The throwback race at Darlington Raceway will feature a special scheme from Wood Brothers Racing celebrating a historic Indy 500 win.
Unveiled Thursday at the Henry Ford Museum, Josh Berry's No. 21 Ford will feature a green and yellow scheme celebrating Jim Clark's 1965 Indy 500 win. Clark drove a Lotus with a Ford V8 engine as he led 189 of the 200 laps.
A nod to the past.
Introducing the No. 21 @MQL_Racing Ford Mustang for #NASCARThrowback Weekend at @TooToughToTame. pic.twitter.com/fRXVWeb5vz
— Wood Brothers Racing (@woodbrothers21) March 20, 2025
According to co-owner Eddie Wood, the 1965 Indy 500 marked multiple milestones. It was the first win by a rear-engine race car. It was also the first Indy 500 win for a vehicle with a Ford engine.
As team co-owner Jon Wood explained during the unveiling, Wood Brothers Racing had plans to run this tribute scheme during last season's Brickyard 400. They were unable to make this happen, so they turned their attention to NASCAR's annual Throwback Weekend, which celebrates all motorsports history.
To make this throwback possible, Jon had to get some permission. He reached out to Lotus and explained the desire to celebrate Clark. Jon received approval to use Clark's livery, as well as the Lotus logos. He even received approval to make diecast versions of the No. 21 Ford.
Why did Wood Brothers Racing choose to pay tribute to Clark? The answer is simple.
The historic organization played a pivotal role in Clark's win by taking over and revolutionizing his pit stops. Team co-founder Leonard Wood also made some modifications to the Lotus-Ford, which helped prevent the fuel from blowing out during the race.
"John Cowley (Ford Motor Company) wanted to know if we would come up and pit the car," Leonard explained. "So we come up and start through inspection, and we had a big, giant venturi here inside the tank. The inspector wanted to know why the outlet was so far up off the bottom of the tank.
"If you've got a giant venturi here and the hole's in the middle, it's gonna be off the floor about eight inches. He says, 'I bet you $1,000 you can't pour 20 gallons a minute out that thing. We didn't bet with him, but all the others was on the bottom. We made a dry run and put 58 gallons in in 15 seconds."
The big difference for the pit stop was how the crew put the fuel into the race car. The previous version used a pressure system. The Wood Brothers used a gravity system, which helped them get the pit stops down to 17-18 seconds.