List of drivers

David Pearson (1972–1979)

In 1972, David Pearson was hired to be the full-time driver of the No. 21 car. This choice would pave the way for one of the most successful strings of victory in motorsports history. Pearson continued driving the car from 1972 to 1979. In only seven years, the team entered 143 races and amassed a staggering 46 wins and 51 poles. Their race winnings surpassed $1.3 million during these seven years with Pearson as the driver.

David Pearson's 21 Mercury

In 1976, with Pearson still driving, the Wood Brothers won the coveted "Triple-Crown" of NASCAR racing. This feat was accomplished by winning the legendary Daytona 500, the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. All of this was accomplished throughout the 1976 season.

Due to their incredible success and their qualities as role models and ambassadors of the sport, the Wood Brothers were invited to the White House in the late 1970s at the request of President Jimmy Carter. The occasion made history for these brothers and friends from the small town of Stuart, Virginia.

As NASCAR gained prominence as an emerging sport, the Wood team was soon hailed as tops in their field. They were frequently toasted by and compared to their peers in other sports of the day, including baseball legend Reggie Jackson, football stars Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris, and basketball greats Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Due to growth and demand, the No. 21 team vacated its former shop for a new home located at the junction of Dobyns Road and Mayo Court in the town of Stuart. This would be the team's home base shop for many years to come.

Neil Bonnett (1979–1982)

The decade of the 1980s saw changes in NASCAR and within the No. 21 team. Pearson parted ways with the team, and was replaced by an emerging talent named Neil Bonnett from Hueytown, Alabama. Bonnett was a member of the "Alabama Gang" which included driving stars Bobby and Donnie Allison, and this would later include Davey Allison and Hut Stricklin.

Bonnett and the Wood Brothers team had a successful relationship, lasting only three and a half seasons and 83 races. This included nine victories and over $700,000 in winnings. During what was known as the "Bonnett Years", Purolator's longtime president Paul Cameron retired and the Wood Brothers' long-term sponsorship with Purolator came to an end, marking one of the most enduring and synonymous sponsorships in the history of NASCAR.

The No. 21 car was then sponsored by National Engineer, a California-based company focused on research and development for multiple industries. This company was owned by flamboyant Warner Hodgdon, who proudly had his name placed on the No. 21 car as its main sponsor. This Hodgdon sponsorship was believed to have been one of the richest deals of its time in NASCAR racing, thus confirming Wood's status as a leader in the sport.

Within the team itself, many of the original members retired from racing. Original team members and brothers Clay and Ray Lee Wood had stepped down years earlier and focused more on their families and other jobs in Patrick County.

As the number of race events increased and the full-time work of running a team grew each season, the Wood Brothers hired younger team members to fill the gaps. Among these were the son of original crew member Jimmy Edwards and the Wood Brothers' cousin Ralph Edwards. Other new members were Curtis Quesinberry and Hylton Tatum of Stuart as well as another young Wood relative Butch Moricle. Other new personnel was drawn from surrounding cities such as the Virginia towns of Danville, and Roanoke.

Also gaining an important role during these years was young Kim Wood, the only daughter of Glen and Bernece Wood. While she was still in high school, Kim started handling administrative duties for the team and would assist her mom in juggling secretarial duties, travel arrangements, and the business side of running the team.

Buddy Baker (1983–1984)

Buddy Baker's No. 21 Ford Thunderbird

In the mid-1980s, NASCAR entered what is now called the modern era of the sport. Growth in television coverage of the races had evolved from sporadic showings on ABC's Wide World of Sports to full-time coverage of the Daytona 500 by CBS and the full-time live broadcast of races by emerging cable networks such as ESPN and WTBS. NASCAR also obtained permanent corporate sponsorship for the series from the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and the sport's top-level series was changed from Grand National Division to the Winston Cup Series. The company's founder, R. J. Reynolds, was born and raised in Patrick County, only a few miles from the Wood Brothers team's headquarters.

The Modern Era also marked the first-ever quest for points championships by most teams. Since the 1950s many teams only ran select races. Now, however, teams would be required to compete in all events in a scheduled season to compete for the series title and its large cash prize.

The Wood Brothers decided to make the leap to running a full-time schedule. This added enormous work to the team and required a further commitment of time, money, and manpower. This new commitment also saw the departure of Warner Hodgdon and National Engineering as the sponsor, and the Wood Brothers brought Valvoline on board as their chief patron.

In 1983, the legendary driver Buddy Baker was hired to replace a departing Neil Bonnett in the No. 21 car. He and the Woods struggled for the first time in so many years, lasting only two seasons together. This same year, they captured a win at the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Baker and the Woods soon parted company, along with Valvoline as the sponsor and international star driver Bobby Rahal from the IndyCar series would briefly fill Baker's vacant seat for one race.

