Jimmy Fennig to Lead Competition at Roush Fenway Racing

Jimmy Fennig to Lead Competition at Roush Fenway Racing

Long-time Roush Fenway Employee/Championship Crew Chief Named EVP of Competition

CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 11, 2020) – Roush Fenway Racing has named Jimmy Fennig executive vice president in charge of competition. Fennig, who joined the organization in 1997 and played a major role in several of the team’s greatest successes, will oversee all aspects of competition for Roush Fenway’s racing operations that currently fields two entries in the NASCAR Cup Series. (more…)

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Remembering Ray Lee Wood

Remembering Ray Lee Wood

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.

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Former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Matt Kenseth Set to Join Chip Ganassi Racing

Former NASCAR Cup Series Champion Matt Kenseth  Set to Join Chip Ganassi Racing

Kenseth Will Assume Driving Duties in the No. 42 for Remainder of 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Season

 

CONCORD, N.C. (Apr. 27, 2020) – Chip Ganassi Racing announces today that when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the track for the remainder of the 2020 season, Matt Kenseth will be behind the wheel of the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro. Kenseth, the former Cup Series Champion and two-time Daytona 500 Champion, most recently competed full-time at NASCAR’s highest level in 2017, where he finished seventh in the points and won the second to last race of the season at Phoenix Raceway.

The Wisconsin native is a 39-time Cup Series winner and will join a talented group on the No. 42 team, which entered the 2020 season following a best-ever sixth place finish in the 2019 point standings, a fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs, and a playoff race win at Dover International Speedway. With a newly designed Chevrolet Camaro for the 2020 season, the No. 42 team started the year strong, with three top-10 finishes in the first four races.

 

NOTES OF INTEREST:

  • Running Up Front – With 18 years of experience in the Cup Series, Kenseth has consistently run near the front, averaging 10 top-five and just over 18 top-10 finishes a year in his 18 full-time seasons behind the wheel. During his career, Kenseth posted at least one win in all but four seasons and made the playoffs in all but one season in which he was eligible, finishing his full-time career with eight consecutive appearances.

  • A Winning Attitude:  Overall, the former Cup Champion, has 39 Cup wins including the Daytona 500 twice, the Coke 600, the Southern 500 and the All-Star race. He has 181 top-5s and has finished in the top-10 in points in 13 of his 18 seasons. When Kenseth scored his first Dayton 500 victory in 2009, he became only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to win a Cup Series Championship, the Rookie of the Year Award and the Daytona 500 — joining Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, David Pearson, and Richard Petty.

  • Return to Team Chevy: While this marks the first time Kenseth will race with Team Chevy in the Cup Series, he is no stranger to the manufacturer. Kenseth began his racing career in 1988 in a Camaro and made his debut in the NASCAR Southeast Series in 1994 behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, and continued racing Chevrolet’s in the Xfinity Series through the 2001 season.

QUOTEBOARD:

  • Chip Ganassi, Owner, Chip Ganassi Racing: “I have always said that when we have to fill a driver spot, that I owe it to our team, our partners and our fans to put the best available driver in the car. We are doing exactly that with Matt. Throughout my time in NASCAR, I have always admired the way Matt Kenseth raced. He has proven to be a consistent winner, strong competitor, and respectful driver, and I’m glad we are able to add another NASCAR champion to the team for the remainder of this season.”

  • Matt Kenseth, Driver No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro: “This was an unexpected opportunity for sure. I can’t say racing was even on my radar two weeks ago. After spending some time thinking about it and all the unique circumstances surrounding all of us right now, it just seemed the timing and the opportunity was perfect to come back. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me to get up to speed in a relatively short period of time, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m excited to work with Kurt again and to meet all my new CGR team members, and I’m really looking forward to getting back in a Chevrolet. In 1988, I started my career in a Camaro and I can’t wait to finally race a Chevy in the Cup Series. I also need to thank Chip and all his partners for this opportunity. Hopefully we will be on the track soon.”

About Chip Ganassi Racing:

Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 30 years and is considered one of the most successful as well as innovative owners the sport has anywhere in the world. Today his teams include three cars in the NTT IndyCar Series and two cars in the NASCAR Cup Series. Overall his teams have 19 championships and over 220 victories, including four Indianapolis 500s, a Daytona 500, a Brickyard 400, eight Rolex 24 At Daytonas, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.

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On This Day in NASCAR History….

On This Day in NASCAR History….

Sunday, April 4, 2004 – On this day in history, Elliott Sadler beat Kasey Kahne to the line by just 0.028 second – the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway. Kahne dominated the race leading 148 laps driving for Evernham Motorsports, but Sadler driving for Yates Racing jumped out front with 27 to go and never relinquished the top spot. It was Sadler’s second of three career NASCAR Cup Series wins. (more…)

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Ryan Newman Thankfully Survives Scary Daytona 500 Crash

Ryan Newman Thankfully Survives Scary Daytona 500 Crash

First of all, let’s get right to what really matters and thank God (or whatever higher power you believe in) that Ryan Newman survived what looked to be one of the worst wrecks in recent NASCAR history. There have been some pretty awful wrecks in automotive racing in various forms, NASCAR, IRL, F1, and other but this one had all the earmarks of a very serious accident, reminding many of the terrible crash that killed Dale Earnhardt. (more…)

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Micro Wrestling Federation, Winston Cup Mobile Museum, Del Rods Car Club coming to FanZone during May 3-5 NASCAR tripleheader weekend

Micro Wrestling Federation, Winston Cup Mobile Museum, Del Rods Car Club coming to FanZone during May 3-5 NASCAR tripleheader weekend

50th Anniversary celebration brings more fan activities than ever to the Monster Mile 

DOVER, Del. (March 8, 2019) – On the heels of Dover International Speedway’s announcement last month about free Harlem Globetrotters performances, the Micro Wrestling Federation will also perform multiple free shows in the FanZone on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, as part of the Monster Mile’s 50th anniversary celebration, track officials said today. (more…)

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