Jon Wood, 21, just completed his first full season as a driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Make no mistake about it, though, Wood is no racing novice, having been born into one of the leading families in motorsports.
You can definitely say that racing is in my blood since my grandfather, Glen, and my great uncle, Leonard, actually started Wood Brothers Racing. And for my entire life, my father, Eddie, has been involved with the family team, so I grew up in the middle of the sport. Yet, when I decided to go racing, support from my family wasn't automatic. At first it was more or less, "OK, that's fine, we'll let you try it and see what happens. We won't put much stock into it."
When I first started racing Late Models at age 17 is when it became more of a career ambition instead of a hobby and a pastime. At that point, my mom started easing off my back and saying, "Well, OK, you can put more time into it, I guess." Before that she was understandably not very supportive of me missing school or something else important just to go racing. I'm fortunate to have complete support throughout the whole family in this deal now.
I can't deny it has been extremely helpful growing up in the family that I have and having access to the knowledge and background my family has in this sport. Any answer that I need I can just run anywhere throughout the shop to get it, whether it's how to hang a body, how to weld something, how to drive, how to own a car, or whatever. There's unlimited resources.
Support has extended beyond my immediate family, though. As many race fans know, David Pearson and the history and tradition of Wood Brothers Racing go hand in hand, and David was there offering advice and encouragement the first time I ever jumped into a race car.
It was in an Allison Legacy Car, a four-cylinder, special-built race car down at Pearson Driving School in Saint Augustine, Florida, and David was more than helpful. He said, "Go out there, be real patient, and take it easy because it's not what you think it is; it's not a go-kart." He knew that's what I had been racing before. I went out there and in the first turn on the first lap, I spun it out. I ran wide open, just as hard as I could get it. I told David, "OK, you're right. I'll listen to you from now on."
Then he went with me to Darlington this year, my first time racing there, and he really helped me out with my Craftsman Truck Series effort. I qualified eighth and finished ninth against some Winston Cup drivers: Kevin Harvick and Ken Schrader and those guys. That was really good for the team.
You can have all the help in the world, though, but this is still a funny sport. When you're running really bad and need a caution, the race will go green. When you're running really, really good, that's when you get caught up in a mess, or there's a caution every lap, or something just doesn't go right.
It's weird how circumstances come about, but we've had some really, really good runs in trucks this year, and we've had some not so good ones. At Richmond in September, for example, we had a really good truck but couldn't get in the right spot at the right time. Somebody wrecked a lap truck, I hit it, and there was just a big melee. It's fine, though, because there's always next week and the next race. We went to Texas the following weekend and had a good run there, finishing 12th.
There's no long-range timetable for me to move up in racing. Most every racer's ambition is to start out in whatever series, move on to the Busch Series, then eventually to Winston Cup, and I'm no different. Right now I'm with a great organization in Roush Racing. You know that as long as you're doing your best and are capable of running up front, the rest will happen on its own because Jack has unlimited resources, and we've got a super sponsor, the U.S. Navy.
The immediate plan is for me to run another year in trucks. We've got Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch's younger brother, who will be jumping into the No. 99 truck to give us a two-truck team. Once that's in place, we'll be all set and ready to go.