Kyle Petty (1985–1988)

Kyle Petty, driving the 7/Eleven Ford at Pocono in 1985

The 1985 season made history to NASCAR as young Kyle Petty, the grandson of legendary Lee Petty and son of series-dominator Richard Petty, was hired to drive the No. 21 car full-time. This formed a unique union between the two most successful racing families in NASCAR history.

This also marked the first addition of a new sponsor to the Wood Brothers team. A trio of corporate sponsors—7-Eleven, Citgo, and Chief Auto Parts—were brought on board with the Petty and the Wood Brothers for 1985. As part of their marketing strategy, the Wood Brothers were required to relinquish their world-famous No. 21 car number and adopt the No. 7 in favor of the 7-Eleven sponsorship. This led to a major discourse with fans of the team, who knew the No. 21 synonymous with the legendary team from Virginia.

This also marked the emergence of the second generation of Wood Brothers, Eddie, and Len, who had increased their responsibilities with the team over the past years. They effectively were now calling the shots on race day for the team, and an "anything goes" attitude was welcomed within the team.

Leonard Wood in the 80s

Many of the older team members had retired by this time, including the original member and brother Delano Wood, who retired so he could focus on his emerging importance in his highly successful business with lumber. He also sought more time at home with his family and his church, as most races were held on Sunday and it provided little time for regular worship and church attendance with his family.

With an increasingly young team, a young driver, and a new sponsor, the Wood Brothers were trying to recapture their past glory. As time marched on through the 1970s and 1980s, many of the cutting-edge innovations pioneered by the team were discovered or were outright copied by other teams. Thus, the Woods' competitive edge had been dulled by other teams taking advantage of the Wood innovations and therefore, the Wood Brothers were enjoying a unique time of rebirth for the fabled NASCAR legends.

Kyle Petty would find victory in their second season together at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. In 1987 the team returned to their traditional No. 21 and won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Just as the Petty-Wood relationship was beginning to bear fruit, Kyle Petty found himself lured to a new team, SABCO Racing, owned by the wealthy Felix Sabates. Unable to refuse the lucrative offer, Petty left the Wood Brothers after four seasons and 115 races together. They won two races and winnings surpassed $1.3 million.

Neil Bonnett (1989–1990)

After Petty's departure, and a brief three-race stint with substitute driver Tommy Ellis, the Wood Brothers hired their former driver Neil Bonnett to once again pilot the No. 21 car. This reunion was hailed as the possible cure for the Woods' launch back to the top of the sport. Both Bonnett and the Wood Brother were optimistic about what would occur in the future, and the chemistry from an earlier success still seemed evident.

After only 31 races together in only one full season and the start of a second, Bonnett, unfortunately, suffered serious injuries in a crash at Darlington Raceway. This left Bonnett wondering if he was able to race again, and he left the Wood team with an empty seat to be filled by Dale Jarrett.

The sponsorship shuffle had become commonplace during this period in all NASCAR teams. As Fortune 500 companies and other top names took notice of the massive value of NASCAR sponsorship, names like Pepsi, Mello Yello, Ford Motorcraft, and Procter & Gamble had signed big-dollar sponsorship deals with the top teams in the sport.

The face of the sport itself was also changing. Along with the full schedule and championship points races, a new breed of drivers, such as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte, and Geoff Bodine, had already become powerful stars and champions. This era saw young drivers, including Davey Allison, Ward and Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, and Bobby Labonte, were emerging as the future of the sport as they worked up through the lower-ranked Busch Grand National Series.

New technologies and innovations began to dominate the sport too. NASCAR teams were quickly being run like corporations and sports franchises, with names like Hendrick Motorsports, Penske Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, SABCO, Larry Hedrick Motorsports, and Robert Yates Racing taking the dominance from Junior Johnson, the Melling's and the Petty's.

In efforts to keep up with the growth of NASCAR, the Wood Brothers continued to add more employees and assigned some personnel as shop employees and others as race-day crew members. The additions of team members like Bennie Belcher, Butch Mitchell, and outside engine builder Tommy Turner were bringing the team online with others in NASCAR.

Dale Jarrett (1990–1991)

By 1990, the Wood Brothers were back in the No. 21 Ford with Citgo as a sponsor. The early-season loss of Neil Bonnett required a replacement driver. Eddie and Len Wood turned to their old-time friend Dale Jarrett to take his rightful shot at the Winston Cup Series. Dale Jarrett was the son of former NASCAR champion and broadcaster Ned Jarrett and had grown up in the sport with the Wood Brothers.

