Leonard Wood reflects on pit work that helped Jim Clark win Indy 500
1965 was a good year for Jim Clark. It was the year in which he won the second, and last, of his Formula One titles, and also the year in which he got his sole Indianapolis 500 win.
Clark led 190 of the 200 laps en route to taking the victory in his Lotus 38. It was the first Indianapolis 500 win for a rear-engined car.
However, a driver can only do so much of the work and, as any professional racing driver will tell you, you can’t take the checkered flag without a good pit crew. Fortunately for Clark, he had some of the best in the business working on his car, as Ford (the engine supplier for Clark’s Lotus) had called in the Wood Brothers from the NASCAR circuit to pit his Lotus 38.
50 years on from his win, Motorcraft/QuickLane Racing’s “Crew Chief Corner” got Hall of Fame Crew Chief Leonard Wood and current Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion Crew Chief Jeremy Bullins together last year to talk about the excellent pit work that helped take Clark and the team to victory.
Wood Brothers Racing
