Wood Brothers Racing to run throwback to Jim Clark’s 1965 Indy 500 win
DEARBORN, Mich. — Wood Brothers Racing will throw back to their seminal 1965 Indianapolis 500 win as a pit crew for Jim Clark.
Josh Berry will wheel a No. 21 Ford adorned with the green-and-white scheme Clark sported on his Lotus the original Wood brothers – Glen and Leonard – pitted in record time.
“We got asked if we wanted to pit Jim Clark and my brother, Glen, said, ‘Absolutely.’ By 1965, we had the pit stop all worked out,” Leonard Wood said Thursday. “This was one of the greatest moments of my life. Looking back 65 years and looking now at 75 years, and we’re still here, it’s pretty awesome.”
Jon Wood, the team president of Wood Brothers Racing, was responsible for making the throwback happen. He said he had multiple calls with Gerard Lopez, the team principal of Lotus, before a detailed email sealed the deal.
“He sent back an email, giving us full permission, saying ‘Let’s do a diecast.’ Really really cool,” Jon Wood said.
The scheme is extra special as Wood Brothers Racing is celebrating their 75th season. They are also the most recent winners in the NASCAR Cup Series as Berry won Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Before Sunday, the last non-superspeedway win for the team was with Ryan Blaney at Pocono Raceway in June 2017. The last intermediate track win for the team was Morgan Shepherd at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1993.
Berry finished third in last year’s spring Darlington race. Doing two positions better this year would fully lock Berry into the playoffs.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com