Virginia family moved the organization to North Carolina. Earlier this decade, the shop was in Mooresville and and now you’ll find Wood Brothers in Harrisburg, closely situated near Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Wins have been hard to come by since Jarrett’s 1991 victory at Michigan. The only victories since then have been a single win by Nationwide Series sage Morgan Shepherd  when he was a pup of 51 in 1993, Michael Waltrip’s 1996 All-Star race wins, and then Elliott Sadler took the checkered for Woods in 2001 at Bristol.

These days, semi-retired 1988 champion Bill Elliott runs a part-time schedule for Wood Brothers as the team has found the need to scale back. Oddly enough, Elliott is the winningest ACTIVE driver at Michigan with 7. He dominated in the mid to late 80s the Pearson did in the 70s.

The Wood Brothers team has contributed much to NASCAR. They won the owner’s points standings in 1963 with FIVE drivers- a group that included Marvin Panch and Tiny Lund.

On of my ESPN Ultimate NASCAR DVDs is footage from great races of the past. One of them is the 1963 Daytona 500 won by Wood Bros. driver Tiny Lund. There’s quite a story behind the win. Lund had pulled Panch from a burning car during practice for the race, a feat which earned Lund a Carnegie Medal for Heroism. Panch gave Lund his ride for the win.

It’s funny to watch that race because among other things, you’ve got these pit stops that go on for 30 seconds and they called that good. Wood Brothers was the team that recognized the value of quick pit stops as a part of race strategy.

I know it’s a long shot, but there’s a part of me hoping Elliott wins this race. Knowing the these economic times are changing NASCAR dramatically, it would be a fitting nod to NASCAR history for Elliott to pick up a win on a track he’s run so well at for a team that once dominated in the Irish Hills of Michigan.  

PHOTO CREDITS- Wood Bros. building by sesmrs.brown,  Wood Bros car by dr pep. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the hyperlinks.