The third generation of racing royalty took the helm of Wood Brothers Racing on April 26, with siblings Jon Wood and Jordan Wood Hicks and cousin Keven Wood as the new co-owners.
Jon Wood was named the team’s president, inheriting the role from his father, Eddie Wood, who was the team’s first president.
In the beginning of racing, Jon Wood said there weren’t any designated roles. He noted the only reason his father became the president was for legal reasons.
“My dad just sort of took over as, if you want to call it, a team president. That’s what he was, but I think the only reason for that was the Secretary of State requires a president, a vice-president, and a secretary-treasurer to form a company. It was for legal reasons, it wasn’t because he was the boss,” he said.
Wood estimates his father was president from the 1980s until he stepped down, and he does not know why Wood Brothers chose to shift into the third generation of leadership now.
“I asked that question myself, and I’ve never really gotten an answer. My dad just up and said, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about making you the company president. TBD (to be determined) we’ll see how it goes,’” he said.
Wood said he didn’t think anything more about it. However, around this time his uncle, Len Wood, started having a few minor health issues.
“I don’t know if his health issues played a role in that not, but it all happened around the same time,” he said.
While the company has new ownership, Wood said major changes are not expected.
“It’s funny because back when I absolutely had no say at all, I had all these ideas on how they could do things differently. I think we all do that at some point. We feel like our parents are doing things wrong, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be within business, but just in life in general. We always feel like we can do it better,” he said.
While he absolutely felt that way, Wood said as it turns out, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
“So, it was really good that I had so say back then because I had to learn the hard way that they made it 75 years – not because they were stupid or made bad choices, but because they were pretty smart and made really good decisions,” he said.
Above and beyond that, Wood said his predecessors were just good people.
“I think that’s the part that really gets lost is a lot of teams come and go, and they come in and make a lot of noise, win a lot of races, but we are still here when pretty much every single one that at least started when we started has failed. So, they (previous owners) got to be doing something right,” he said.
“Our performance is struggling now more than really it has in recent memory, but that’s not to any single decision that they’ve made. It’s just that they got to get better, and we will. I’m not even remotely concerned about that,” he said.
While he feels like he doesn’t deserve to become president, Wood said it’s not something for him to question.
“I just hope to do the best, and I don’t want to let them down,” he said. “I feel like my dad’s pretty smart, and he’s done a lot right. He’s certainly managed to keep this company afloat and keep us in business, and so I don’t want to let them down. I feel like I’m probably in a place now more than ever where I can take this seriously and respect the position.”
Wood said becoming president is intimidating, particularly in the last year or so when there’s been a lot of back and forth between NASCAR and other teams.
“We all kind of collaborate together, and so it’s pretty intimidating when you walk in a room and Michael Jordan’s sitting three seats down along others. It’s overwhelming to think that I’m on the same level as a lot of these other team presidents now, and we’re pretty much equals. That’s the part that I really struggle with mentally,” he said.
