Lenny Woods, a man who grew up in the midst of the gasser wars and went on to own a Ford Dealership in Chino Hills, California was found dead inside the now closed business, suicide is suspected. Woods was 64 years old. Lenny’s father was Tim Woods, the pioneering black drag racer and drag race team owner. He was the cornerstone of the vaunted Stone, Woods, and Cook team that was drag racing’s first nationally known multi-racial race team.
Lenny Wood’s grew up with the car and drag racing. A little known fact is that it was Lenny’s name painted on the side of the car, not Tim Woods’. Lenny reasoned that his dad did this to protect his construction company from any potential liability if something bad were to happen, and to tie him to the car in such a way to hold his interest.
Lenny Woods’ Ford dealer was a successful enterprise for many years, reportedly employing up to 150 people at peak. With the economic collapse this country and most of the world has suffered over the last several years, and the associated slow down of new car sales, the dealership hit very hard times and was closed down this Spring.
Woods had apparently sunk a large portion of his own money into trying to save the business, to no avail.
This is the third death of gearhead significance this week. Jim Summers passed, Mert Littlefield passed, and now Lenny Woods has hit the great strip in the sky with his dad and Doug “Cookie” Cook.
Our thoughts go out to his family.
Source — Inland Valley Daily Bulletin – Chino dealership owner found dead at business
