Green credited for putting Hendrick COT on fast track
David Green didn't get a piece of the trophy when Hendrick Motorsports swept the first three Car of Tomorrow races, and he won't if one of the team's drivers wins the next COT race Saturday night in Richmond. He hasn't yet made the trip to Victory Lane. Not many people knew how much he'd contributed to the wins, or even that he had at all.
What Green did get, though, has probably meant far more to him both personally and professionally. He received validation as a racecar driver.
Quite likely no other driver has turned as many laps in a COT than Green, who first tested the machine for Hendrick Motorsports at The Milwaukee Mile in the spring of 2006. Since then, he's put in literally thousands of laps at numerous tests for the powerhouse organization. Green has provided volumes upon volumes of input on the car, and hindsight being 20/20, he obviously knew what he was talking about.
Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Kyle Busch, gave Green and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports research and development team a shout-out following Busch's win in the first COT race at Bristol. To Green, the compliment was golden.
"I'm only a small, small part of that whole deal there," Green said. "But that's the kind of people who work at Hendrick Motorsports, guys who appreciate everything that happens. It's very satisfying to me. ... I watched them take the checkered flag in the first three races for the COT car, and my feelings went out the ceiling.
"The personal satisfaction was like a trophy. It meant far more than that. Those guys set out to make something happen, and I personally set out to do the very best job I could for them. When it was all said and done and the dust settled, the car was 3-for-3."
Green's relationship with Hendrick Motorsports extends back to 2000, when Ricky Hendrick was making his first tentative steps into the Busch Series. Even while Green was racing the series full time with a team owned by Frank Cicci, he was helping the rookie during testing.
The partnership blossomed. Green did some testing in the 24 car, which has achieved some pretty fair success. Green went to a test with Ricky Hendrick at Kansas in late 2002, but crashed a quarter of the way through the race itself. When he retired from driving immediately thereafter, Green got the ride for the rest of the season.
In six races, Green finished in the top five three times and in the top-10 four. The Hendrick ride went to Brian Vickers during the offseason, but his showing with the team provided the momentum needed to land a deal with Brewco Motorsports. Ironically enough, Vickers and Green would go on to finish 1-2 for the championship in 2003, as part of the closest six-driver battle for the title in the history of the division.
Green drove his first COT test for Hendrick while still with Brewco last season.
"My relationship with Hendrick Motorsports just built and built and built," Green said. "When the Car of Tomorrow came up, I'm sure they could've asked many, many people. I was very blessed by the call, when they said, 'We've got this project and we'd like to see if you could help us out.'"
From the very outset, the Jim Long-led Hendrick Motorsports R&D team knew it had its hands full. It wanted to win the first pole and the first race for the NASCAR-mandated car, but how was it going to accomplish the feat?
"The whole mind set that those took in working with the Car of Tomorrow was, 'It's not the prettiest car and it's so much different, but Mr. Hendrick has put a job in front of us. We're gonna do the very best we can with this project,'" Green said. "Jim Long and the five or six guys who work on that team took a project and started from scratch in the beginning. I saw how it matured and flourished.
"We had times where we didn't think we were making any headway. It was all on our shoulders to head in the right direction. To see all that is almost like winning, driving into Victory Lane."
According to Green, he thought the car drove well almost from the first laps he made at Milwaukee. He was coming at it from the perspective of a driver who'd spent the majority of his career in the Busch Series, where cars have distinctly different handling characteristics than their Cup counterparts.
"I thought it drove good," Green said. "I say that, because I've always said that the Cup car drives better than a Busch car. Mechanically, the Cup cars have always driven better. So when we ran the first time, to me it drove just like a Cup car. And that's good. Keep in mind that it's a Hendrick Cup car that also happens to be a COT."
Overall, there were few changes to be made with the Hendrick COT.
"From the driving end of it, the car changed minutely," Green insisted. "I think the things that we worked on were just to keep it driving good. From where it started to where it ended up wasn't a huge swing. It was like from the very first time out, they had the package. All we did was just fluff and buff and go from there. It's no different than they do things in general."
Green was released by Brewco in September of last year. For him, it was an unexpected move. He had been down that road before, and it wasn't a happy one. Still, testing for Hendrick gave him confirmation that he could still get the job done.
He wasn't out of racing entirely. Not yet.
"You have all this data and you have all these guys at the top of their game witnessing everything you do," Green said. "The bottom line is having them say, 'You know what? What you just said is exactly what we see.' It is a personal test for me as a driver, every lap that I made in those cars for those guys. It's a personal test not only for my ability, but also for my stake in NASCAR."
Green's most recent test with Hendrick Motorsports was in January at Lakeland, Fla. For the first time, there were other teams present. It was go time. It was time for Green to see exactly how the cars in which he had contributed so much stacked up against other competition.
It was time for Green and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports R&D team to receive its report card. One by one, as the test progressed and the car was working as it should, the organization's other crew chiefs came by and thanked Long for his work on the COT program.
Leading up to wins by Hendrick drivers Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the three COT races to date, for Green, that was the most satisfying moment of his involvement in the program.
"I think that was about the most satisfying test I did," Green said. "We were there, sort of in competition. We weren't just the only car there at a facility. We were there with our teammates. We were there with our competition. The R&D team had an opportunity to strut our stuff. We were proud that we were continually making headway."
In the end, Green never got nervous during tests with Hendrick Motorsports. It's one of the most powerful operations in the sport, but Green never got antsy.
Maybe he should have, but he didn't.
"When you're strapped in the car at a test with those guys, they're serious," Green said. "Looking back, I probably should've been a little more nervous because this was a huge deal. I never got nervous. They're good people. They're appreciative, and they treat you like family.
But looking back, after they won the first three races and two poles, I get nervous thinking about it. I had no idea we were embarking on such a project."