The choice of Jarrett proved brilliant. In their first full season together in 1991, Jarrett would bring the Wood Brothers No. 21 to victory lane at Michigan, narrowly edging out Davey Allison by inches in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. The Wood team proved it still had what it took to win. More importantly, it would provide Jarrett with his first win and as a launching pad into one of the most successful careers in the modern era.

The Michigan victory supported a unique record for the Wood team. Every rookie driver who had ever driven for them for at least a full season had at least scored one victory in the No. 21 car. More impressive was that every driver to have driven for the Wood Brothers for a full season from 1953 to 2002 had won at least one race behind their wheel (although in one case, the win did not come in a points-paying race).

The Wood-Jarrett combination was widely considered to be as bright a future as any team in NASCAR's future; however, Jarrett was soon lured away by Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who formed a new team with the finances to entice Jarrett to leave the No. 21 car to drive the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevy. This new ride earned Jarrett his first Daytona 500 win.

Although Jarrett's time in the No. 21 was limited, lasting only for 53 races over two seasons, it produced one victory and over $600,000 in winnings. It also cemented how the Wood Brothers team was one of the best in NASCAR for breeding future superstars.

Morgan Shepherd (1992–1995)

With Jarrett's departure, the Woods sought out the veteran Morgan Shepherd to fill the seat in the 1992 season. Shepherd had been a solid, dependable finisher in the top series for most of his career and was a serious championship contender. With his consistent top finishes, Shepherd would provide strength as the team continued to adapt to the growing sport.

The new decade would seem unfathomable changes in NASCAR. A greater focus on new technology and sciences began to take hold. Engineers were now the norm, and the race-day teams often trained like professional athletes. Many teams even employed pro athletes to service their cars during pit stops.

The cost of racing grew exponentially, and its appeal doubled every year. NASCAR was now televised live internationally and was as popular as "stick and ball sports" with fans and advertisers.

Within the team itself, crew member turnover became frequent as Eddie and Len sought a perfect combination of chemistry to succeed. New members from nearby Mount Airy, North Carolina such as Rick Simmons and Mike "Andretti" Smith were added to the team. Paint and Body men Terry Hill and Chris Martin were hired, and longtime members Butch Moricle, Butch Mitchell, Hylton Tatum, and Cecil Wilson had become veterans on the team.

Glen Wood's daughter Kim had also emerged as a competent leader in her specialty with the team as well. In addition to running the business administrative aspects of the team, she was a "one-woman show" that handled all booking, reservations, accommodations, travel, and financial matters for the team. At a time when teams such as Richard Childress Racing employed a full-time staff of a dozen administrative workers, Kim proved as much a professional in this field as her brothers were in the mechanical and competitive aspects of the team.

Kim Wood had married crew member Terry Hall and became Kim Wood-Hall by this time. Terry Hall was a vital member of the team who served as a general mechanic and truck driver. He had replaced the legendary Delano Wood as jackman on the race day crew, after Delano's retirement several years earlier. Terry Hall was from Mount Airy and provided a gateway to recruiting many new members of the team from his ties to that area.

The No. 21 team continued many experiments and changes to again innovate the sport they helped build. They had been outsourcing much of their engine work, and during this period had contracted with Robert Yates Racing in an agreement to provide engine parts for the No. 21. They also began weight training routines for crew members and increased their application of technology in their race day competition.

Always the innovators in pit stops, the Wood team continued to practice and seek new improvements in their race day pit skills. The team also employed wide use of computers for the setup and timing of each car. Hiring race day specialists such as spotter Chuck Joyce; and part-time scorers/timers, the team was on the cutting edge of competition development.

It was in this period of the early 1990s that Eddie and Len Wood, and Kim Wood-Hall each took an ownership position in the team. For several years, the team had been owned by the Glen Wood Company, with patriarch Glen controlling the team's destiny. Longtime co-founder and crew chief Leonard Wood had stepped down as crew chief many years earlier, and Eddie Wood had become official crew chief of the No. 21 Ford.

Morgan Shepherd would do very well with the No. 21 Citgo-sponsored car, and would provide consistent finishes in all four seasons he ran for the Wood Brothers. They enjoyed 52 Top Ten finishes and over $4 million in earnings in their time together. Their only victory came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 1993, a race that was delayed six days because of a snowstorm in the Atlanta area the previous weekend, and provided a much-needed boost for the team who had suffered drought since Jarrett's victory at Michigan.

Michael Waltrip (1996–1998)

With the 1996 season upon them, the Woods sought a younger driver to fill the seat of the No. 21 Ford. As Shepherd was approaching retirement age, and a youth trend had risen with drivers like Jeff Gordon, the team was looking to ride a similar wave. They parted ways with Shepherd and welcomed Michael Waltrip, the younger brother of 3-time series champion and 1989 Daytona 500 winner Darrell Waltrip.

