Woody Watts

Wade William "Woody" Watts (born August 28, 1988) is an American race car driver and commentator. He is set to drive Power Steering Incorporated's third-car (#61) in the 2019 TM Master Cup season. Watts has competed in the TM Master Cup Series since 2007; however, significant injuries in a horrific crash in the 2011 Round of Daytona sidelined him until 2014.

Woody Watts is perhaps best known for his years in the now-defunct Vaughn Stock Car Championship (formerly RROL). He won two RROL Championships, in 2006 and 2007.

He currently serves as a commentator for the RROL North-Atlantic Open-Wheel Modified Asphalt Division.

Early racing career
After a short "meteoric" rise through youth karting, late model, and modified championships of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, Woody Watts was spotted by RROL Cup Series regular and team owner, Chris Anderson, who picked up Watts for his first RROL start in the 2004 season-finale at Rockingham Speedway. In the following offseason, Anderson retired from full-time duties as a driver and Watts took over the flagship #12 Anderson car, which was renumbered to #6 per Watts' request.

In 2005, Watts battled fiercely with Eric Reed for the RROL Cup Championship before ultimately, Reed took his 2nd-straight title after an engine failure in the season's penultimate race at Dover International Speedway essentially took Watts out of championship contention. Watts ended up finishing 3rd in the 2005 point standings, collecting the Rookie of the Year award with wins at Richmond Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

Watts won the RROL Cup championship in both 2006 and 2007, collecting 7 more victories during that time.

During the 2006 season, it was announced that Chris Anderson would step into the commentary booth for RROL coverage starting in 2007. In the offseason, Watts and his mother began a long-term purchase of The Anderson Group.

Woody Watts' ambitions to continue climbing up the racing ladder would soon be realized as he put together an effort to enter TM Master Cup Series races at the end of the 2007 racing season - as the RROL transitioned into the "Car of Tomorrow" model.

The big leagues
Woody Watts entered the final 3 races of the 2007 TM Master Cup Series season driving his own Watts Motorsports, #06 Sony/Comcast-sponsored Inglesby.

Watts’ first TMMC qualifying race, held at Talladega Superspeedway, was the same one that former series champion Steve Marshall died in. Watts did not qualify, finishing 18th out of 28, with only 15 drivers qualifying.

After finishing 5th in the next qualifier - Woody Watts made his TMMC debut at Mansfield, where Ross Peterson won in a rain-shortened race. On lap 46, Watts was spun out of turn 2 and down the track by Joel Rodriguez before colliding with the inside wall - bringing out the race’s 6th caution; however, Watts took minimal damage and was able to continue. He finished 16th and received a personal apology from Rodriguez after the race.

Woody survived a crash-filled Decatur qualifying race, finishing 11th and making the big show for the season finale. Watts turned out a fine performance, staying out of trouble, running as high as 5th and scoring his first top-10 with a 9th-place finish.

2008

In 2008, the Watts Motorsports TMMC effort began receiving support from FLASH Racing; however, this support wasn’t enough for Watts & Co to overcome the massive surge of competition drawn to TMMC that year. Watts missed out on qualifying for the season-opener at Daytona, shy of making the race by 1 on-track position. As qualifiers became overcrowded, TM officials formed the TM Junior Series to filter drivers back into TMMC with a Junior Series win. After failing to qualify for the first 3 TMMC races that year, Watts was demoted to TM Junior. Watts Motorsports then expanded with a second full-time team, fielded for New Hampshire native Leon Keniston.

Unfortunately struggles would continue for awhile, but things began to slowly improve over the course of the season. Watts finished 6th at Texas World Speedway in the 6th race of the season (the TMMC race would be relocated to Texas Motor Speedway). He scored another 6th-place finish at Karjala, and after the race expressed support for his teammate Leon Keniston who so far in the season had been plagued by misfortunes, yet to score a top-10.

The tide quickly changed and Keniston scored Watts Motorsports’ first top-5 finish of the season with 4th-place at Salem in the 8th race of the season. Watts himself crashed out.

