#21 Pearson Mercury

   As one of the most successful long standing racing organizations in NASCAR with Ford Motor Corporation, the Wood Brothers have campaigned 20 of NASCAR’s greatest.  That list includes Curtis Turner, Tiny Lund, Fireball Roberts, Bob Welborn, Dale Jarrett, A.J. Foyt, Glen Wood, Buddy Baker, Marvin Panch, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, Ned Jarrett, Fred Lorenzen, David Pearson, Joe Weatherly, Ralph Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, and Bill Elliott.

   The 1976 Mercury was driven by David Pearson. Better known as the “Silver Fox”, Pearson had some of NASCAR's most memorable finishes. It's been said the final lap of the 1976 Daytona 500, with Pearson battling Richard Petty for the lead and finally taking his only win at Daytona, despite both crashing into one another, is one of the most memorable moments in NASCAR history.
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   Pearson entered 572 races of which he won 105 and placed within the top five 301 times. Pearson also won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship in 1966, 1968 & 1969 and had a higher percentage of wins than Richard Petty during that period. The Purolator Mercury was built by the Wood Brothers in their shop in Stuart, Virginia and were well known for their long standing relationship with Ford Motor Company and being the oldest active team in NASCAR.

• David Pearson is recognized as one of NASCARS 50 greatest drivers and hails from South Carolina. He was inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.
• The Wood Brothers Mercury was sold for $200 to scrap guy to get It out of the way and was later found in a junkyard in Florida before it was restored as you see it today.​

• The Mercury Purolator car is built on a 1976 Mercury Montego chassis but is rumored to have parts from previous Wood Brothers cars, including a floor pan from the previous year's Ford Fairlane, to complete the build.
• The Wood Brothers race team family has seven decades of racing history, which is unparalleled in the motorsports industry.​
• David Pearson’s most memorable wins were with the Wood Brothers Purolator Mercury shown here. The Purolator Mercury #21 car ran from 1972  thru 1978, putting this car into Victory Lane an amazing 43 times and was the fastest qualifier 51 times.
• With Pearson and Wood Brothers teamed up they would win the coveted triple crown of Nascar racing in 1976 with the Purolator Mercury car and coined the Ambassadors of the Sport by President Jimmy Carter and invited to White House to honor them.
• The #21 on the side of all of the Wood Brothers cars is as Iconic as the history of NASCAR itself, and helps solidify the importance of this car's history in racing.​Pearson and the Wood Brothers won a lot. In their seven full years together (1972-78), they won 43 times. In 1973, Pearson entered just 18 races. He won 11.

   Along the way they created one of NASCAR's greatest finishes. In the 1976 Daytona 500, Pearson and Petty ran nearly side by side coming out of the last turn. They bumped. Both cars hit the wall and spun down all the way into the infield. Petty ended up in front, not 100 yards from the finish, but his car stalled. Pearson got his going, drove up through the grass and made it back onto the track just in time to cross the finish line.
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   Everybody agrees on the two iconic car numbers in NASCAR. One is Petty's 43. The other is Earnhardt's 3. The third, if you're an old-school race fan, is the Wood Brothers' 21. Lots of other big-name drivers have run that car for the Wood Brothers - Bill Elliott, Kyle Petty, Neil Bonnett, Dale Jarrett. But the 21 car draws most of its legend from Pearson.