Although they produced no official regular-season victory, Waltrip and the Wood Brothers pulled off an amazing win at the 1996 The Winston Select All-Star race. In their first season with Waltrip, the team brought home the victory that night in a stunning display of team excellence that secured a $200,000 purse for the race.

In Waltrip's 3-season, 95-race tenure with the Woods, they would amass over $3.7 million in winnings.

Elliott Sadler (1999–2002)

With the dawn of the 1999 season, the Wood Brothers brought in Elliott Sadler to replace a departing Michael Waltrip. Like the Woods, Sadler is a Virginia native whose family had been involved in racing for many years. Sadler represented a young, talented Rookie looking to make a name for himself in the Winston Cup Series. With their reputation as prime developers of new talent, many held great things for this combination.

Changes inside the No. 21 team would become pivotal during this period as well. After decades at their old shop location at Dobyns Road in Stuart, the Wood Brothers constructed a massive, state-of-the-art new facility at the Industrial Park in that town. This new facility was modern and spacious and offered room for the expansion and development of their ever-growing team.

This new home also offered a museum of Wood Brothers memorabilia and history. Glen Wood's wife Bernice, who had served as de facto archivist for the family and team since the 1950s, presented a treasure trove of history for race fans to enjoy. She and Kim dedicated many long hours to perfecting the museum and offered guided tours of the entire facility to visitors from around the world. This delighted fans and quickly became known as one of the best and most visitor-friendly locations for any NASCAR fan to visit.

Additional changes emerged in personnel as some left, while others were hired. A full-time secretarial assistant, Annpaige Bowles, had been hired a few years earlier to assist in the demanding office work and take care of the museum. Previous hires such as William Fulp, John Ilowiecki, and Barry Sheppard had been brought in to expand the force to include parts managers, couriers, engineers, and shock specialists. A Chassis dyno, shock dyno, and other new equipment were added.

Also among the recent hires was legendary engine builder Danny Glad. Glad had worked on the 1992 Paul Andrews-led Alan Kulwicki team several years earlier, and came to the Woods after leaving Geoff Bodine. Along with notables such as Randy Dorton and Lou Larosa, Danny Glad was regarded as one of the best engine specialists in the sport.

Young Elliott Sadler cut his teeth in the No. 21 car and was soon performing on par with the best in the top NASCAR circuit. Eddie and Len had brought in Crew Chief Mike Beam, marking a historic first time that someone outside the Wood family had served as Crew Chief for the No. 21 team. Beam had seen success with Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, and others before arriving at the Woods. His pairing with Sadler would also allow Eddie and Len more time to manage the overall growth of their ever-expanding business operations.

2000 marked a historic period for Wood Brothers Racing. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in a special ceremony honoring their milestone achievements. For a team of brothers, relatives, and friends from the tiny town of Stuart (located in the Blue Ridge Mountains) they had achieved international acclaim as pioneers in motorsport competition. That same year, brothers Glen Wood and Leonard Wood were inducted into the prestigious Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

On the track, the Sadler-Wood combination began to bear fruit in the 2001 season, with Sadler scoring his first win in the No. 21 Ford at Bristol Motor Speedway This win oddly was the first win for the Wood Brothers in their career at Bristol, and the first for them in eight years.^[3] For many years, Bristol was not raced by the team, mostly because their focus was on the superspeedways, and they did not race at short tracks.

This period also saw an increased relationship between Wood Brothers racing and Roush Fenway Racing, headed by engine master Jack Roush of Michigan. Roush fielded several top-notch teams including those driven by Jeff Burton and Mark Martin. This Wood-Roush relationship gave the Wood Brothers the depth of engineering and engine resources that most multi-car teams relied upon to dominate the sport. This limited arrangement allowed the Woods a wide array of specialists and research to aid in their quest for victory.

Elliott Sadler continued to improve with the No. 21 and his evolution was quickly making him a target for other teams. As proven in the past, the Woods were excellent breeders of talent and had invested massive amounts of time and dedication to bringing Sadler to the forefront. After the 2002 season, Sadler moved to the Robert Yates Racing stable. The Sadler period for the Wood team had lasted 139 races, which was the longest single stretch for a pilot of the No. 21 since David Pearson drove in the Wood's heyday. Sadler and the Woods earned one victory together at Bristol Motor Speedway, and over $9 million in only four seasons together.

During Sadler's time in the No. 21, the long-term sponsorship relationship between Wood Brothers Racing and Citgo Petroleum came to an end. This was the end of a historic run, as Citgo had been a sponsor on the Wood Brothers car for nearly 20 years. Citgo was replaced by Ford Motorcraft and the United States Air Force, which made the Wood Brothers team the de facto "factory team" for Ford Motor Company.