At this point in the season there were rumors concerning the future of the Watts Motorsports TM team and shortly after Salem it was announced that FLASH Racing agreed to a buyout of Watts Motorsports’ TM program and the purchase would go into effect before the end of 2008.

In the 10th race of the season at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watts and teammate Leon Keniston managed their best outing to date in a tumultuous race; Keniston finishing 4th and Watts 5th. Woody expressed mixed emotions after the race (albeit in a calm manner), telling reporters: “I wish we could finally get a win, and we've had cars capable that have wrecked.... I just wish we could get that breakthrough."

Watts Motorsports got their breakthrough in the next race with Leon Keniston picking up his first win at Southern Illinois, Watts trailed Keniston most of the race and about halfway through the race Watts ran 6th behind his teammate, when he attempted to pass Keniston on the inside, his #06 Inglesby suddenly became very loose and he tagged his teammate who thankfully had no further involvement. Watts himself wasn’t so lucky, being a sitting duck for oncoming traffic and retiring from the damages he picked up. He didn’t say much about the wreck and celebrated with and congratulated Leon Keniston, expressing his pleasure with Keniston’s progress and success.

After Talladega, FLASH Racing’s buyout of Watts Motorsports’ TMMC outfit was officially confirmed and Watts’ name began circulating with rumors of a future in the Master Cup Series driving a FLASH Racing team car. Keniston, on the other hand, seemingly had his future up in the air.

Leon Keniston received a 1-race suspension from TMMC officials for stopping on track during a qualifying race in Russia for no apparent reason (Tom Delgado did the same thing and was also suspended - the two blocked the track, bunched up the field, and created more problems). Woody Watts stepped into the 60 car, substituting for Keniston at the Twin Ring Motegi and qualified with some help from a last lap, last turn wreck which allowed him to finish 11th. Watts managed to stay out of trouble and wound up with a career-best finish of 8th place. In his review of the race, commentator Dan Mullen said that this run may have saved Woody’s Master Cup series career.

Watts never earned promotion from the Junior Series in car #06, but it should be noted that in the finale at Decatur, after starting in the last row, Watts tore through the field and ran as high as 4th before running out of gas with 2 laps to go - resulting in a 16th-place finish. At this point his future was still uncertain.

2009

During the off-season, Woody Watts agreed to join James Dalton Racing and drive full-time in car #01, with sponsorship from Western Digital.

Watts successfully qualified for his first TMMC race at Daytona to start the season. With a strong showing, Watts bested his own TMMC personal-best for the third time in a row, collecting 7th-place. Unfortunately Watts was unable to build a strong run of form to start the season. After finishing off the lead lap at Carbondale and crashing out in Chicago, Watts was no longer locked into races and would then have make it through the qualifying races starting at Brands Hatch, where he did not qualify for the first time in 2009.

Woody did qualify for the 5th race at Texas World Speedway, but the TM Master Cup Series experienced a now infamous strike by all non-Saar and Lenard teams over dispute regarding the tire compounds and legality of the Saars and Lenards and lack of a satisfactory resolution. After failing to qualify in Brazil for race #6, an angry Woody Watts told reporters, “I don't think our team should have pulled out of the last race, even if we had no shot. We needed those points.” When asked why he didn’t keep car #01 in the race at Texas World, he said, “I was listening to orders.”

Woody Watts made his first start in the Karjala Grand Prix after a last lap, last turn pass to sneak through the pre-qualifier into the qualifying race where he finished 8th. Unfortunately he didn’t have the same success in the Grand Prix, being collected in an incident on the first lap and later had an on-track tussle with Tony Durbin.

Watts won the qualifier in New York, before finishing 18th in the 8th race of the season. For race 9 at Salem, Watts and both teammates (Marcos Leonard and James Dalton) would advance from the qualifying race. Woody ran in the top-5 and kept his nose relatively clean before ending up with 17th. This was followed by DNQs at Indianapolis and Grand Detour (Quincy, Southern Illinois). Watts qualified for the 12th race of the season at Talladega but wound up 34th, retiring from the race after a wreck with Alexis Rainsford in which both smashed the inside wall just before the pits and the outside wall in the tri-oval before Todd Wodarczyk piled into the #01 car. Watts DNQed again in during his first trip to Australia.

