21 VS. 43’S GREATEST HITS
Beginning in the sport before and at the
start of NASCAR as a sanctioning body, the Wood family of Stuart, VA, and the
Pettys of Level Cross, NC have been the sport’s historic backbone. Alongside
now-retired Junior Johnson, the team of Glen, Leonard, and Delano Wood and the
team of the Petty family dominated NASCAR’s opening decades like no trio of
competitive teams, before or since.
Lee Arnold Petty’s two sons, Richard and
Maurice, and the youngsters’ cousin, Dale Inman, grew up with Lee and the race
team he formed and nurtured, and by the dawn of the 1960s they had put down
roots to become a force. In Virginia, meanwhile, Walter and Ada Wood bore six
children, Clay, Glen, Ray, Crystal, Delano, and Leonard. Raised during the
Depression years where Walter Wood worked in West Virginia coal fields, the Wood
children, like the Pettys, made the family unit a strong and cohesive force that
carried into racing.
Glen went to work at a local sawmill, and
by the age of 23 had joined co-worker Chris Williams and had purchased the mill.
On off time they’d travel to local short tracks, and Glen became a fan of a
driver only a year older than he, Curtis Turner. By 1950 they were in
cooperation with a racecar, a 1938 Ford coupe that they raced in Horsepasture,
VA.
As Glen’s racing continued and expanded,
Ray, Clay, and Delano helped out, and young Leonard quickly became a genius with
cars. By 1952 Glen Wood was racing in NASCAR’s Grand National, Modified, and
Sportsman divisions, and by 1954 he had sold his sawmill, now able to make
racing a full-time proposition.
In 1960 Glen raced at Daytona, but as he
explained to Richard Benyo in 1976, "I would catch myself thinking about
what would happen if (the car) got away from me…..I get nervous just seeing
evidence of wrecks at those high speeds (and) when you’re thinking like that you
should quit."
So Glen eventually quit as driver. In 1960
he hired Alfred "Speedy" Thompson to drive his car at Charlotte, and
Thompson won the National 400, the first superspeedway win for Glen Wood’s team.
"I never won one of these big ones and I never will as a driver, but this
is just as good," Glen said afterward. Leonard was chief mechanic and the
rest of the clan served as help. Dan Gurney drove their car at Riverside and won
at Riverside four times; the Woods crewed Parnelli Jones’ Bill Stroppe Mercury
in 1967 en route to the win.
The Wood Brothers’ first win at the
Daytona 500 came after a fiery crash injured their regular driver, Marvin Panch.
Dewayne "Tiny" Lund was hired, and he ran the 500 without a tire
change en route to the win.
The Woods established a reputation for pit
work beginning at the 1960 World 600, and by 1965 that reputation caused Ford
to assign them to crew Jimmy Clark’s Lotus-Ford champ car at Indianapolis. The
team’s regular crew were left shaking their heads as the "novice" Wood
brothers outdid all other teams in the pits en route to the win.
Later in 1965 Glen’s first hero, Curtis
Turner, was reinstated to NASCAR after a "lifetime" ban for trying to
integrate drivers into Jimmy Hoffa’s Teamsters Union in exchange for loans to
cover mammoth debts at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Glen put him in his cars and
Turner raced hard everywhere he went and won the inaugural 500-miler at
Rockingham.
Cale Yarborough was hired for 1967 and in
four seasons bagged the Daytona 500, three Atlanta 500s, two Michigan events,
two Firecracker 400s, the Southern 500, a Daytona qualifier, and an October
500-miler at Rockingham.
It was the 1970s that were the apex
seasons for the Wood Brothers #21 Mercurys. The team never ran the full
schedule because Leonard and Glen were the team’s only full-time employees,
operating out of a smallish cinderblock garage in Stuart. They ran A.J. Foyt,
who was instrumental in securing Purolator sponsorship for the #21, in major
early-season events such as Daytona for two seasons, 1971 and ’72, and in the
1971 Daytona 500 the long-budding rivalry between the Woods and Petty
Enterprises began its most spectacular incarnation, and it became even hotter
when for 1972 the Woods hired David Pearson, a driver thought finished after the
collapse of Holman-Moody Racing.
It is here that we look back on the
greatest race rivalries between the #21 Wood Brothers Mercury and the #43
Chryslers of Petty Enterprises:
1971 DAYTONA 500 – A.J. Foyt was the favorite in the first
500 of the Winston era and the first of the restrictor plate era. Foyt won the
pole and lost his 125 after he slowed to avoid Ron Keselowski’s spin and Pete
Hamilton gunned him down at the stripe. In the 500 the fight exploded to a new
level of racing competitiveness – 48 lead changes among 11 drivers. Foyt ran out
of gas with 39 to go and lost a lap, ultimately finishing third to Richard
Petty. Glen Wood later claimed the team found a fuel line had been tampered
with.
