CHAD GREEN |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WITH ITS 903CI POWERPLANT BUILT
AND TUNED BY PAT MUSI, CHAD GREEN’S
BOND-COAT CAMARO HAS QUICKLY BUILT A
REPUTATION FOR QUALIFYING AT OR NEAR
THE TOP AMONG A SEA OF BOOSTED ENTRIES.
“I remember when I drove my first Pro Mod, and I’d make a pass,
and my hands would literally be shaking.” ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Has racing in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod
Series lived up to your expectations?
I had high expectations, but this is everything I
expected and more. I was really surprised by how
competitive it is, but that doesn’t really bother
me because I like competition. It’s just grown so
much in the last few years. It’s really taken off.
When I got into this about six years ago, I didn’t
realize where it was going. It’s kind of dumb luck
to get into this class at this time, but it’s been good.
How did your racing career begin?
Professionally, it was about six year ago. It had
been a long-time goal of mine to have a race car
and race, but I was raising a family, building a
business. I didn’t have the time or the money. I
always knew that one of these days I’d get to the
point where I could do it, and I did.
104 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Were you always pointed towards Pro
Mod racing?
No, I didn’t know where I would land in racing.
I didn’t have a specific goal; my goal was only to
have a race car and to race. It just had to be fast.
Those were my only qualifications, and beyond
that I didn’t know. I had some fast street cars
I’d take to the track just to mess around with,
but I knew that once I was ready to get into it
seriously, my first step would be going to Frank
Hawley’s Drag Racing School. I did that, and I
started looking at what kind of car I could get
that I could race close and not have to do a lot of
traveling. The Pro Mod and Top Sportsman type
of classes seemed to be it. I went looking for a car
and at the same time went back to Frank Hawley’s
and got my Nostalgia Funny Car license, just to
get more experience.
What kind of car did you end up with?
I didn’t know a lot about what I was looking at,
at that point, but I found a ‘63 Corvette that was
advertised as a Pro Mod car, and I liked it. It was
really more of a Top Sportsman car, a nitrous
car, and I started looking for motors. I called
up Pat Musi and told him I was looking for a
700-something cubic-inch motor, and he said,
‘why would you want to do that if you could get a
903 for the same money?’ It just kind of evolved
and progressed from there.
Where were you racing at that point?
I started racing PDRA because Pat was there
and he could help me. He wanted me to race Top
Sportsman, and I didn’t really like the Sportsman
tree, so I wanted to race Pro Mod with the Pro
tree. I wasn’t interested in winning. I was there
Issue 146