By far, the most successful active driver at The Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware is Jimmie Johnson. He is also the last driver to post Back-to-Back wins, during the 2009 season, where he won both the spring and fall races. Actually Jimmie is the only driver in history to have pulled this off twice in his career by winning both races in 2002.

I also found it interesting that since the Dover International Speedway opened in July of 1969, there had been 12 drivers that won back to back races here. The King , Richard Petty, who was the first to win at Dover, and by winning again in September of 1970 he became the first back-to-back winner. Nascar didn’t start running two races a year at Dover until the 1971 season.

David Pearson who holds the record at Dover for the most poles, was the first to win back-to-back-to-back. He won the fall race in 1972, and both races from the pole in 1973. Three of Pearson’s five Dover wins came from the pole.

The only other back-to-back-to-back winners on this track were Rusty Wallace in 1993-1994, and Jeff Gordon 1995-96. Both Wallace and Gordon each won one of these races from the pole. The three wins were Rusty’s only wins at Dover, Jeff won one more time in June of 2001.

Bobby Allison, who holds the record with Richard Petty for most wins at Dover at seven each, had back-to-back wins in the 1983 season. Bobby was one of only two drivers to win at Dover in a Buick.

Other back-to-back winners include Cale Yarborough in 1976-77, Bill Elliott 1988, Dale Earnhardt 1999 and Harry Gant in 1991-92. The only other active drivers who have performed the feat, are current SHR Teammates Tony Stewart in 2000, and Ryan Newman in 2003.

Given Kurt Busch’s demotion to a single car team at Phoenix Racing, I don’t see him pulling off the back-to-back on Sunday with a repeat of last fall’s win at Dover. This was however, his last win on the Sprint Cup Circuit.

Look for Jimmie Johnson to continue his hot streak and continue his dominance at the Monster Mile,and tying  him with the Old Timers at seven wins. Who knows, maybe he can set another record for a third back-to-back.

 Image Courtesy Getty Images Nascar

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Glen Wood was born in Stuart, Virginia on July 18, 1925.  He founded the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team, with his brothers Leonard and Delano,in 1953, when looking to run Modifieds on dirt. It was a unanimous decision that Glen would drive for the team on a semi-regular basis. He mainly would race at tracks close to home, and won four races over his eleven year career.

With Wood’s expertise behind the wheel the team was gaining recognition. In 1954, he won the North Carolina sportsman championship, and three years later he finished third in the NASCAR convertible division points.

In 1959, the likeable Wood was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.

In his final year behind the wheel, Wood raced only the two Winston-Salem races, winning one and finishing 3rd in the other. After he hunt it up, he became a crew chief.

Evevn though his driving career was brief, he was nominated as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Wood Brothers Racing is still active today. They have a total of 98 victories in 1, 3535 races. Their roster of drivers is a who’s who of NASCAR and includes David Pearson, Curtis Turner, Marvin Panch, Fireball Robers, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, Fred Lorenzen, Bill Elliott, Dan Gurney, Tiny Lurd, Parnelli, and 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne.

Speaking of the Daytona 500, Wood Brothers Racing has visited Victory Lane five times.

The Wood Brothers have excelled outside the NASCAR world as well, winning the 1965 Indianapolis 500 with Jim Clark.

Stay tuned tomorrow as we give you an inside look into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

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