David Green didn't get a piece of the trophy when Hendrick Motorsports swept the first three Car of Tomorrow races, and he won't if one of the team's drivers wins the next COT race Saturday night in Richmond. He hasn't yet made the trip to Victory Lane. Not many people knew how much he'd contributed to the wins, or even that he had at all.
What Green did get, though, has probably meant far more to him both personally and professionally. He received validation as a racecar driver.
Quite likely no other driver has turned as many laps in a COT than Green, who first tested the machine for Hendrick Motorsports at The Milwaukee Mile in the spring of 2006. Since then, he's put in literally thousands of laps at numerous tests for the powerhouse organization. Green has provided volumes upon volumes of input on the car, and hindsight being 20/20, he obviously knew what he was talking about.
Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Kyle Busch, gave Green and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports research and development team a shout-out following Busch's win in the first COT race at Bristol. To Green, the compliment was golden.
"I'm only a small, small part of that whole deal there," Green said. "But that's the kind of people who work at Hendrick Motorsports, guys who appreciate everything that happens. It's very satisfying to me. ... I watched them take the checkered flag in the first three races for the COT car, and my feelings went out the ceiling.
"The personal satisfaction was like a trophy. It meant far more than that. Those guys set out to make something happen, and I personally set out to do the very best job I could for them. When it was all said and done and the dust settled, the car was 3-for-3."
Green's relationship with Hendrick Motorsports extends back to 2000, when Ricky Hendrick was making his first tentative steps into the Busch Series. Even while Green was racing the series full time with a team owned by Frank Cicci, he was helping the rookie during testing.
The partnership blossomed. Green did some testing in the 24 car, which has achieved some pretty fair success. Green went to a test with Ricky Hendrick at Kansas in late 2002, but crashed a quarter of the way through the race itself. When he retired from driving immediately thereafter, Green got the ride for the rest of the season.
In six races, Green finished in the top five three times and in the top-10 four. The Hendrick ride went to Brian Vickers during the offseason, but his showing with the team provided the momentum needed to land a deal with Brewco Motorsports. Ironically enough, Vickers and Green would go on to finish 1-2 for the championship in 2003, as part of the closest six-driver battle for the title in the history of the division.
Green drove his first COT test for Hendrick while still with Brewco last season.
"My relationship with Hendrick Motorsports just built and built and built," Green said. "When the Car of Tomorrow came up, I'm sure they could've asked many, many people. I was very blessed by the call, when they said, 'We've got this project and we'd like to see if you could help us out.'"
From the very outset, the Jim Long-led Hendrick Motorsports R&D team knew it had its hands full. It wanted to win the first pole and the first race for the NASCAR-mandated car, but how was it going to accomplish the feat?
"The whole mind set that those took in working with the Car of Tomorrow was, 'It's not the prettiest car and it's so much different, but Mr. Hendrick has put a job in front of us. We're gonna do the very best we can with this project,'" Green said. "Jim Long and the five or six guys who work on that team took a project and started from scratch in the beginning. I saw how it matured and flourished.
"We had times where we didn't think we were making any headway. It was all on our shoulders to head in the right direction. To see all that is almost like winning, driving into Victory Lane."
According to Green, he thought the car drove well almost from the first laps he made at Milwaukee. He was coming at it from the perspective of a driver who'd spent the majority of his career in the Busch Series, where cars have distinctly different handling characteristics than their Cup counterparts.
"I thought it drove good," Green said. "I say that, because I've always said that the Cup car drives better than a Busch car. Mechanically, the Cup cars have always driven better. So when we ran the first time, to me it drove just like a Cup car. And that's good. Keep in mind that it's a Hendrick Cup car that also happens to be a COT."
Overall, there were few changes to be made with the Hendrick COT.
"From the driving end of it, the car changed minutely," Green insisted. "I think the things that we worked on were just to keep it driving good. From where it started to where it ended up wasn't a huge swing. It was like from the very first time out, they had the package. All we did was just fluff and buff and go from there. It's no different than they do things in general."
Green was released by Brewco in September of last year. For him, it was an unexpected move. He had been down that road before, and it wasn't a happy one. Still, testing for Hendrick gave him confirmation that he could still get the job done.
He wasn't out of racing entirely. Not yet.
"You have all this data and you have all these guys at the top of their game witnessing everything you do," Green said. "The bottom line is having them say, 'You know what? What you just said is exactly what we see.' It is a personal test for me as a driver, every lap that I made in those cars for those guys. It's a personal test not only for my ability, but also for my stake in NASCAR."
Green's most recent test with Hendrick Motorsports was in January at Lakeland, Fla. For the first time, there were other teams present. It was go time. It was time for Green to see exactly how the cars in which he had contributed so much stacked up against other competition.
It was time for Green and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports R&D team to receive its report card. One by one, as the test progressed and the car was working as it should, the organization's other crew chiefs came by and thanked Long for his work on the COT program.
Leading up to wins by Hendrick drivers Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon in the three COT races to date, for Green, that was the most satisfying moment of his involvement in the program.
"I think that was about the most satisfying test I did," Green said. "We were there, sort of in competition. We weren't just the only car there at a facility. We were there with our teammates. We were there with our competition. The R&D team had an opportunity to strut our stuff. We were proud that we were continually making headway."
In the end, Green never got nervous during tests with Hendrick Motorsports. It's one of the most powerful operations in the sport, but Green never got antsy.
Maybe he should have, but he didn't.
"When you're strapped in the car at a test with those guys, they're serious," Green said. "Looking back, I probably should've been a little more nervous because this was a huge deal. I never got nervous. They're good people. They're appreciative, and they treat you like family.
But looking back, after they won the first three races and two poles, I get nervous thinking about it. I had no idea we were embarking on such a project."