Daytona Beach, Fla. (May 12, 2023) – Last night’s announcement of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson as one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers completed the list after a several-week rollout. The drivers, honored in celebration of NASCAR’s 75th anniversary, will be recognized during the annual Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway.
Last Sunday’s NASCAR Daytona 500 averaged a 2.8 rating and 4.83 million viewers on FOX, easily the lowest in the history of the race. Ratings fell 36% and viewership 34% from the previous low set last year, when most of the race was run on a Monday afternoon (4.4, 7.33M). (more…)
For the first time in a NASCAR Cup Series season (1949-2021) the schedule calls for the series to visit seven different road course tracks – Daytona International Speedway Road Course, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (ROVAL) and Road America. The previous most the NASCAR Cup Series competed on in one season was four back in 1964 and 1957. (more…)
For decades people in southern Virginia and beyond knew Ray Lee Wood for the beautiful flowers growing in front of his home in the community of Buffalo Ridge and for the sourwood honey that he collected from his beehives.
They knew of his prized Persian cats and Siberian Huskies, and the goldfish he raised in ponds on his family property.
Others were amazed at his knowledge of the Bible and his loyalty to the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
And there were some that knew the rest of the story, about how Wood was an integral part of some of the grandest triumphs in motor racing history – among them victories in the 1963 Daytona 500, the 1965 Indianapolis 500 and the inaugural American 500 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham in 1965.
Ray Lee Wood, who died May 5 at the age of 92, was the third son of J. Walter and Ada Wood. In the early 1950s, he and his brothers Glenn, Clay, Delano and Leonard, took on the world of automobile racing with the same passion and determination that they applied to every task they ever took on.
Early in the Wood Brothers’ career, they worked on their race cars under a giant beech tree, its limbs serving as support for pulling engines with a chain hoist. Ray Lee Wood spent the last half of his life serving as caretaker of the famous tree, one that attracted visitors including Edsel Ford II.
As the team began competing in the series now known as Cup, Ray Lee changed front tires and helped prepare the Fords initially driven by his brother Glenn but later driven by some of the biggest names in motorsports.
Leonard Wood said his brother could have added his name to that list had he chosen to do so.
“Ray Lee could have been a race driver as well as Glenn,” he said. In 1958, on the sands of Daytona Beach, Ray Lee hit 142 miles per hour on the measured mile in a hopped-up street car, topping the speed chart for that day.
When the Wood Brothers won the Car Owner’s Championship in 1963 using multiple drivers, Ray Lee Wood was the car owner of record and the Championship trophy bears his name.
When the Woods scored the first of their five Daytona 500 victories, with Tiny Lund filling in for a badly burned Marvin Panch, Ray Lee played a key role in the team’s winning pit strategy.
After the first 10 laps of the 500 were run under the yellow flag because of rain, the Woods saw an opportunity to play a pit strategy similar to those used in road-course races today. They began making their pit stops with the intention of making one fewer stop than their competitors.
They also were hoping to run the race on a single set of tires.
Firestone representative John Laux and Ray Lee were in charge of checking the tires. Both agreed on each early stop that the tires were good to go.
On the final stop, Laux wasn’t so certain. Ray Lee said the tires were good for another 100 miles. His brothers took his advice, and Lund drove on to the checkered flag.
Wood played a similar role in the Indianapolis 500, as he and his brothers pitted the Lotus Ford driven by Jim Clark. Again, Wood checked tires on each stop, and again the call was made to continue. The result was another major win for the Stuart, Va.-based team.
That trip to Indianapolis was a life-changer for Wood.
“When we were up there in Indiana, I felt the calling of the Lord,” Wood said in a 2010 interview. “He had something else for me to do.”
It was the same calling his brother Delano, the family jack man, would feel at the end of the 1983 season.
Not wanting to leave his brothers in mid-season, in an era when good tire changers were hard to find, Ray Lee decided to stay on through the end of that year.
His racing career ended in storybook fashion, with his old friend Curtis Turner driving the Woods’ Ford to victory at Rockingham.
Wood and Turner had become close over the years, and Wood often flew back from races with Turner, so he could be back at work with his grading business on Monday morning.
That race, Turner’s 17th and final Cup win, also was the final NASCAR appearance for Ray Lee Wood, who began spending his Sunday’s at his beloved church, located near his home in Buffalo Ridge.
In the years after that, he never attended another NASCAR race, although he did participate in a Fan Appreciation event at the Wood Brothers Museum in 2011.
His nephew Eddie Wood said that in a family of cool brothers, Ray Lee stood out.
“He had the coolest cars,” Eddie Wood said. “He had lots of girlfriends. He had one of the first color TVs in our county. He was just a happy-go-lucky guy.”
Like his brothers, Ray Lee didn’t do things halfway.
“He started a rose garden, and the next thing you know he had 500 of them, and then a thousand,” Wood said. “He bought two expensive Persian cats, Sam and George, and kept getting more until he had 50 show cats.
“He got into Siberian Huskies and had giant goldfish… Whatever he did, he went at it 100 percent.”
Ray Lee Wood lived in the same house where he grew up, and in his latter years was content with a simple life, far removed from the cheering crowds and checkered flags of his early years.
“He was just laid back, in no hurry,” his nephew Len Wood said. “Nothing ruffled his feathers.”
With his racing career behind him, Ray Lee was close to his sister Crystal and his church family, and remained supportive of the racing side of his family.
“Ray never went back to the track after 1965, but he supported us all the way and always followed our races on the radio or TV,” Leonard Wood said. “He was a great brother and a great all-around person.
