A.J. Foyt driving Dale Woods Mustang at the 1966 Sebring 4 hours, March 25th, 1966. He did not finish.

The History of the Dale Wood/A.J. Foyt  
Group 2 1966 Mustang Hardtop with door number #4 (#26)
At Sebring 1966, March 25th, in the pits


Tomy Hamon gave us some insight into the origin of this famous 1966  group 2 car.
It was not known for a long time where Dale Wood got this race car from, that A.J. Foyt drove for Dale in the first Sebring 4 hour Trans Am Race on March 25th, 1966. Now we know a few facts more:

"Back in 1965 my family raced a GT350R #108 (sold to Gene Hamon Ford in Sept. 1965, Texas City, Texas).
We were the first owner as my father was the first Shelby Dealer in Texas and a very close friend with Carroll.

After receiving our #108 Mustang we ordered a Sedan for Dale Wood, who at that time - I think - lived in Houston. He raced it in many races in the SCCA SW Region.

After we sold #108 to Freddy Van Beuren Family in Mexico, City I lost track of Dale Wood and his Sedan."

Below picture shows Dale Wood's sedan when he and Freddy Van Beuren formed their racing team in June 1966 (Dos Caballos Racing Team) shortly after we sold 5R108 to the Van Beuren  family.

Dale Woods Sedan was also mentioned in a May 1966 Green Valley racing report of SCG, written by Jerry Titus. If it was a simple Mustang sedan or a Shelby version, we don't know yet exactly. Tomy remembers that "the car was spec'd out by Carroll for his mate Gene Hamon".

Due to the tight relationship, we really wonder if this was a simple Mustang or a Shelby prepared car. The SAAC registry says no.
 

Dale Woods sedan is visible on the right. The picture was taken at the SCCA Sunburn Nationals, 18./19. June 1966.
The picture is provided by Gary Brizendine out of his collection.

As of November 2016, Johnny S. informed us that his brother Dale is still around in Texas and a tribute car is currently built by Johnny. Promised to appear with Johnny and Dale Wood in 2017 at a race event.


Johnny upated us also that the #4 car got lost as a wreck sometime at the Green Valley racetrack in late September 1966. If anybody has a photo of the incident, pls let us have it.

Johnny also pointed out that indeed the 1966 car#4 was a late 1965 built  Mustang used at Green Valley first ..(trying to pin down the date) with door no. 26 as pictured here (better pictures to follow). We are busy to unfold the truth about Dales car pretty soon.

Actually most of the early cars parts went into the red 1967 Sedan that Dale raced with the door number #74 later, a BIW body that was ordered directly from Ford. Dale still has the invoice showing an amount of 550$ and it was delivered to him in a crate.
More on the 1967 soon.

Race appearances as far as we know them today:

- February 13th, Smithfield/Texas: "Dale Wood had an easy overall win with is Mustang in the A/Sedan class", (Comp. Press, March 5th, 1966)
- March 15th, 1966: Sebring 4 hour Sedan race (A.J. Foyt driving acc. to Comp. Press)
- March 25th, 1966: Sebring TransAm 4 hours race (A.J. Foyt driving)
- June 12th, 1966 : Mid-America Trans-Am Sedan Championship race at Mid-America Raceways, Wentzville, Missouri on June 12, 1966 (DNF)
- June 18th/19th, 1966: SCCA Sunburn Nationals
- July 4th, 1966: Galveston Scholes Field/Texas, SCCA S/A races (Dale Wood)
- August 14th, 1966: Marlboro 12 hour race at Marlboro Park Speedway, Upper Marlboro, Maryland on August 14, 1966 (DNF)
- September 10th, 1966: Pan American Endurance Race at Green Valley Raceway, Smithfield, Texas (DNF)
(Information based on T/A results, Comp. Press, Mike Matunes archive, Dave Friedman book)