1971 ATLANTA 500 – Foyt and Petty went at it again, with Foyt
this time edging Petty by several lengths.
1972 DAYTONA 500 – Foyt timed second and burst into the lead
on the start, while Petty started 34th and was running in the top five by the
tenth lap. He and Foyt swapped the lead in the first 80 laps, but Petty’s debut
500 with STP ended with a broken valve spring, and Foyt cruised to an easy win.
1972 REBEL 400 – David Pearson, considered washed up by
many, jumped into the Purolator Mercury and manhandled the Lady in Black for his
first superspeedway win in 14 months.
1972 FIRECRACKER 400 – Pearson, Petty, and Bobby Allison engaged
in a spirited shootout, and at the finish David edged Richard’s Dodge by six
feet with Allison’s Chevrolet hot on their heels.
1974 WORLD 600 – Multiple rule changes were forcing a
costly changeover from 427 CID engines to 358 small blocks. The Wood Brothers
purchased a small block from Bud Moore and began winning with it, while Maurice
Petty hand-built some Chrysler small blocks and Richard started winning on the
short tracks with them and came within three laps of a sure win at Dover in May.
For the fuel-crisis-shortened 600 the
twosome fought it out with Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker. Baker broke and Cale
crashed into Pearson after both hit oil from a back marker’s blown engine with 11
to go. Pearson shook off the contact and edged Petty after 37 official lead
changes over 540 miles.
1974 MOTOR STATE 400 – Pearson was the dominator at Michigan with
four wins in the track’s first nine races, but today, after attrition swatted
out Baker, Cale, and both Allisons, he and Petty swapped the lead back and
fourth, ultimately totaling 50 lead changes. With some five to go a crash
brought out the yellow with Petty leading by over a second, and Pearson pitted
for tires and to clean paper off his grille. This moved Earl Ross to second and
locked Pearson in third after cleanup took longer than expected.
1974 FIRECRACKER 400 – Richard Petty had won the Daytona 500 in a
race that had restrictor plated big block engines, 60 lead changes, 15 leaders,
and twenty fewer laps to run due to the energy crunch. For the Firecracker the
full distance was restored and the teams were running small blocks unencumbered
by plates. Bobby Allison, meanwhile, was driving Roger Penske’s Matador after
parking his own Chevrolet while Bud Moore had Buddy Baker as driver. Other than
that, nothing else was different.
The lead changed hands 45 times among nine
drivers, and in the closing laps Pearson had the lead with Petty in his draft,
waiting for the right time to pass. Knowing this, Pearson pulled a shocker – at
the white flag he slammed on his brakes, swerved low, was almost punted by
Petty, and the surprised Petty shot into the lead. Pearson, though, gassed it,
caught up in the draft, and swung underneath in Four. Petty swerved down to chop
him off, both got ever-so-sideways, but Pearson cleared Petty and had the win.
So angry was Petty that he stormed into
the press box to confront Pearson. The two argued over the maneuver, and the
Charlotte Observer transcripted their argument and printed it in their July 5,
1974 edition.
1974 TALLADEGA 500 – On race morning, Roger Penske found his
Matador had been tampered with. Other teams began checking their cars, and some
half of the 50-car field found altered suspension pieces, cut lines, and sand in
fuel cells. No culprits were ever found.
The race was run very cautiously,
explaining the event’s lower number of lead changes – 35 – than usual. A restart
occurred with six to go and Pearson grabbed the lead. "Richard didn’t trick
me," he said to author Bill Libby. "My back window was coming out, my
car was a mess, I couldn’t keep up." Petty drafted Pearson and in the final
lap stormed past. "He didn’t just go by me, he SCRAPED by me, but I’ll tell
you, I’d rather rub fenders with Richard than compete clean with some of the
other cats, who are crazy at times."
1975 DAYTONA 500 – Petty dominated before a cracked cylinder
head necessitated frequent stops for water. David Pearson had the lead, but in
the final 20 laps Petty maneuvered ahead of Benny Parsons, who was many seconds
behind Pearson, and began draft-towing him toward Pearson. With three to go
Pearson was lapping Cale Yarborough when Cale inexplicably hooked Pearson and
David spun down the backstretch. "Pearson spun out, he never does
that," Benny thought, then realized, "Hey, I’m gonna win the Daytona
500!!"
Benny noted Petty’s drafting help: "I
don’t know what I’d have done without him," he said. To this Pearson
snorted, "He’d have lost, that’s what."
1975 POCONO 500 – Petty dominated 1975, and was the
defending champion at Pocono. The second annual Purolator 500 saw 43 lead
changes, heat even more brutal than Talladega in August or Darlington in
September, and a ninety-minute red flag for rain. Pearson had the lead, but with
ten to go smoke began spilling out. Lap after lap the smoke increased, and in
the oppressive heat hung in the air. Dale Inman of Petty’s crew accosted Johnny
Bruner to black flag Pearson. Inman then made a similar demand to the Wood
Brothers. As Pearson completed Lap 198 the black flag did come out, but with a
three-lap grace period and only two to go, there was no chance Pearson would
pit. Pearson had only his third win of the year. "They sure didn’t need the
STP car to win the Purolator race two years in a row," Petty said.
