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CUP: Wood Brothers Hit The Strip
Brothers Eddie and Len Wood are spending this weekend at their first NHRA event...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted June 07, 2009   Joliet, IL
Len (left) and Eddie Wood, co-owners of the Wood Brothers Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup team, are spending this weekend at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, the first drag race they have ever attended. (Photo: SPEED)

Eddie and Len Wood have now seen how the other half lives. And they like it.

The brothers, who are co-owners of the Wood Brothers Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup team, are spending this weekend in Joliet, Ill., at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals, the first drag race they have ever attended.

Normally, the 38-race NASCAR schedule doesn’t allow much time for racers to go elsewhere on the weekends, but with the Woods cutting back to a 12-race Cup program this year, they suddenly have some free time. They are putting that to good use this weekend as guests of Bob Tasca III’s NHRA Funny Car team.

And to say the least, it’s been an eye-opening experience.

“It’s hard to put into words,” said Eddie Wood. “This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been to – ever.” The highlight, he said, was standing at the starting line when the 8,000-horsepower nitromethane-fueled Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars take off.

“You see people on TV standing there, but until you experience it, and that’s what everybody told me, ‘It will change your life,’ and I believe that,” said Eddie. “The feeling you get in your chest and your whole body – you can feel that horsepower, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. To me, that was the most impressive thing. And I love the smell of nitro. Yeah, it burns your eyes and all that, that’s okay, but I really like this. I like the smell of the rubber. I like the smell of the nitro. I just like everything about it.”

“You feel like your chest is going to explode,” added Len Wood. “That is something you don’t get on TV. Between the pounding of your chest and the smell of the nitro, if they could bottle that and send it as part of your TV package, it would be better on TV. It’s amazing.”

Both brothers were especially amazed at how the team rebuilds their motors between each round.

“I think they take it all the way down to the bare block in 12 minutes and have it back running in 25 more minutes – that’s unbelievable,” said Eddie. “I’ve seen it on TV and I knew they did it, but to watch them do it, they’re almost choreographed. Everybody knows what everybody else is doing. They don’t run into each other. It’s kind of like our pit stops. Everybody’s got to do what they are suppose to do and not get in each other’s way. That’s impressive.”

“I understand more about it now the way they’ve got everything,” said Len, who offered to help rebuild a motor between rounds. “It’s almost like a modular type deal. They’ve got their heads prepped ready to go on the next set. The blower is all prepped and ready. Each thing is a unit and you just pack about five units together and you’ve got an engine. It’s amazing.”

The brothers said their first NHRA race definitely will not be their last.

“I’m already trying to figure out which one I’m going to come to,” said Eddie. “I think we’re not racing the weekend NHRA is in Charlotte, so we’ll definitely be there. I’d like to go to one of the older tracks. We’ve got Darlington and Martinsville, and those tracks mean a lot to me, so I’m sure there are drag strips that are like that that have history to them. They’re racing in Englishtown (N.J.) next week, that’s an older one, Pomona (Calif.) and Gainesville (Fla.) I’d like to go to Indy. This is kind of like the racing we do everywhere, every race is a big race. Each one has it’s own characteristics. This is good stuff.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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