By: Kelly Crandall | January 18, 2019 6:00 AM Glen Wood, one of the founders of Wood Brothers Racing, passed away Friday morning at the age of 93.One of NASCAR’s longest-running teams, WBR was formed by Glen and younger brother Leonard Wood. The organization has 99 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series and has fielded cars for some of the sport’s legendary drivers like Junior Johnson, David Pearson, and Cale Yarborough.

Glen Wood earned four wins as the team’s driver at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina from 1960-1963. Throughout 11 years, Wood made 62 career starts. He also had five wins in 89 starts in the Convertible Series.By 1964 Wood was finished driving and his focused shifted toward WBR ownership. Glen and Leonard are credited with developing orchestrated pit stops. As an owner, Wood and his family won the Daytona 500 five times (Tiny Lund 1963), Cale Yarborough (’6, A.J. Foyt (’72), David Pearson (’76) and Trevor Bayne (’11).

Wood, who was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, was inducted in the third class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2012 (pictured, top).

“This is a difficult day for all of us at Ford Motor Company,” said Edsel B. Ford II. “Glen Wood was the founding patriarch of the oldest continuously operating NASCAR Cup Series team and we consider Wood Brothers Racing a part of our family, the Ford Family. The Wood Brothers race team, by any measure, has been one of the most successful racing operations in the history of NASCAR. Most importantly for our company, Glen and his family have remained loyal to Ford throughout their 69-year history.

“Glen was an innovator who, along with his family, changed the sport itself. But, more importantly, he was a true Southern gentleman who was quick with a smile and a handshake and he was a man of his word. I will cherish the memories of our chats in the NASCAR garage, at their race shop in Mooresville or the racing museum in Stuart. My most memorable moment with Glen was with he and his family in the No. 21 pit box watching Trevor Bayne win the 2011 Daytona 500 and the celebration that followed in victory lane.”