Former Karting Champion Jon Wood having success in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series MADISON, IL - Jon Wood comes from a family with a long history of involvement in racing. His grandfather, Glen Wood, formed the NASCAR Wood Brothers racing team over 50 years ago and won four races as a driver. David Pearson was one of the most famous drivers who drove for the Wood Brothers team. Jon's father, Eddie Wood and uncle, Len Wood now operate the Wood Brothers team with driver Elliot Saddler. Jon began his racing career at the age of 12 and raced karts until he was 16. He got his start in karts when Dale Jarret gave him Jason Jarret's karts and equipment after Jason moved up into stock cars. Jon captured 16 wins in 1994 and 1995 in karts. In 1996 he moved on to the champ kart division and earned 27 victories over the next two years. He captured a 1996 WKA North Carolina Dirt Championship and a 1997 WKA National Asphalt Championship while racing champ karts. At the age of 16, Jon raced in the Allison Legacy Series and had two wins as well as rookie of the year honors. He then moved to the NASCAR Late Model Stock Division in 1999 at the New River Valley Speedway where he was also named rookie of the year. In 2000, Jon competed in the USAR ProCup Series and the Winston West Series. In 2001, Jon joined Roush Racing to contest the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He finished 17th in driver's points with four top ten finishes and no DNF's. The now 20 year old Wood is off to a strong start in the truck series in 2002, where he is 10th place in driver's points. On May 5th, at Gateway International Raceway, Jon qualified 9th in the U. S. Navy sponsored truck and finished in 7th place on the lead lap. Jon now has three top 10 finishes in four starts in the 2002 season. With the deep resources of the Roush Racing team behind him, the racing future looks bright for Jon Wood. Another former karting champion, Carlos Contreras, is competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the third year. Carlos was the 125 CC Mexican Karting Champion in 1989 at the age of 18. He competed in his first truck race in 1999 at the California Speedway and has competed in the series full time since 2000. In 2001, he started driving for Petty Enterprises piloting the famous #43 with sponsorship from Hot Wheels of Mexico. He finished 14th in points in 2001 with two top ten finishes. Contreras qualified 11th at Gateway and finished two laps down in 16th place. He is looking to move up in the point standings this year after a strong 8th place showing at the season opener in Daytona. It was interesting to note that the crowd at the Gateway NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, estimated to be 30,000, was much bigger than the last CART race held at Gateway, which had less than 20,000 in attendance.