The End of an Era

I have never been one to fall into the 'nostalgia' trap, and it came as not much of a surprise when the dust settled from the Duals that the #21 Wood Brothers Racing entry failed to make the field of the Daytona 500 for the 1st time since 1962. Already some of the 'old guard' Nascar fans are voicing their displeasure and calling foul against 'NA$CAR'.

"I am very upset that Bill and the Wood Bros will not be in the 500. While a lot of the blame has to be put on the Woods, Nascar also shares the blame for the B$ move they let Penske pull. Sam Hornish basically got a free pass into the race (while I was glad to hear Ken Squire mention yesterday on Speed). This blows!!!"

While it is unfortunate that the Wood Brothers won't be racing on Sunday, one only has to look at just who was in the driver's seat to see that the Woods were trying to take advantage of the Nascar Past Champion's Provisional rule just as Penske has. The reason why the Woods will not be racing on Sunday has little to do with Nascar, but the race team itself.

The Wood Brothers, for what ever reason, have decided to not align themselves with Roush/Yates a total commitment to Ford Racing. There is a good reason why Toyota will have 9 entries racing on Sunday and Ford only 7. Ford, as a manufacturer, is in the infancy of 'learning how to work as team'. Something that Dodge perfected in the trucks, and Toyota seems to have carried over from their CTS success as well.

But the Wood Brother's resentment to change goes back almost ten years with the refusal to become a multi car race team. Yes, there were a couple of years where they received help from Roush Racing, but those bridges were burned with the hiring of 'Fatback' McSwain as Race Director. There still seems to be some animosity between the two teams. If the Wood Brothers ever want to return to becoming even a full time field filler, they will need to over come animosity.

This isn't the first time in the past ten years that the Wood Brothers will not be racing at a Cup event, in 2000 the 21 piloted by Elliott Sadler car failed to qualify at the spring Talladega race. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Wood Brothers need to swallow some pride, and jump on the Roush/Yates bandwagon and be a part of the team. It is their only hope.