Conversation: David Green

FONTANA, Calif. -- David Green has become a prime example of how a veteran, championship winning driver can rebuild his career through diligence, perseverance and ability.

AUDIO CLIPS Listen to the Convrsation! 2.04 MB / 17 minutes Listen

Green, a member of the famed Owensboro, Ky., racing posse that includes the Green bothers and the Waltrip brothers, scored his sixth career NASCAR Busch Series victory recently in the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

It injected the driver of the No. 37 Timber Wolf Pontiac into the thick of the Busch Series championship race and put an exclamation point on the career rejuvenation he started at the end of 2002 when he replaced Ricky Hendrick in Hendrick Motorsports' GMAC Chevrolet.

Green took a break at California Speedway to sit down with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman to talk about the viability of the Busch Series, Jeff Purvis, the influence of his family on his career and being a one-man-gang in a Pontiac and what that might mean for the future.

Q: It had been a while since you won in the Busch Series, since 1996. Did the race winner's routine come back to you pretty quick?

David Green: Not really -- not like I thought that it would. I felt like I was lost after I got the checkered flag because there was a lot of excitement with the team. I am not usually a big, emotional back-flip kind of guy so it kind of caught me off guard.

	David Green

Before I realized it, we had won the race and it was time to celebrate. Again, I had been known as not being a celebrating kind of guy, so I was kind of calm (in Victory Lane). But I'm sure looking forward to the next one and I'm going to do some whooping and hollering.

Q: Your daughter, Kaylie had a message for you when you went out the door. What kind of perspective does your current family situation give you?

It's brought a whole different perspective. Last year was hard for me to explain to her that I was going to the race track every week, but I wasn't in a car, per se. That was difficult enough for me to deal with.

This year, having a great opportunity with Brewco Motorsports and Timber Wolf, well, she didn't understand that as I certainly did, but I had told her during the off-season that maybe Daddy could win her a trophy, because she always wanted a trophy. So that was really special because when I leave every weekend to go to this year's races she has reminded me, 'Daddy, win me a trophy.'

It does remind you that life is made up of a lot more than racing. Over my career I have probably given a lot more to racing that I should have given to my wife and my family, but thank goodness they understand that and now maybe we can benefit from all that racing in my blood and in my mind.

Q: Your career has gone through a couple rejuvenations recently. How would you quantify your victory at Nashville, after some people maybe had written you off?

DAVID GREEN  •  Driver Page  •  2003 Stats  •  Message Board

One of the most frustrating things for me in 2002 was going to the race track, for a long time, without having a job. I would hang around with my brother Mark. I did a little spotting for him and Larry Foyt. That was tough for me mentally because sometimes I had to ask myself, "Why are you here?"

From there I branched over and worked as a spotter with Dale Jarrett. But the biggest break I had, bar none, last year was when Ricky gave that opportunity to drive the No. 5 car.

To put it in perspective, this kind of puts a close to that chapter, because there's no doubt that if I had not gotten the opportunity to drive that 5 car and to be successful, even though we did not win, Clarence (Brewer, Brewco owner) would have never looked at me because you're right -- a lot of people had said, "David Green is done, his years are over with."

It was good that all that came full circle at Nashville. That Rick (Hendrick) came into Victory Lane to congratulate Clarence Brewer and for him and I to have a few words was very, very special -- not just for me personally but for Clarence, because Brewco is a small team compared to Hendrick Motorsports and Rick had given us some opportunities to benefit from his team as well.

Q: How big a deal was it to win at Nashville, where you have such a history?

It was huge. When I think of Nashville I think of the Fairgrounds. If someone had asked me, "What race do you think you'll win first?" I would probably have not said Nashville, but that goes to show you how versatile this team is and how I've changed my attitude as a driver.

We go into each race knowing that we have a shot and we've shown that this year. All that has been due to the preparation of the cars by crew chief Jason Ratcliff and the whole crew, and in his mindset at the race track, believing in me 110 percent. It's the team working as a race team, with me just a small portion of it. I think it will continue, if not get better all year long.

Q: With a young team, is winning this early in the season real glue to your title hopes?

It's like concrete now -- I really feel that way. My gut instinct was that to win this early, for the race team is huge. I personally was a little disappointed that a lot of people, when they talked about the Busch Series would mention us but they didn't really put a lot of high hopes that we could do it. This is a little bit of a good feeling for the team to say "We can do this and maybe now we'll get noticed."

It's very tough to come out of the box strong. This team in the past has been a second half team and we talked about how if we could come out of the box a little quicker, with some of our better finishes, we'll be happy and it's worked out that way.

