Two icons in their respective fields are teaming up to go Sprint Cup racing this weekend in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway and in the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Labor Day weekend.
Snap-on Tools will sponsor the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford Fusion, driven by Ryan Blaney, in both races.
Both Snap-on and the Wood Brothers have long histories, with Snap-on dating back to 1920 and the Woods racing team to 1950, and both have made great contributions to their fields.
Many a modern-day NASCAR fan doesn’t realize that the choreographed pit stops seen today were developed in large part by the Wood Brothers years ago. Similarly, many technicians today may not know that tools like interchangeable sockets turned by a ratchet were pioneered and marketed by Snap-on from its beginning nearly 100 years ago.
“I’m really excited to be associated with a long-time company like Snap-on,” Wood said. “We have a lot in common with them.”
Eddie Wood said his family’s connection with Snap-on tools predates the formation of the race team.
“There are three generations of Woods that have been mechanics,” he said. “My grandfather, J. Walter Wood, was a mechanic at a Ford dealership, and I’m sure he used Snap-on tools.”
The Woods’ Snap-on tools likely will come in handy this weekend at Kentucky as Sprint Cup teams will be running a new aero package designed to improve the racing on intermediate-length tracks like Kentucky Speedway. An open test date is set for Wednesday, and the No. 21 will likely see lots of tuning before the green flag drops Saturday night.
“It’s a real privilege to be representing a company like Snap-on that has such a rich heritage of quality and craftsmanship,” Wood said. “We’ll do our best to do a good job for them.”
Wood Brothers Racing PR
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