Wood Bros. have shown part-time operation works

The recent speculation that the Wood Brothers may be looking at running a part-time schedule in 2009 brings to mind one thought: If anybody knows exactly how to do it successfully, the family in Stuart, Va., would be at the top of the list.

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Proving that "retro is in" when it comes to NASCAR, the original generation of Woods -- Glen and Leonard -- pioneered the idea of running select races way back in the sport's earliest days. As early as 1959, the Wood Brothers hired stars of the day, like Larry Frank, Johnny Beauchamp, Junior Johnson and Joe Weatherly to pilot the No. 21 Ford on the mile dirt ovals of Charlotte and Atlanta while Glen handled driving duties at the smaller tracks like Martinsville, Winston-Salem, Weaverville and North Wilkesboro.

As Glen found himself more interested in running things from outside the cockpit, the Wood Brothers hit on a strategy that remained in place for the next two decades: Concentrate on running well at the tracks which paid the biggest return on investment. It worked twice in 1960 with Speedy Thompson behind the wheel. So in 1962, the Woods hired Marvin Panch, winner of the previous season's Daytona 500, and put together a schedule that included mainly superspeedways, plus the short hauls to Martinsville and North Wilkesboro.

In addition, the Woods were the first to realize the competitive advantage in having quick, precise pit stops. Up until that point, teams rarely had a full-time crew, instead choosing to find volunteers in the garage area to help change tires and fuel the car. But the Wood Brothers studied ways in which pit stops could be done more quickly, and much of what is done on pit road today can be attributed to the foresight of Glen and Leonard Wood.

Panch failed to win a race that first year, but he finished second twice and third on three other occasions. Then when Panch was seriously burned just a few days before the 1963 Daytona 500, it was last-minute replacement Tiny Lund who surprised everyone by winning the race and the $24,550 first-place winner's check.

After a short recuperation, Panch returned to win at North Wilkesboro later in the year, then added three more wins in 1964. In addition, road racer Dan Gurney scored the first of his four Riverside triumphs for the Woods that season. And the following year, A.J. Foyt added a Firecracker 400 victory at Daytona to the Woods' growing resume.

When Ford factory teams boycotted the season in a dispute over engine rules eight races into the 1966 season, the Wood Brothers found themselves on the sidelines. The ban was lifted in time for the Southern 500 at Darlington, but with Panch jumping to Plymouth with Petty Enterprises, the Woods needed a new driver. They found one in young Cale Yarborough.

Yarborough had also been sidelined by the boycott, having started the year with Banjo Matthews' No. 27 team. Cale qualified seventh and finished 11th at Darlington, then scored a fourth at Rockingham to close out the year, giving the team confidence heading into 1967.

That confidence was well-founded, as Yarborough dominated at Atlanta and followed that win with a July 4 victory at Daytona. Then the Wood Brothers made a decision that would prove to have far-reaching consequences. They chose to switch to the Mercury Cyclone and it paid off immediately, as Yarborough out-drafted LeeRoy Yarbrough to win the 1968 Daytona 500, the first of six victories on the season, including the Southern 500.

The Wood Bros. No. 21 has to been to Victory Lane 87 times.

Yarborough only won twice in 1969, but starting with the spring race at Darlington that season, he began a stretch where he led at least one lap in 20 consecutive races. He finished his Wood Brothers career with wins at Michigan and Rockingham, then decided to try his hand full-time at Indy-car racing, beginning in 1971. Four days later, Ford announced that it would cut back its factory effort.

The Wood Brothers turned to three-time Indianapolis 500-winner A.J. Foyt, who promptly scored wins at Ontario and Atlanta. When he returned to Indy-cars, it was Alabama resident Donnie Allison who drove the No. 21 Mercury to Victory Lane at nearby Talladega. Foyt then returned in early 1972 to capture the Daytona 500 and repeat as Ontario winner.

But when Foyt's attention was once again diverted to Indianapolis, the Woods were left looking for a driver who wouldn't mind running only a partial schedule of races.

Enter three-time Cup champion David Pearson.

Pearson's 1971 season had been one to forget. Despite two wins in nine starts, Pearson left the Holman-Moody team mid-season and found employment with Ray Nichels later that year -- but suffered six mechanical failures in seven races. Pearson sat out the 1972 Daytona 500, and after two forgettable starts with Bud Moore, appeared to be at a career crossroads.

The pairing of Pearson and the Woods seemed magical right from the start. Pearson led 202 of the 293 laps to win at Darlington in his debut, then followed that with victories at Talladega, both Michigan races, Daytona and Dover. He ran 14 races for the Wood Brothers that season, and led at least one lap in every one. It wasn't until he suffered a clutch failure in the 1973 season-opener at Riverside that Pearson hadn't found himself in front.

Cale Yarborough and Neil Bonnett are two of six drivers to win for the Wood Bros. at Daytona.

After a blown engine left him 33rd at Daytona, Pearson promptly won the next five races he started, finished second at Charlotte, and reeled off four more in a row after that. Pearson's hot streak finally came to an end with a mechanical failure at Martinsville, but he won once more to end the year.

Pearson would go on to win 43 races in the No. 21 Mercury Montego, the most famous perhaps coming in a wild last-turn melee with Richard Petty in the 1976 Daytona 500. The two would part ways early in the 1979 season.

Neil Bonnett replaced Pearson and would win nine times in a four-year span, followed by two seasons with Buddy Baker as Ford phased out the Mercury brand by 1981. But the Woods found themselves facing an economic climate in which running a full season was more advantageous, and made the leap in 1985.

Another generation of Woods -- Glen's sons Eddie and Len, along with sister Kim -- took control of the operation in the late '80s. Kyle Petty scored wins at Richmond in 1986 and Charlotte in 1987. But the wins soon began to come less frequently. Dale Jarrett added a Michigan victory in 1991. Morgan Shepherd was victorious two years later at Atlanta. And the most recent win came in 2001 when Elliott Sadler beat John Andretti -- driving for Petty Enterprises -- at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Woods moved from their Stuart digs in 2003, taking up residence in Harrisburg, N.C. And a third generation of Woods, Jon and Keven, have been steadily working their way through NASCAR's ranks.

So as the economy forces smaller teams like the Wood Brothers to revisit their racing roots, this experiment could prove to be a blueprint for other part-time teams, if the Woods can make it work successfully again.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.