DAYTONA -- While it’s highly unlikely a team will run the entire 500 miles on only one set of tires in the 2011 Daytona 500, it has been done before and by none other than the Wood Brothers, who never changed tires and made one less pit stop than their rivals to help substitute driver Tiny Lund win the 1963 Daytona 500.
As part of its 600-win series on milestone victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Ford Racing looks back at one of the best stories in Daytona 500 history.
The Daytona 500 wasn’t always the first race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
“Naturally, he was burned so bad that he couldn’t drive our car, so we pondered different drivers,” said Wood. “We knew Tiny was a pretty fair race driver. Lund started the race 12th, which is where Panch qualified the car, but it didn’t take long for the Wood Brothers to develop a pit strategy that not only would help Lund stay up front throughout the day, but ultimately win the race.
“When they started the race it was raining and the track was wet,” said Wood. After stopping for the second time, the Woods once again recalculated and decided they could push it two more laps. Slightly overshadowed in Lund’s storybook win was the fact Ford swept the top five positions with Lorenzen, Jarrett, Nelson Stacy and Gurney finishing second through fifth, respectively.
“That’s a Cinderella story for sure,” reiterated Leonard Wood. For his actions in helping rescue Panch, Lund was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal for heroism.
