NHRA Pro Modified rookie Chad Green has received quite the initiation to ultra-fast doorslammer racing in 2018.
Green, from Midland, Texas, currently sits fourth in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Series points, one of three Pat Musi-powered, nitrous oxide-assisted entries in the top four, thanks to a semifinal appearance in his class debut at the Gatornationals in March and a final round showing in Topeka, where he fell to Rickie Smith. But it hasn’t been a rosy run to competitiveness for Green.
In that semifinal round in Gainesville against current points leader Mike Janis, Green lost control of his C7 Corvette near mid-track, turning cross the centerline and plowing into the opposing guardrail. With extensive damage to that racecar, Green procured a sleek 2018 Chevrolet Camaro and immediately returned to the tour. But his good-luck-bad-luck season took another turn on Sunday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol — in the second round of eliminations while racing Danny Rowe, Green lost control of the car in the shutdown area, striking the wall nose-first before turning onto his roof and sliding into the sand-trap upside down.
Green shared with the NHRA’s Joe Castello that as he went through the traps, the parachutes failed to deploy; with the sand and the catch-netting become ever-larger, he got hard on the brakes, causing the Camaro to take an abrupt turn. From there, Green was just along for the ride. Adding insult to injury, of course, was the fact that he had gotten loose early in the run but got back in the throttle despite being many car-lengths in Rowe’s rearview mirror.
While next weekend’s stop in Norwalk, Ohio, the last of three-straight events for the NHRA Pro Mod Series, may prove a challenge for Green and company without an undamaged car to enter, his team will have two months to regroup before the next race, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, in late August.