[2] During his tenure as crew chief, the Wood team won 96 races with 117 poles clinched.

[3] Wood was born on September 22, 1934, on a family farm near Stuart, Virginia as one of six children (five sons and one daughter),[4] and began building vehicles when he built a wagon with logs for wheels, which is intended to roll downhill.

[3] In 1950, Wood and two of his brothers, Glen and Delano, purchased a 1940 Ford, which was later modified and used in NASCAR,[1] and the team made its first start in a Lincoln at Martinsville Speedway on May 17, 1953.

[2] Wood stated that in 1960 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he noticed that Fireball Roberts', had the lead at the time, pit crew took 45 seconds to change two tires and fuel; Roberts' team was using a four-prong lug wrench, so Wood's team decided to use power wrenches, which cut down the time to 25 seconds.

Wood disassembled the jacks and installed larger pistons, leading to only two to three pumps to clear.