“I can’t say enough good words about him.”
Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford driven by Paul Menard in the famous No. 21 racer.
Ard, Bonnett, Panch, Paschal, Stewart, Vogt nominated for first time
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 13, 2019) — NASCAR today announced the 20 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020, as well as the five nominees for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
The list includes six first-time NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees whose careers spanned the entirety of NASCAR.
Among them are a NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion (Sam Ard), an original member of the “Alabama Gang” (Neil Bonnett), a Daytona 500 winner (Marvin Panch), a short track ace (Jim Paschal), a three-time Cup Series champion (Tony Stewart) and the first master mechanic in NASCAR (Red Vogt).
Stewart was nominated in his first year of eligibility, and could join Jeff Gordon as a second consecutive first-ballot Hall of Famer.
The nominees were selected by a nominating committee consisting of representatives from NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from major facilities and historic short tracks, and media. The committee’s votes were tabulated by accounting firm EY.
From the list of 20 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees, five inductees will be elected by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which includes a nationwide fan vote on NASCAR.com. Voting Day for the 2020 class will be Wednesday, May 22.
Added to this year’s list of Landmark Award nominees are Edsel Ford II, Mike Helton and Dr. Joseph Mattioli. Two nominees return for the Landmark Award: Alvin Hawkins and Ralph Seagraves (more on each below). Potential Landmark Award recipients include competitors or those working in the sport as a member of a racing organization, track facility, race team, sponsor, media partner or being a general ambassador for the sport through a professional or non-professional role. Award winners remain eligible for NHOF enshrinement.
Following are the 20 nominees for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, listed alphabetically:
Sam Ard, NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion
Buddy Baker, won 19 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500
Neil Bonnett, won 18 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including consecutive Coca-Cola 600 victories
Red Farmer, three-time Late Model Sportsman champion; 1956 Modified champion
Ray Fox, legendary engine builder, crew chief and car owner
Harry Gant, winner of 18 NASCAR Cup Series races, including two Southern 500 victories
Joe Gibbs, combined for nine car owner championships in Cup and XFINITY series
John Holman, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing
Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR Cup Series championship crew chief
Bobby Labonte, won a championship in both the Cup Series and XFINITY Series
Hershel McGriff, 1986 NASCAR west series champion
Ralph Moody, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing
Marvin Panch, won 17 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1961 Daytona 500
Jim Paschal, 23 of his 25 NASCAR Cup Series wins came on short tracks
Larry Phillips, only five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion
Ricky Rudd, won 23 times in NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400
Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships
Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, two-time Brickyard 400 winner
Red Vogt, the first master mechanic of NASCAR, and a founding member
Waddell Wilson, won three NASCAR Cup Series championships as an engine builder
The five nominees for the Landmark Award, listed alphabetically, are as follows…
Edsel Ford II, Member of the Board of Directors for Ford Motor Company, long-time NASCAR supporter
Alvin Hawkins, NASCAR’s first flagman; established NASCAR racing at Bowman Gray Stadium with Bill France Sr.
Mike Helton, named third president of NASCAR in 2000; career included track operator roles at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway
Dr. Joseph Mattioli, founder of Pocono Raceway
Ralph Seagraves, formed groundbreaking Winston-NASCAR partnership as executive with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
NASCAR Hall of Fame Nomination Eligibility
– Drivers who have competed in NASCAR for at least 10 years and been retired for two years are eligible for nomination to the NHOF. If extenuating circumstances cause a driver’s eligibility to be in question, NASCAR will review and determine if any adjustments are needed prior to the Nomination Committee Meeting.
– In addition, drivers who have competed for a minimum of 10 years and reached their 55th birthday on or before Dec. 31 of the year prior to the nominating year are immediately eligible for the NHOF.
– Any driver who has competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR competition by Dec. 31 of the year prior to the nominating year is automatically eligible, regardless of age.
– Drivers may continue to compete after reaching any of the aforementioned milestones without compromising eligibility for nomination or induction.
– For non-drivers, individuals must have worked at least 10 years in the NASCAR industry.
– Individuals may also be considered who made significant achievements in the sport, but left the sport early due to a variety of circumstances.
The 24-person Nominating Committee follows…
NOMINATION COMMITTEE
NASCAR Hall of Fame: Executive Director Winston Kelley; Curatorial Affairs Manager Tom Jensen.
NASCAR Officials: Chairman / CEO Jim France; President Steve Phelps; Vice Chairman Mike Helton; Executive Vice President / Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell; Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer Jill Gregory; Senior Vice President & Chief Communications Officer Eric Nyquist; Senior Vice President, Competition Scott Miller; Managing Director, Racing Operations Ben Kennedy.
Track Owners/Operators: International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa France Kennedy; Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith; International Speedway Corporation President John Saunders; Holland Motorsports Complex operator Ron Bennett; Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell; West Coast Short Track representative Ken Clapp; Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark; Rockford Speedway operator Jody Deery; former Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George; Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage; Dover Motorsports CEO Denis McGlynn; Pocono Raceway board of directors member Looie Mattioli; Bowman Gray Stadium operator Dale Pinilis.
Media: Mike Joy, FOX.
(NASCAR PR)
The driver who has led the most laps in the Daytona 500 has only won two of the last five races (Denny Hamlin in 2016 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014). Twice in that time, a driver has led only the last lap for victory – Austin Dillon in 2018 and Kurt Busch in 2017. (more…)