Watts added to his impressive Twin Ring Motegi resume in the 14th weekend of TMMC competition, finishing 9th in the qualifier and the actual race - scoring his 2nd top-10 of the season, his 2nd top-10 in Motegi, and the 4th of his TMMC career thus far. Woody failed to qualify in Russia, but bounced back in the 16th round at Spa-Francorchamps with a career-best 6th-place finish (5th TMMC top-10), duking it out with the likes of Alexis Rainsford and Leonid Roderick late in the race. Watts did not qualify for the final three races of 2009.

2010

After his top-10 in Japan, it was announced that Woody Watts would join Russian TMMC outfit Katzev Engineering to pilot the #041 car, full-time in 2010, with sponsorship from Woodwings, an American home furnishing company. After nearly winning his first qualifying race of the season, Watts turned out two unspectacular races in Japan and Australia, before leading on-route to a 6th-place finish in Brazil. This would tie for Watts’ career-best TMMC finish and put him 16th in points.

Despite Katzev engine concerns during the race, Woody collected his 2nd top-10 finish in a row with 9th-place at Carbondale - boosting him to 12th in the point standings. This run of good form continued into the 5th round (Texas), where Watts managed a 15th-place finish after starting 2nd-to-last in 38th and found himself 9th in the points.

Watts’ first DNF of 2010 happened at Brands Hatch, getting collected in a tangle between Franz Redlich and Louis Kingston at the end of lap 1. Watts’ career-best point standing meant he was locked into the Karjala Grand Prix for the first time in his career and went onto have his best showing in the legendary race. Katzev’s reliability had been a major concern all season so far and Watts’ teammates dropped out of the Grand Prix early. "When Julia [Nosova] and Vlad[imir Siminov] went out, it worried me a bit; and to be honest, I changed my gameplan as a result. I went for a good points run," Watts explained to reporters while being interviewed after his 6th-place finish.

Katzev Engineering, as a whole, struggled at EuroSpeedway in Germany. The engine in Watts’ #041 car gave out after 29 laps - DNF #2 of 2010. Watts rebounded at Spa with his 2nd consecutive top-10 finish in a row at the track, this time picking up 10th, his 4th top-10 in the first 9 races of 2010. With just less than half the season in the books, Watts was 11th in points.

After rather un-noteworthy results in Italy and the Czech Republic. During the 12 round of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watts piled into the 2nd caution of the race late, hitting Leonid Roderick’s car at considerable speed. Watts was the first driver to retire from the race, later calling the incident “a stupid mistake” and apologizing to Roderick for whom he expressed concern. Woody had another top-10 run going at Quincy, but was taken out after being collected in an incident just before him, involving Mike Whitmore, Drew Eisenman, and Milano Rossini. Watts wound up 22nd and held 17th in points. In Michigan, Watts would suffer a third consecutive DNF - this time due to mechanical failure.

Watts followed those 3 DNFs with two quiet runs - 16th at Road America and 22nd in Canada. Watts did not compete in Russia as the TM officials were forced to reschedule the Russian round to the same weekend as Talladega, later mandating that drivers can only complete in one of the two races.

Woody Watts was involved in the controversial wreck on lap 7 at Talladega. Watts, Brian Sendack, and Matt Taylor took some of the hardest hits at about 230 MPH. Watts did not drive away from the accident, mainly due to being knocked out with a mild concussion. When Watts' helmet was removed in the infield care center, it revealed a huge knot near his right temple, apparently this developed immediately at contact with Matt Taylor's car. Other than that, Watts only noted some bruising were his seat belt had held him in and he mentioned some pain in his right knee, which apparently shot up and hit the bottom of the dashboard in the accident. After exiting the infield car center, Watts was asked about the crash and told a reporter "I don't blame anyone, at this kind of track these wrecks happen all the time, and every driver needs to know that risk before they step into one of these cars. Zach Duff and Azuma [Kazeyama] stopped by and talked to me already, and they both felt bad about the whole thing, and I completely understand. We've all been there and these kinds of wrecks happen a lot." Another reporter followed up asking, "What changes do you think could be made to avoid wrecks like this?" Watts was quick to answer - "Lower the speeds. 230 MPH is too fast. At 200 or 210 MPH, this wreck would not have been as bad. It probably still would have happened, but it would not have been as bad. I don't think there's another way to put it."

