Call me trendy, but I'm building a gasser and I plan on painting it green...any horror stories out there that people know of regaurding this urban legend? The build is of the 60's era and probably won't be the safest ride in the world to start with, so if something horrible DOES happen...I blame it on the 60's
green is supposed to represent the grass in the infield of a circle track thus unlucky. not sure if it applies to drag racing but i know it applies to roundy rounds.
My old car a 48 Austin was green.It ran D/Gas and was called Greenhorn.I do know the car and open trailer flipped coming back from Florida years ago.So maybe there is some truth but the car set records back then in the sixties.
Hey if its like M&Ms it makes the girls horny, hang a rabbits foot on your key chain, even up the Karma.
Green was considered unlucky in NASCAR for many years. The 18 car (& others recently)seems to be doing OK though.
A buddy of mine had a 55 chevy drag car that was green......kept blowing engines...so he called it the Jade Grenade...lol.....go figure.
Green is definitely considered unlucky. Also unlucky back in the day: peanuts in the pits. Not sure if you guys have heard this one, but I read a biography of Indy driver Wilbur Shaw when I was kid, and both superstitions were featured prominently.
''if it is not fast chrome it...if it still isnot fast paint it green so you can hide it in the weeds''
bad luck is not caused by colors. 60's era gassers should all be painted Schwinn Stingray blue anyway. everyone knows that blue cars hook up better than green ones.
Like others have said, I dont think that applies to drag racing. I once was offered a ride in a roundy round car that was painted green, I said sure I'll drive it. I won the first time out in it and then talked the owner into changing the color scheme I ended up driving that car for 4 seasons
In Formula 1 back in the 50s and 60s, before teams started painting their cars up to reflect their sponsors, each country represented would have their own national colours, eg, Germany was silver, Italy red, I think the US was white, France was blue, etc, and Britain was green. And cars painted British Racing Green, such as Lotus, BRM, Cooper, Vanwall, etc, had plenty of success.
There was a guy from Northern California who ran a green top fuel car, number 13, and called it "Superstition," anyone remember his name? Don't think he ever won anything. so probably reinforced the green race car superstition....
Some of the old superstitions in racing were the color green (except the flag, I guess), peanuts, even women were not being allowed in the pits. They got started long ago. I'm sure there are more of them, too. But... ask Jimmy Clark and all the other "ferrin" racers who invaded Indy years ago how they felt about green cars! Nationalism prevails over silly superstitions, eh? Also, I think all superstition got killed VERY quickly when high paying sponsors like Kodiak (sp?) chewing tobacco, Mountain Dew, 7-up, etc started showing up at races with their checkbooks open. Later, Gary
The superstition of green being unlucky goes way back before cars were invented. It was just adapted to race cars, motorcycles, etc. as folks saw fit. Larry T
I grew up hearing that green was unlucky on motorcycles... My very first car was green and I had nothing but problems with it. What I then attributed to the color, Ive since realized was just my lack of knowledge!
"The build is of the 60's era and probably won't be the safest ride in the world to start with, so if something horrible DOES happen...I blame it on the 60's"[/QUOTE] sounds doomed from the start, so i guess color don't matter. should build it safe first then worry about the color later.
I remember a Mickey Rooney movie about racing, a green car was called a HooDoo wagon, and considered very unlucky! I think the movie was called "The Big Wheel" I worked very hard for my Good Luck!
The Jalopy Journal
