This article is the second installment in a special series of content centered around the legacy of NASCAR’s oldest, active team, Wood Brothers Racing.
Since Glen Wood envisioned himself competing at the highest level and enlisting the help of his family, this blue-collared team has withstood the test of time, blazing plenty of memories and relationships along the way.
Currently sitting at 101 wins, there is plenty of history that the team has its eyes set on.
Now, let’s flash back to the 1960s, when the relatively young Woods began to leave larger footsteps on the sport as a whole.
From our earliest age, most of us can probably remember a time when we played with building blocks. Whether it was in the form of Legos or Little Tikes, classrooms and bedrooms across America are the site of some of the finest architecture … in an adolescent’s mind.
The Law of Cause of Effect states that everything must have a cause, therefore, a beginning. It’s why those building blocks are fundamental in expanding a young person’s conscious mind when it comes to creativity, problem-solving, and achievement.
Every success story has a beginning, traced back to roots that undoubtedly involved toil, strain, highs, lows and growing pains.
Glen and Leonard Wood’s building blocks to lay the foundation for Wood Brothers Racing paved the way for the establishment in the motorsports industry. Yet, as with all competitors, the desire to be the best orchestrated the next group of blocks to be pressed down.
From its founding in 1953 to 1962, the team garnered five wins: two by Speedy Thompson and three accounted for by Glen himself.
However, consistently visiting victory lane was the next rung on the Wood Brothers’ ladder and taking that next step required pairing with Marvin Panch, a driver who made his name racing up and down the West Coast.
Panch’s first introduction to the Wood Brothers came under rather unprecedented circumstances in the 1960 Atlanta National 400 when Panch thought his day was over due to mechanical issues.
“I had already fallen out of the race in Atlanta,” the late Panch said in Racing Memories From a NASCAR Legend, a copy that his daughter, Marvette Bagwell, sent to Frontstretch.
“Glen Wood came running up asking if I could relieve his driver,” Panch continued. “I said sure and when they brought him in, just before I got into the car, Glen leaned over to me and said to be careful, because there might be a vibration in the car. Well, I took off out of the pits and was careful for a couple of laps, but I didn’t feel any type of bad vibration. Matter of fact, after the clunker that I was driving at the time, the car felt really good. I stepped on it and the car flew. I ended up finishing fourth in the race.”
Panch was obligated to finish the year out for his other team owner at the time, W. J. Ridgeway. However, a connection had been sparked and a partnership with the Woods commenced midway through 1962.
With a part-time slate with the Wood Brothers under his belt, 1963 was setting up nicely for the driver many called “Pancho.” Unprecedented was the theme of Panch’s early tenure with the Wood Brothers, and the beginning of that season was one that neither Leonard nor the NASCAR history books would forget.
“Panch in Daytona, 1963 qualified the car,” Leonard Wood told Frontstretch when asked about memories from WBR’s 75 years. “This sports car guy wanted him to drive his sports car.”
Panch accepted the offer, testing a Ford-powered Maserati for the Daytona Continental Challenge. Piloting a car without the spoiler, the handling felt sketchy to the grizzled veteran, who brought the car to Wood and crew for adjustments.
After shaking it down some more, Panch felt comfortable enough to go full throttle.
“He backed off the throttle, the back end broke loose, got upside down, caught fire, with him under it,” Wood said.
“I guess the car thought it was an airplane, because when I got two-thirds of
the way down the backstretch, the car went airborne,” Panch said in Racing Memories From a NASCAR Legend. “It went up, and as it came back down, the Maserati hit on the right front corner and then landed on its top.”
In the blink of an eye, the gas filler spout jerked off, spraying gas everywhere, igniting an inferno.
“I couldn’t get out the back because the engine was behind me, and now I saw fire around the carburetor,” Panch continued. “I thought to myself, ‘Uh oh, I’m in trouble here.’ I tried to fight the flames the best I could with the extinguisher I had in the car, but I couldn’t get it angled towards the flames.”
With Panch trapped in the fiery scene, a group of guys jumped the guardrail to pull Panch out, ultimately saving his life seconds before the gas tank exploded. Among them was a fellow driver, the colossal DeWayne Louis “Tiny” Lund, a not-so-tiny 33-year-old among the witnesses of the horrific incident.
“Tiny Lund and three more guys jumped through the tunnel, picked the car up, and saved [Panch’s] life,” Leonard Wood recalled.
After being administered to Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach, Fla., Panch thought of one giant act to repay the man who had saved his life: put Lund in the seat of the No. 21 for the Daytona 500. Lund honored Panch in the best way possible, by taking a huge step forward in his own career and winning the race, marking one of Wood’s favorite memories the team has experienced.
When Panch finally recuperated, he returned with a vengeance at the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In his 12 starts in ’63 following the accident, Panch never finished worse than ninth. Along the way, he secured his first win with the Wood Brothers at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leading 131 of the 400 laps.
The Menomonie, Wisc. native went on to grace victory lane seven more times with the Wood Brothers, leaving the team in 1966 when Ford Motor Company boycotted NASCAR due to Chrysler’s stronger Hemi engines while Ford couldn’t get a stronger motor approved by the sanctioning body.
However, the bond created by the pairing gave Panch some of his greatest moments, and it instilled a relationship that lasted a lifetime. And as humble as they were, Panch quickly became aware of his role on the team.
“The Wood Brothers were good straight folks, wouldn’t cheat at all,” Panch said. “As a matter of fact, we were in Charlotte one time, practicing for a race, and the car in front of me was dropping lead shot out of its quarter panel. They used to load up the panels with lead to meet the minimum weight during inspection. Once on the track, they’d ‘spring a leak’ and the car would be several pounds lighter for the race.
“Well, when I came in, I went up to Leonard, told him what I saw and mentioned that maybe we ought to try it. Leonard stood up tall, pointed his finger at me and said in no uncertain terms, ‘You drive the car and we’ll take care of everything else.’”
Panch’s tenure was intermingled with several other legends who stacked the next row of blocks to launch the Wood Brothers into the limelight. Road course ace Dan Gurney piloted the team’s No. 121 to three consecutive wins at Riverside International Raceway, including a 1-2 finish with Panch in 1964.
A.J. Foyt won five races piloting the iconic candy apple red and white machine for WBR, including the 1972 Daytona 500.
And certainly not going without mention was Curtis Turner, a polarizing, yet fierce driver who was instrumental in the Wood Brothers growth. He also was a close friend of Panch’s, racing alongside him at the Wood Brothers.
“Curtis Turner was one of the greatest drivers there has ever been as far as controlling the car,” Leonard Wood said.
As he said in his feature with Frontstretch, Turner was a key figure in introducing the young family to Ford as they got their feet wet in the sport.
The 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee only grabbed one checkered flag with WBR, but it was a sentimental one, as his 1965 win at Rockingham Speedway served as the last of his 17 career NASCAR Cup Series wins, coming four years after he was initially banned from the sport for attempting to lead a drivers’ union.
Foyt, Turner and Panch are all members of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers. The trio, along with Gurney, were integral pieces that Glen and Leonard placed in the No. 21 (or No. 121) that ultimately set them up for success for the decades to come.
Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.