1975 YANKEE 400 – After Coo Coo Marlin’s blown engine set
off a seven-car crash that tore open a portion of backstretch guardrail, the
race settled into another Pearson-Petty shootout. The green flew with five to go
and Pearson passed Petty for the lead. Petty gunned back past a lap later, and
Pearson took it back coming to the white flag. Petty then swept past on the
backstretch, and waved to the crowd as he beat Pearson to the stripe.
1976 DAYTONA 500 – Amid
Nitrous-gate, John Banks’ qualifier
tumble, and a horrible crash that badly injured Johnny Ray, the race shook out
to a familiar Pearson-Petty battle. "He was faster than me," Pearson
said later. Petty had the lead, but Pearson closed up and passed on the
backstretch of the last lap. As they lapped Joe Frasson Petty fought back down
low and the two skated through Three and Four.
Then it all broke loose, both cars hit the
wall, and Petty came to a stop 100 feet short of the finish. Pearson clipped
Frasson and kept his foot on the clutch, and was able to limp ahead to the flag.
With ABC television broadcasting the second half of the race live, it was
witnessed by millions around the country, and suddenly interest in NASCAR began
to explode.
1976 WORLD 600 – Pearson and Petty fought it out with Cale
Yarborough in the first race at Charlotte run under Bruton Smith’s tutelage since
bankruptcy made him flee the scene with others holding the bag in the early
1960s. Pearson and Cale battled hard for the lead, but Cale cut a tire and lost
a lap. Petty led in the final 100 laps but was no match for Pearson.
1976 POCONO 500 – NASCAR mandated smaller
carburetors at
Atlanta, but for Pocono it allowed teams to revert to the bigger carbs. Petty
went with the big carb and was suddenly stronger relative to the competition
than he’d been for most of the year. The lead changed hands 44 times in 124
laps, but then Pearson legged it. Petty cut a tire with 24 to go, but Dave
Marcis’ engine set up a ten-lap sprint. Pearson pulled to a one-second lead, but
with three to go he skated through One. A lap later he skidded through the
Tunnel Turn and slowed, a tire down. Petty soared to a popular win. "It
sure felt good to beat David up here," Petty said. "It really
did."
1976 SOUTHERN 500 – Pearson had never won Darlington’s crown
jewel. He lost a lap on a long stop under yellow to adjust the chassis, but got
it back amid the event’s typical day of yellow fever. Donnie Allison crashed,
Cale hit a fence post in the pits and broke the rear end, Skip Manning was nailed
by Joe Frasson, and Pearson grabbed the lead in the final 50 laps as Petty
side-slammed the wall off Four near the end; he still managed to pass Darrell
Waltrip for second. The win gave Pearson NASCAR’s Triple Crown of Daytona,
Charlotte, and Darlington; "How much does it pay?" Pearson asked.
1977 ATLANTA 500 – In contrast to chaotic races of 1976, the
1977 Atlanta 500 was tranquility for most of its 328 laps. Pearson led 80 laps
as Cale racked up 120 laps led, while Petty pounced in the second half and led
the rest.
1977 WORLD 600 – Maurice Petty’s dynos showed that his race
engine and qualifying engine had the same power, so Richard let things sort out
early and then lit the fuse at Charlotte. He won by 30 seconds. "I got hot
and I got beat," Pearson said after finishing second.
1977 GOLDEN STATE 400K – After Darrell Waltrip led some 20 laps
early, Petty pulled away and "I think Pearson conceded the race to me"
in the end. It was the 63rd and final time the two would finish together in the
top two spots.
1981 DIXIE 500 – There would be more battles between the
#43 and #21, but the last truly epic showdown between the two came in ESPN’s
first flag to flag NASCAR telecast. Neil Bonnett was now in his third season
driving the #21 as David Pearson had taken to less-frequent Winston Cup
schedules, and Petty was no longer with Dodge. The two engaged in a tremendous
door-to-door battle in Atlanta’s November 500-miler, swapping the lead several
times, racing wheel to wheel for lap after lap. Petty began to pull away after
100 miles but a yellow sent the battle back to hot level, and the two at times
pounded on each other through the turns. Petty then fell out with engine
failure, while Bonnett fought off a determined Darrell Waltrip and Cale
Yarborough for the win.
Now has come the 2001 Southeastern 500 at
Bristol, and the return of the #21 to victory lane is a welcome sight. The
renewed strength of the #43 adds greatly to the spectacle, and we may see more
such showdowns as this season proceeds.