"SURPRISE! DAVID GREEN MAKES UNEXPECTED
ENTRY INTO TOP 3 STARTERS AT BRICKYARD"

Published, in edited form, in the Johnson County (Ind.) Daily Journal, Aug. 6, 1999 ©

         It wasn't anything like midnight, but David Green took a car that drove like a pumpkin a month ago and turned it into a glass slipper Thursday afternoon.

         Qualifying his No. 41 Kodiak Chevrolet at 178.902 mph, third fastest for the Brickyard 400 field, made Green the Cinderella story of the first round of NASCAR Winston Cup qualifying Thursday. If the crowd at the Indy speedway was shocked, Green was nearly as surprised.

         "It's a pleasant surprise to say the least," the lesser-known stock car driver from just south of the Ohio River said after his rags-to-riches run. "Right now, we're on cloud nine."

         That heavenly feeling swept over Green and his crew after the white-and-green car of theirs went from toad to princess and outqualified 51 NASCAR entries - all but Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin - in its one shot at the front of the Brickyard lineup. "We took it to Loudon, N.H., about four weeks ago and went home, did not make the race," he related, the soft Kentucky twang playing backup guitar to his words.

         "Right then, we didn't think this car was very good, but we brought it here to test later and it was really good. So, we gave up the opportunity to run this car at Pocono (July 25) so we could have it right there and not disturb it."

         Then like a fairy godmother pulling a brand-new regal coach out of thin air, Green and company rolled the never-raced machine out for the annual racing ball at 16th and Georgetown. "We needed the car at Pocono, but we decided that, in our present situation, it was not best to do that, so we gave up a little bit to really shine here," he said.

         And shine they did under the bright Indiana sun Thursday afternoon, landing on the inside of the second row for Saturday's 400-mile race. Only once before in his admittedly up-and-down career had Green started that far toward the front of a Winston Cup race, early in the 1998 season at Rockingham, N.C.

         Though he started ninth in the 1997 Brickyard race, he didn't even have a ride for last year's event. This season has been mostly gremlins and broomsticks for the 41-year-old driver, whose original crew chief left the team early in the season. His best start this season, before Thursday, was 17th, and his best finish not even close to the top 10.

         That helped magnify the magic of Green's moment Thursday. "We've had a tough year," he said, adjusting the black racing cap covering all but the lower fringe of his head of salt-and-pepper hair. "This was a big shot in the arm for us. It all just fell right into place for us here."

         Green added, however, that his new-found speed wasn't as shocking to him as it might have been to onlookers, given the way his team found the right fit for the car in those earlier tests and Thursday morning's practice session. "I knew if I didn't over-try, we'd have a shot at the top 10," he said, "and, lo' and behold, we ended up third. Winston Cup racing is so competitive that, if you try a little too hard, you lose a tenth of a second and all of a sudden you're in no-man's land."

         Still, Green admitted that the magnitude of the Brickyard 400 itself probably did make him push a little harder than usual. "This track is just up the road from where I call home, Owensboro, Ky.," he acknowledged, with another strum of the twangy guitar back of his words, "so you do try harder.

         "I was probably more nervous qualifying than I have been all year because this is a big race and we've been struggling. Actually, I felt like I lost a lot time in turn four, but, hey, I'm not going to complain."

         He also was not inclined to think his waltz in the glass slippers was scheduled to end promptly at midnight Thursday. "It's a great run for us, but, you know, qualifying's one thing and racing is another," he noted. "It doesn't stop here; we've got to go the whole way on Saturday, so we'll have to work really hard to get the car ready for the race."

         Nonetheless, Green was not going to let his moment as prince for a day end abruptly, not in a season where racing luck had acted more like a cruel stepmother than a charming prince. "To say we needed this is an understatement," he said. "We've been headed in the right direction as a team, but we always seem to hit a roadblock.

         "So, yes we needed this, on the biggest pressure-packed weekend we have."

         And, Green admitted, the Brickyard's new Cinderella probably wouldn't even see midnight. "As nerve-racking as all this can be at times," he added, "I promise you I'll sleep good tonight."

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 Copyright 1999 by Jerry Miller ©

 Color photo courtesy of NASCAR

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