Stuart native Glen Wood gets nod into NASCAR Hall of Fame

There probably isn’t an owner more deserving of a spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame than Glen Wood, the patriarch of Stuart-based Wood Brothers Racing that helped cement a family-owned team as one of the more successful racing teams in NASCAR.

But for all that Wood has accomplished during his time in auto racing (four victories as a driver and 98 as an owner), he never envisioned his long hours in the shop and dedication to the sport would ever be rewarded as they will be tonight.

“I never dreamed that I would be qualified for a Hall of Fame like this,” Wood said Monday afternoon. “I’ve been humbled by all the congratulations I’ve received. It’s just very gratifying to be chosen for this.”

Wood is one of five inductees going into the third NASCAR Hall of Fame class, joining former Wood Brothers driver Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Inman and Richie Evans in tonight’s ceremony in the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte Convention Center

The third induction ceremony will be aired at 6 p.m. Sunday on SPEED.

“One thing about us is it’s been a family team for the entire 60-some years and it makes me proud that we could have accomplished that with our own people leading it,” Wood said.

Wood enters the Hall of Fame class a year after his most famous driver, David Pearson, was enshrined in the second five-man class. Pearson won 46 of his 105 races with the Wood Brothers, including winning the “Triple Crown” of races in 1976 — the Daytona 500, World 600 (now called the Coca-Cola 600) and the Southern 500.

“That’s what makes it so great to me is that David won about far more races for us than anyone and he did it so well,” Wood said. “There’s so many close races with him and Richard Petty. He had a couple of tough races with Cale Yarborough, too.”

Wood, along with his brother Leonard, helped revolutionize pit stops in the early days of NASCAR and made the organization famous by having a Who’s Who of drivers sport the familiar No. 21 colors — Pearson, Curtis Turner, Junior Johnson, Yarborough, Fred Lorenzen, A.J. Foyt and most recently Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott.

The ceremony comes one month before the Wood Brothers get a chance to defend its Daytona 500 win with Trevor Bayne. The victory in last year’s Great American Race was the fifth for the Wood Brothers and the first victory for the team since 2001 when Emporia native Elliott Sadler won at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“It’s just a huge thing to win the Daytona 500 even one time,” Wood said. “There’s several memorable ones, but this had to be at the top of the line of anyone who has ever won one.”