DAYTONA MEMORIES - EDDIE WOOD FESSES UP … ALMOST

 

Ken and Ann Schrader, Eddie and Carol Wood, Len and Nancy Wood, and Jon Wood all recall their favorite memory of Daytona.  Ken and Ann’s answer mirror each other.  The Wood family, with the exception of Len’s wife Nancy all chose the same race, but for different reasons.  And, Eddie and Carol’s son Jon goes back to his youth for his.

 

Ken Schrader - #21 Little Debbie Fusion:  “Probably winning the (1987) 125 with Junie (Donlavey) because of the stuff after that here.  The way the people went up to Mr. Donlavey – the whole garage congratulated him.  The way everybody in here went to “Chief”.  That just drove the whole thing.  It was “Chief”.”

Ann Schrader:  “My favorite time here – I was up in the grandstand and we were running the 125, and beat Bill Elliott in our Red Baron debut.  I was up in the stands with all my friends and family and we were just screaming our hearts out.  What a great day for us.”

Eddie Wood:  “The 1976 Daytona 500.  David Pearson and Richard Petty raced all day.  It was just those two at the end.  They crashed on the last lap and David won the race.  I was on the radio with him.  I was the only one on the radio with him.  No one to this day knows what we talked about.  I’ve told several stories about what was said, but I’ve never really told the truth.  We are the only ones who know what was really said.”

Carol Wood:  “That finish with David Pearson and Richard Petty, because that was my first Daytona 500.  I was like, okay he won.  I really didn’t understand what the Daytona 500 meant.  The most exciting was when Elliott Sadler finished second.  We had a shot at winning it.”

Len Wood:  “The Daytona 500 in 1976 when Pearson wrecked.  We had come so close to winning the year before.  I think we were leading coming to take the white flag and got in an accident on the back stretch and it wouldn’t crank.  And then the next year we came back and won.  And that would be my only Daytona 500 win.  I don’t remember what I was doing there with the team then, but I was there.”

Nancy Wood:  “My favorite memory of Daytona … there are a couple;  I came here for my honey moon, and then coming here with (son) Keven when he got a little older and school got to be too stressful.  We would always go to Sea World because he was going to be my little marine scientist.  Just watching him learn and grow and have so much fun at Sea World with all the animals.  He always said he was coming to Sea World and work and ride Shamu.

Jon Wood – #47 Clorox Fusion and #20 U.S. Air Force F-150 :  “My favorite memory of Daytona is without question, racing at the Daytona Municipal Stadium in a go-kart.  I had been going to Daytona Beach for so many years, and not really being a part of when went on.  My definition of being a part of something is doing it, and not just standing there watching it.  I’d been going to the race track for years and years with my family, but I never had a purpose.  So when I got to go to Daytona for the first time and race at Municipal Stadium it was special.  It was really special because my dad was watching me race instead of me watching my dad at the track.  I was 14 years-old.”

 

Note:  This will be Ken Schrader’s 43rd start at Daytona International Speedway where he has three poles, seven top 5’s and 21 top ten finishes.  His first race here was in 1985.  Wood Brothers Racing has more wins than any other team at DIS–14.