It’s just another day for University of Memphis Athletic Media Relations secretary Martha Woods.
Woods sits behind her desk with an exuberant, warm smile on her face. She talks excitedly about “the roar” and “the thunder” of Tiger sports. Then she apologizes for having to stop as she shakes off the goose bumps.
Woods is a wife, a mother and a grandmother.
She’s also a mini-stock car driver who enjoys dirt-track racing on the weekends.
“It’s Tiger sports and racing,” Woods said. “That’s what keeps me going.”
Woods, who is known by many as simply The Racing Granny, has just completed her fourth season of dirt-track racing in the Mid-South.
“Channel 5 did a story on me in my first year (of racing),” Woods said. “They couldn’t believe that I was a grandmother. They called me the Racing Granny and the name just stuck.”
Since beginning her racing career, Woods said she has driven mini-stock cars at tracks in West Memphis, Harrisburg, Ark., and Cleveland, Miss. In Harrisburg and Cleveland, she was the first female to compete on those tracks.
Woods said she has always wanted to race, even at a young age.
“I’ve always liked fast cars and speed,” Woods said. “Dad taught me how to drive, but I drove like my mom — fast.”
It wasn’t until she met her husband, Eddie, that she re-discovered her love for stock car racing and realized that she could be a part of it. A simple date destination for the couple inspired them to take on a hobby that has lasted for 15 years.
“It was a choice between the races at Riverside (Raceways) or going to the dog track,” Woods said.
The couple opted for the cars instead of the dogs. Woods was hooked.
“I said, ‘We’ve just got to build a car.’”
The Woods’ first stock car was a Chevrolet Camaro with a beer keg used as a fuel cell. Eddie began racing in 1987 and was finding plenty of success on the local circuit.
As Eddie moved up in the racing ranks, Woods said she caught herself wanting to drive.
Locally, dirt-track racing is reserved almost exclusively for men. According to Woods, though, that fact made no difference to her.
“I started at Memphis Motor Sports,” Woods said. “There was only one other girl who ran weekly besides me.”
Woods began racing in 1998 and quickly made a name for herself in the mini-stock car division. By the 2000 season, Memphis Motor Sports’ top drivers had named her “Most Improved Driver of the Year.”
“I was shocked,” Woods said. “The guys came up to me and said, ‘You’ve done well. You’ve moved up.’
“They don’t look at you as a woman driver. You’re just another stock car driver. I’ve proved that I can hold my own on the track.”
Woods may have also blazed a trail for other women interested in dirt-track racing.
“More and more women are getting into it,” she said.
Woods and her husband have gone from building their first stock car in their driveway to now having a fully-equipped garage. They own two mini-stock cars and a late model. Eddie began driving in the late-model division in 1997.
Woods admits the upkeep of the cars requires plenty of work, but the time and effort is necessary if the couple expects to compete at such a high level.
“We’re doing something to those cars seven days a week,” Woods said. “It’s not a lazy man’s hobby.”
Woods, who calls her grandchildren her “mini pit crew,” said she’s not out to make a name for herself or her gender.
“I don’t do this to prove anything, she said. “I just love the speed. I love racing.”
