I was intrigued to find out why-hence a google search and found this on http://www.snopes.com/autos/cursed/green.asp On 17 September 1911, one of the worst auto racing accidents in history occurred at Syracuse, <nobr>New York,</nobr> when <nobr>11 fans</nobr> were killed and <nobr>10 others</nobr> injured by Lee Oldfield's Knox racer, a green car that blew a tire during the race, careened into the infield, and plowed through a snow fence into a group of spectators. (The driver, thrown from the car, received minor injuries.) <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.EmailStyle15 {mso-style-typeersonal; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:windowtext;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->[FONT="] On 25 November 1920, Gaston Chevrolet, lost his life when his green Frontenac crashed at the Beverly Hills Board Track into the Duesenberg driven by Eddie O'Donnell. (O'Donnell and Lyall Jolls, his riding mechanic, also lost their lives in that accident.) Scant months earlier, Chevrolet had won the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1><nobr>Indianapolis</nobr></st1></st1:city> 500 in that very car. Don't know how true, but it was on the interwebs so it must be... [/FONT]
Oh, and also peanuts are bad karma too, due to a number of big crashes in the 1930's where one team threw peanuts/shells on another rival team and all five members of the team crashed. I believe there has been a number of green cars with painted peanuts on the side thumbing there nose at superstition.
Harry Gant won five races in a row in 1991 driving a green and white Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile. Ricky Rudd won several races in the Quaker State Buick in the same era, and Brett Bodine won once also. More recently, Bobby Labonte won quite a few races and a Winston..Nextel... uh, Sprint Cup in the Interstate Battery car. On the other hand, Sterling Marlin's last season in a green #14 the team folded halfway through the year and he lost the ride - as did teammate Joe Nemecheck in a #13 car. So I doubt the color has much to do with what luck you have.
all my cars were two tone green #13,,just like my dads were before me i ate peanuts bebore and after why cause i like them....also bad carma to get interviewed before a race....never bothered me but got some air time....also a number that reads the same up side down is bad luck..........its all only bad if you loose your ride ,sponsor,motor also bad luck too get in on the rite side of the car,,basically i had the whole nine yards going for my on my coupe and the bad luck was when rolling rock beer went on strike and killed the whole sponser deal ,,,so no green was bad for my green
The above incident was the basis for Robert Williams painting "Death on the Boards", so its gotta be true!!
My family has raced for generations and wives/girlfriends have never been allowed in the pits until after the races. always heard the green 13 peanuts thing around here.
Not for me. This was the winningest most trouble free race car I ever had. I still wonder if I bumped my head or something as I cant believe I sold it! It actually paid its own way. Don
sounds doomed from the start, so i guess color don't matter. should build it safe first then worry about the color later.[/QUOTE] Haha, as this is a logical assumption, I'm stubborn and will not risk loosing style/wow factor for safety. Isn't that what hot rodding is about haha...or was?
Haha, as this is a logical assumption, I'm stubborn and will not risk loosing style/wow factor for safety. Isn't that what hot rodding is about haha...or was?[/QUOTE] Hum, I thought Gassers and Hot Rods were about speed and et. Oh, well. Larry T
I agree those are important. It will be fast, but mostly street driven. AND it was clearly a sarcastic statement. The plus side is that it won't be built strictly for racing, so if I paint it green the ol' legend shouldn't apply
Bad luck on a green race car was at indy. Had nothing to do with Drag Race cars. If you were around back then you would know. Lots of green cars won Drags Jade grenade,Green elephant,Lime fire,the list is long. Peanuts was Indy and sprints.
I worked on a super late model at tucson raceway everybody was into this green is bad luck superstition my plan was to build a green car I figured if everybody was so afraid of it that they'd stay out of my way on the track.. the only color cars I've ever had bad luck with have been black and white.
Its considered bad luck by the old timers, same as eating peanuts in the pits. Not an urban legend more of a superstition. Horror stories, well lets see. Only one I know of first hand has nothing to do with green but eating peanuts in the pits I can tell you about. Some fellas running a rail were eating peanuts in the pit across from us. Someone mentioned that that was not a good idea. They suggested that the fella should probably mind his own business. Anyway long story short they were warming the car on jackstands; pretty common for the rail guys back then. And low and behold the car came off the stands. Motored very fast through our pit and banged into a trailer across the way. Donny was staging our car and we were not in the pit. The rail didn't race that day, and they had to pay for repairs on someone elses trailer. I dunno if it was because of the peanuts or not. None the less I don't paint my cars green and no one eats peanuts in my pit.
Green was not always considered unlucky. In 1901, Charles Jarrott was invited to race for Panhard & Levassor. On arriving at the factory in Paris he was surprised to find his car painted green, instead of, presumably, blue. The works manager explained that he had been allocated the number 13. To compensate for this they had painted the car green, which was thought in France to be a lucky colour.
The Jalopy Journal