	David Green's win at Nashville in April was his first win since 1996. Credit: Autostock

Q: You're not doing the spotting you did a year ago, so how are you spending the extra time? How much of a benefit to your driving career was your experience as a spotter, particularly in Winston Cup?

Looking back on the time when I didn't have a full-time job driving, in hindsight I wish I had allotted about three months to clean out the garage and take the family and just do some cool family stuff. You know what? I never did do any of that stuff and I'm kicking myself over it, now.

But the spotting deal was a huge plus for me. Even before I went to work with Dale Jarrett, when I was working with Mark and Larry Foyt, I got a perspective from up top on the spotters' stand that you don't see out of the windshield.

Then, to take it another step with D.J., it was so important to me to have the validation of knowing that a driver of his stature is seeing and feeling and experiencing the same things that I know I was feeling. People say, "You've won a championship, why would it be any different?"

But as a driver, you look at Dale Jarrett or Bobby or Terry Labonte, who I know real well and you think, since they're in Winston Cup maybe they see it just a little bit differently. It was so reassuring to me that what I was seeing and feeling was true.

So it just told me to continue being myself and that if you have a good race team, like my Brewco team has shown this year, when I do say this car is doing this, if you have a good team they fix it and they believe in you. I have total confidence in (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) fixing the car per what I say and he's made great strides this season.

Q: How has it been running a Pontiac, as one of the only teams in the Busch Series to do so?

I think it's been a plus and I think Brewco Motorsports deserves some credit. Maybe everybody thought the Pontiac wasn't what it was supposed to be and they all jumped ship, you might say. Pontiac supports our team and we couldn't do it without them. It's neat to have a brand that not everybody else runs.

I'm glad we're the only ones. There are two of us -- the 27 and the 37 -- going against 41 other teams out there every Saturday. The odds are stacked against us but we have two great teams and we have everything it takes to do it with. Clarence has put his team in position, with the Pontiac, to move to the next level. I'm proud to be carrying that banner for the Busch Series.

Q: Talk a little about Jeff Purvis, your relationship with him and what he means to this Brewco team?

I can remember watching Jeff Purvis when he was running dirt cars up in the Owensboro area. When I got involved in the Busch Series, he was always the guy that, if I couldn't go to my brothers and I needed somebody that would give me a straight answer, it was always Jeff Purvis.

He often would come to me and do a mirror image of what I would do with him, throwing some things off of me and he respected that I would give him a straight shot back. That created a bond, because you typically don't have that as a driver.

When we got to the point that we were both racing for wins and top-fives, he was always a clean driver and he would never do anything to jeopardize your performance or your ability to win, and that meant a lot. Jeff and I had both tried to get the 37 car and when they picked him, I knew he was a guy that would do them well.

It was good to see him at Daytona this year. He came by and we knew he was all better because he stuck his head in the car and said, "Hey, have you tried this gear or this spring?"

He's doing good and he looks great and I know he wants to be back out here. It was good to hear from him after the win -- he did call and that meant a lot, because he's the one -- with all the resources that Clarence has assembled -- that turned their program in the right direction when he scored that first win for Brewco at Texas last year.

Q: From a driver and former champion's perspective, what's your take on the current state of the Busch Series?

There's some concern that stems back to 2001, maybe. We had a situation in 2000-2001 with a sponsor, AFG Glass, with a two-year deal. In 2000 it went well but over the winter there were some rule changes in the series, that would make us run faster, but along with that would come a lot of extra expense.

Right there it hit home more clearly with me. I had a relationship with a sponsor that had set their budget for two years and in the middle of the stream, the rules got changed. I know that owner and several other owners went to their sponsors and said, "Can we get some help?"

It was tough for the sponsors because they had signed deals. From the owners' side, they're like, "How do we come up with the extra money?" From the drivers' side we're saying, "Why did we do that?"

Now, we've somewhat recovered, but I personally think the quality of the 43-car fields has come down some. I think the competition in the top-10 or -15 teams is as good as it's ever been, but we don't have that full picture like we had before.

I kinda wanted to think it was coming around again, but we've got a couple good race teams, teams high in the standings, that can't get that funding they need. I personally count our blessings every day with Timber Wolf. They've been a mainstay in the series since 1997 and continue to do what it takes to support us.

The series just needs some help. Yes, we're not Winston Cup, but we do the same travel, we stay in the same kind of motels and we have to fly just like everybody else does -- everything costs the same. So there does need to be some kind of concessions, there.