DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 5, 2002) - Don’t tell Tony Green about racing superstitions. The Oak Hills, Calif. driver is leading the Jani King Super Late Model standings at the ½-mile Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway - and sits third in the Sunbelt Region standings of the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge - in full violation of one of racing’s traditional taboos.
The color green is thought to bring bad luck on race day and has been kept away from many drivers’ race day attire for years, along with peanuts, the No. 13 and other superstitions. But Green, 23, has taken a new approach that has worked just fine.
His No. 89 Chevrolet is trimmed with bright green paint, as are the haircuts of his fans in the grandstands. His three wins and six top-five finishes overall in seven starts should erase any doubts about his luck on Saturday nights.
“We’d like to win the track championship, we’re focused on that,” Green said. “If we do well in the track points, the regional championship goes along with that so hopefully we’ll do well in the region also.”
Green began racing at Irwindale when it opened its gates three years ago. After starting out in the Truck class, Green progressed to the Auto Club Late Model division, where he earned Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 2000. Last season, Green moved up to Irwindale’s feature division and didn’t experience the rookie success he had previously known, finishing 16th in the track championship standings
“We had a lot of engine problems in 2001, we only finished nine out of 18 races last year,” Green said.
A change in engine builders has turned his team around. Green is now the driver to beat in a very competitive division that also includes Brandon Loverock, Ben Walker, Nathan Wulff and Rip Michaels. NASCAR Touring standouts Sean Woodside, Tim Woods, III and Craig Raudman have also challenged Green and the rest of the Irwindale Super Late Model field.
NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge regional championship standings are determined by the Competition Performance Index (CPI), a statistical formula that ranks each feature division driver based on a combination of starts, wins, top-five finishes, top-10 finishes and the car count in their respective divisions.
THIS WEEK’S TOP TEN: Pos Driver Name Home Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 CPI
1 WINTERS, SCOTT MADERA SPEEDWAY 5 2 5 5 0.8436 2 RENO, DENNIS JR BIRMINGHAM INTL RACEWAY 6 5 6 6 0.8328 3 GREEN, TONY IRWINDALE SPEEDWAY 7 3 6 6 0.8200 4 GAFFORINI, SCOTT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY 7 2 6 6 0.7857 5 SCOTT, BOBBY JR WATSONVILLE SPEEDWAY 8 3 7 8 0.7685 6 WARES, CHARLES TUCSON RACEWAY PARK 8 4 7 8 0.7268 7 HORELKA, DONNY SAN ANTONIO SPEEDWAY 7 2 6 6 0.6936 8 TAMBORELLI, GARY ORANGE SHOW SPEEDWAY 8 3 7 8 0.6853 9 FIFE, GENE MESA MARIN RACEWAY 9 0 8 9 0.6758 10 GAY, DANNY CAJON SPEEDWAY 8 2 6 8 0.6266
NEWS OF NOTE:
· Danny Gay, of Lakeside, Calif., managed to lead the Cajon Speedway track standings without a win in his first six events. He finally reached victory lane on May 25 and won his second straight on June 1.
· The Sunbelt Region leaders are the winningest group in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge. These 10 racers have combined for 26 feature wins in 73 starts, an average of 2.6 wins per driver.
· Todd Burns, of Riverside, Calif., is the Sunbelt Region leader in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge ShorTrack Division. Burns has three wins and six top-five finishes overall in the Late Model division at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway. The ShorTrack Division consists of a second tier of race cars at every NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge track.
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
· In 1986, Joe Kosiski, one of three racing brothers from Omaha, Neb., became the second national champion in NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge history to emerge from the Central Region dirt tracks. Kosiski won 29 feature events and track championships at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. and I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo., during the 1986 campaign. Kosiski won the regional title, and thus became eligible to win the national championship, by winning his second-to-last feature event of the season. He narrowly won that race ahead of Roger Dolan, of Lisbon, Iowa. The two had battled fender to fender in that event, and had entered the final weekend tied as regional points leaders. Kosiski received $35,500 in post-season awards.
