Glen Wood NASCAR Hall of Famer Dies at 93

Glen Wood, NASCAR Hall of Famer, founder of Wood Brothers Racing died the morning of Jan. 18, 2019. He was 93 years old.

Wood Brothers Racing founded in 1953 posted on their Twitter the sad news. They tweeted it is with great sadness that we must announce the passing this morning of our founder and patriarch Glen Wood. We want to thank Patrick County, family, friends, and the NASCAR community for their support.

Wood Brothers Racing was founded by Wood and his brother Leonard. The team has 99 victories in NASCAR’s top division in more than 1,500 starts  Four of those wins had Wood driving, who was the team’s primary driver when the team started.

The company is now run by Wood’s son’s Len and Eddie and his daughter Kim. Wood Brother’s Racing is one of NASCAR’s longest active team and has one a minimum of one race in the past seven consecutive decades.

The Wood Brothers team won Daytona 500 in 1963 with Tiny Lund driving, 1968 with Cale Yarborough driving, in 1972 with AJ Foyt driving and in 2011 with Trevor Bayne driving.

The team also helped modernize pit stops and the entire process of how cars are serviced during a race. Ford Motor Company was so impressed he asked the team to run the pit stop at the 1965 Indianapolis 500 with the Lotus-Ford team who had Jim Clark as the driver.

He retired in 1964 but remained team owner with his brother. Together they hired as drivers individuals who would become legends in their own right:  A.J. Foyt, Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough, and David Pearson.

In 1998, Wood was named one of the 50 Greatest Drivers in NASCAR. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. His brother Leonard followed in 2013. Until his passing, the driver was the NASCAR Hall of Fame oldest living member.

However, the induction was not without controversy. Voters had difficulty separating the two brothers as they were both considered pioneers in the field.

At the time, Kyle Petty a voting member told the Associated Press he wanted to separate the brothers and vote on them individually.  He felt Leonard was the total package, great strategist and mechanic.  Glen, on the other hand, owned the entire team. A separation had to be made, or it was not fair to both men.

Written By Barbara Sobel

Sources:

ESPN: NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood, founder of Wood Brothers Racing, dies at 93
NASCAR: NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood, co-founder of Wood Brothers Racing, dies at 93
NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood passes away

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