The Woods going back to the way it was
Because of the economy – in other words, a lack of sponsorship – Wood Brothers Racing has announced it will compete in only 12 Sprint Cup races next season.
The team intends to enter only those races at tracks 1.5-miles or more in distance. It said that its Fords seem to perform better on the larger speedways.
What the Woods are going to do is race only as often as their limited resources will allow. By doing so, the team feels it will be better prepared competitively and that, in turn, could bring positive attention and perhaps even a sponsorship.
It’s a pretty good plan. The Woods have made it work many times in the past.
In fact, the Woods spent decades in NASCAR competing on a limited schedule. Team founder Glen Wood figured there was no sense in following a grueling season-long schedule (which sometimes had more than 50 races), when a profit could be turned racing in the bigger events that paid more money.
Although the Woods did enter many short-track races over the years – especially at Martinsville Speedway, near their shops in Stuart, Va. – they competed primarily on the big tracks.
And they won – a lot.
The team’s glory years were from the late 1960s through the mid-’70s. From 1967 through 1971, the Woods won 17 times in 93 starts with drivers Cale Yarborough, Dan Gurney, Donnie Allison and A.J. Foyt.
David Pearson came on board in 1972 and won six times in 14 starts. Foyt won twice in four races, giving the Woods eight wins in just 18 events.
But bigger and better things were to come.
In 1973, with Pearson, the Woods won an astonishing 11 times in only 18 races.
Over the next six years, the Woods-Pearson association became one of the most successful in NASCAR history.
During that time, Pearson earned 26 more victories, including 10 in only 22 starts in 1976. Incidentally, 22 races in a season were the most the Woods had ever run.
The team continued to compete on a limited schedule until 1985, when Kyle Petty became its driver.
Now, more than two decades later, Wood Brothers Racing is going to return to the way it was.
Can it attain the same success it did years ago? The odds are very, very much against it.
But as far as I’m concerned, if the Woods just break out of the competitive doldrums they’ve been in for many years now, they will have made the right move.
