Wood Brothers Racing is one of the teams participating in the Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis this week. Bill Elliott is driving the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion at the test. Team co-owner Eddie Wood talked to Ford Racing during a break in the session to talk about the test and the upcoming visit this weekend to his first-ever NHRA drag race. Len Wood also will be going to the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill.
EDDIE WOOD – co-owner, No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion – “The testing is going really well. We’re up here as one of the cars to help put rubber down on the track. You know, they give you tires and you’re able to work on your car in-between runs, and that’s what we’re doing – which is really good for us. We’ve been able to try a lot of stuff. The other group is actually testing tires, testing different compounds and all that. I’m not sure what compound we’re on, but whatever it is, it’s a pretty good tire. We’ve made some 10-lap runs, like three of them, and the tires look really good. We put 30 or 35 laps on a set yesterday, and they were fine. I think Goodyear has done a good job in getting ready for this race. I think it’ll be okay when we come back. The track has got a lot of rubber on it from the [Indianapolis] 500, plus from what’s going on here. I think if it doesn’t rain a lot, like it did last summer, they should be okay.”
THIS WEEKEND YOU WILL BE AT ROUTE 66 RACEWAY AS A GUEST OF MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE NHRA DRIVER BOB TASCA III. “I’m going to Chicago. It’ll be my first drag race.”
HAVE YOU MET BOB TASCA III FACE-TO-FACE YET? “No. We’ve talked on the phone before, but I haven’t met him face-to-face, so I’m looking forward to that, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with him. I understand he’s got a really cool display he does with all the Motorcraft and Quick Lane stuff, and I’m anxious to see that. I think we’ll be over there Friday night, and, of course, we’re going to go every day. I haven’t seen a schedule, so I don’t know a lot about it; I’m just going to watch Tasca. That’s all I can tell you.”
IS THERE A NATURAL CURIOSITY FOR YOU IN REGARDS TO THE ENGINEERING OF DRAG RACING AND HOW THE FUNNY CARS GO DOWN THE TRACK, OR ARE YOU GOING AS MORE OF A RACE FAN? “Yeah. I know the amount of work that goes into our race cars, and I’m sure the same amount goes into their cars – especially something that runs 300 miles an hour. So, I’m anxious to see that. I’m really interested in seeing after they make the run when they take the motors apart. I think that might be sort of mind-boggling there. I’m anxious to see that, too. And, I love the smell of nitro methane, so I think that’ll be good.”
NO DOUBT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEETING WITH BOB TASCA HASN’T ESCAPED YOU. THE WOOD BROTHERS GO BACK THREE GENERATIONS WITH FORD IN STOCK-CAR RACING, AND THE TASCAS GO BACK THREE GENERATIONS WITH FORD IN DRAG RACING. “I know of his history. I have a book that Lee Holman, who is John Holman’s son, gave to me a couple of years ago, and I was thumbing through it one day and there was ’65 of ’66 Mustang in there with “Tasca Ford” on the side of it. Holman Moody, I guess, built some of their motors back in the ‘60s, so we kind of had a link there and didn’t really know it. I’ve read some stuff about it, and I think it’s pretty cool, you know, three generations there, too. Like I said, I’m really looking forward to going. You asked me if I’m going to be a fan; yeah, I’m going to be a fan, too.”