Injury/Hiatus
At the 2011 Round of Daytona, Watts spun in an accident that also collected John Parker Jr. At that point Leslie Riggs hit the side of Watts' #6 Bolden Chaser at full speed. Riggs had little time to react and struck Watts's car in the door. Watts was in serious condition for about a month, and recovery took 8-9 months. Watts was hopeful of his return, as indicated in an interview in February 2012 with High Gear, Watts reported that he could not walk without crutches and that he plans to return to VSCC competition if he is able to.

After an absence from TM Master Cup Series competition of about three years, Watts was among the entries for the 2014 finale at Decatur. Watts told reporters in an interview, “[Decatur] has always been one of my favorite tracks on the schedule. I’m confident about what I can do here in a race car.” Watts also spoke highly of his crew and the support of his team. “It is just really special to even be here today and having this opportunity is a blessing. Everybody on our crew carries their own weight and we’ve been graced by a lot of welcome here in the garage. After coming such a long way it means so much to us.”

Watts was then asked if a comeback served as motivation through rehabilitation. He responded, “Yeah definitely... I mean this is what I love and when I was told I might never race again, my heart sank. I found myself confronted with a new kind of challenge and it stumped me for awhile. I used painkillers heavily and that itself became another issue..... The past three years have been truly some of the most difficult I’ve ever experienced and just to come out alive on the other side as healthy as I can be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually is amazing. I’m humbled, grateful, and honored to be here among the world’s best drivers and somehow sorta looking like I know what I’m doing even though I’m here living in the same moment as everyone else.”

Comeback
By late 2014, Watts had recovered enough to attempt to qualify as a one-off entrant for the 2014 Round of Decatur, which he successfully did, to the pleasure of the TM Master Cup paddock. Unfortunately his return to the Master Cup series was brief and he exited the race early after involvement in a multi-car wreck.

“The car was solid today. We kept working on getting more straight-line speed out of it, and I think we got the best out of it that we could - but as far as handling in the corners, I was really comfortable in the car. I’ve got many people to thank for that and I will do so in person. I can take a moment to thank IcyHot, Campbell’s Soup, and Halls for being so supportive and giving us the means to get here. Their products also helped me a lot on the road to recovery,” Woody said, with a chuckle at the end.

“Although if I’m being completely honest, I can’t leave out that I’m not happy about the way I exited the race today. I don’t know if there was a spotting issue or just impatience from the 216.... either way, that could have been avoided and a lot of racecars got tore up because of that move.

But you know, I can’t let that sour what we did accomplish here. Considering the efforts that were brought together here by the people I’ve had in my life in the past few years, and the truly generous help we received from colleagues and cohorts of years ago...... racing with the likes of Adrien [Devereux] and Alexis [Rainsford] again, and being here for Mr. [Dale] Roswell’s return..... this was like a dream come true. The encouragement I received from some of the most respected people in world motorsport made me feel very honored. And the fan’s excitement and support has been truly phenomenal. So thank you all so very much.”

Personal Life
Watts is a born-again Christian. In a 2019 interview on Christline Radio, he described his horrific crash in the 2011 TM Master Cup Series Round of Daytona, and the recovery he endured afterward, as "humbling." The physical damage done to his body was not the only obstacle in Woody's comeback to motorsport. After making his return to the driver's seat, he revealed a personal struggle with depression and an addiction to painkillers.

Career Statistics
TM Master Cup Series