Wood Bros. last standing when the music stops

CONCORD, N.C. -- There was no splashy unveiling, no Camp David-like photo opportunity of new partners shaking hands, no announcement of a merger or an alliance. True to their south Virginia nature, the Wood Brothers simply let everyone know Thursday that yes, they'd be back in NASCAR this season, albeit on reduced basis. And they'd be doing it just how they've done it for most of their 58 previous years in racing -- on their own terms.

In a sport beset by merger mania, where in difficult economic times teams are banding together just to survive, the Woods are like the last men standing when the music stops, and there are no more chairs to be had. Petty Enterprises merged with Gillett Evernham. Chip Ganassi merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. Hall of Fame Racing aligned with Yates Racing. Yet the Woods, well aware of the current recession-induced sponsorship shortage -- they lost two car sponsors last season, and approach 2009 with just a nine-race deal with Motorcraft -- forge ahead on their own.

Daytona 500 bound

The Wood Bros. will field their famed No. 21 car in the 2009 Daytona 500 and two-time Daytona 500 champion Bill Elliot will be behind the wheel.

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Of course, they explored the idea of a merger or partnership. They had attempted one before, inking what proved to be a short-lived deal with Tad Geschicker's team. To hear co-owners Eddie and Len Wood talk, they had some options. And here they are, the Wood Brothers still just Wood Brothers, and not part of some hyphenated or amalgamated team name.

"We went through all that," Eddie Wood said during the final day of the Sprint media tour. "We felt like we needed to think about that back in the spring, almost a year ago. We started talking to people, had some meetings with people, and you'd get so far with it, and whatever they were doing didn't really match up with what you were doing. It would if you had to do it. But I think Richard Petty said it best. He said something like, 'Everybody's got baggage. We've got baggage, the guy you're talking to has baggage. Sometimes it's too much baggage to put it all together.'"

Of course, Petty ultimately wound up handing all his baggage over to George Gillett. But the Woods, who co-own the team along with their sister Kim, ultimately didn't want to give up control.

"When it comes to making a decision, we're kind of hands on," Len Wood said. "We had a drive line test Monday of this past week, and Eddie and I were there watching the whole thing. I won't say I put the transmission up in the fixture, but we were there helping to evaluate what the next step was. So we're hands-on owners. That being said, we don't have to wait for somebody to answer a question for us. If something needs to be changed, if something looks wrong, smells wrong, we're going to fix it. And not next week, we'll fix it right now. We don't have to ask somebody."

They don't regret standing pat. "We're going to try not to make the wrong move," Len said. "You enter into a partnership with somebody, it's kind of like getting married. You're there, and you better make the right moves. So we're not going to be doing it just to do it."

That kind of independence comes with a price. At the urging of Ford, which supplies the Woods with technical assistance and effectively backs the car through its Motorcraft brand, the organization is pulling back to just a 12-race schedule in 2009. With Bill Elliott driving, the No. 21 car will run at Daytona, and then on an assortment of high-speed intermediate tracks where the Woods felt they made the most progress last year. To save money, they're skipping some races where the hotel rates are exorbitant. And they're skipping short tracks, which means no races in Martinsville or Richmond for the Virginia-born team. (Continued)