green corvettes / race cars bad luck?

Got a question for you guys: I posted something about this on a corvette page last night and had some intresting answers, but, Im not a "corvette" guy - per say, and wanted to see what you all thought.

I was brought up being told that Green races cars, ESPECIALLY GREEN CORVETTES are bad luck. The source from where I first heard this was my father who drag raced in the 60's.

So, I never bought a green car (except one winter car that broke in half because of the rotted frame). I blamed that mishap on the color and not because of the frame, but thats when I was in high school....and I know it wasnt the "color", or was it?????

what do you guys think? A green 61 corvette gasser would be ideal in my eyes, but am I asking for trouble?

I got this "old tale" in my head, and cant walk away from it....what do you guys think? Im sure someone else has heard this.....

 

I heard if your goin to repaint a motorcycle , GREEN is bad luck

 

I thought that was a dirt track thing...along with peanuts.I never heard of that untill I met some short track guys.

 

That was indy racing.Drag racing had winners that were green. Green elephant funny car was one.

 

How about green peanuts? IS that a double negative?

 

It was always said about motorcycles, but i never heard it on the dirt tracks.

 

I have raced with guys, that won't even put green stickers on the car.

 

The striper who taught me, still to this day won't stripe any green cars. A guys been waiting 12 years for him to stripe his car and ralph keeps saying I'll stripe it when it gets painted a different color.

 

Yep, Force always has green on his cars, doesn't he?

I think the "bad luck green" superstition goes back to a time before cars were around.
Larry T

 

In the 50's, a green car was taboo at Indy...and NO women were allowed in the pits (Gasoline Alley)....

 

Around here the Sprint Car guys think it's bad luck, because the first guy killed at Indy was in a green car.

 

Walter Henry - Denver Fever



The late Walter Henry never had the opportunity to see the Pro Modified category come to pass. Henry was known as one of the pioneers of the supercharged doorslammer movement in the IHRA. He was killed in a special Pro Modified event in late 1989 in Atco , NJ . The event was intended to give race fans and competitors an idea of what the new class was to be like. (Photo courtesy of Dave Bishop/Competition Photos)

(Stolen from competitionplus.com)

 

A green Harley was bad luck for me,,HRP

 

my green factory stock was bad luck for alot of guys i used to race
against!!! signal green cage, green and white lettering, and dark flake green body !!! good luck fer me!!!

 

One morning we got in the car at the motel to to to the track with the FC I was helping on. I had laid a bottle of sunblock on the dash, the label on the bottle was green. When the driver/owner saw the green label in his car, he flipped. Bad luck.

First pass at the track, blew a slick, wrecked the car, destroyed the body. No serious injury though. He blamed it on the green label in his pit car.

Some people defy the superstitions and get away with it, others don't. I think if you THINK it's bad luck, then it is.

 

All I know is , NO peanuts in the pits!!

 

Other than putting my green dirt car on its roof one night I had no problems...lol

 

I've heard for motorcycles it is bad luck. Something about green being the colour of grass and you don't want to lay your bike down.

 

Up to the 90's I believe you could not find a green stock car. I worked on a green 1968 corvette that was not a race car and it came back to our shop at least 6 times for things that broke on the car that would normally never brake. Guy sold the car back to us and took his loss.

I BELIEVE..

 

I've heard of this as well and snopes.com has an article on the myth (http://www.snopes.com/autos/cursed/green.asp). I was surprised to see them including England as also being superstitious towards green, especially seeing how British Racing Green is the official color of the UK in international racing and still worn proudly by Jaguar teams. As for the US, I had heard about the Indy portion and dirt tracks as well, never about bikes. How did the green machine of Kawasaki ever win if it were true?

 

well....that snopes article just does it for me.....I guess Im kinda superstitious - and why take the chance? If you dont believe in something, dont do it....

 

Hmmmm ... I spent 25 years working in the motorcycle industry, and managed to cover almost all major brands in that time.
Did a little short track & flattracking too (early on, no brakes allowed!)
This is the first I've ever heard about a green gris-gris.

Could it be just a 'Davidson thang?

 

I'd do it and wouldn't even think about the bad luck B.S.. The vette needs a hardtop though...

 

The green/Corvette/badluck thing only applies to when it's time to SELL it Don't believe me? Then try to sell a green Corvette! (unless it's a 435 roadster or the like )

 

For me..candy orange hit&run 6 months sheet time 15 operations lost left footJohn

 

Green=Money

 

No such thing as bad luck.....shit happens.

 

B.S. sorry my 2 cents

 

Walk under a ladder, kick a mirror and paint it green! Green is a cool color. Superstitions are B.S., shit happens no matter what color it is.

 

It's out here too.

When I was a rookie, I had a big green section on my car, and the old timers all told me it was gonna be bad luck.

Sure enough, I hit everything there was to hit with that car . . . . twice, sure seemed like they called it. Though to be fair, I was a rook, so ricochettes were bound to happen.

The next year I had a sponsor with a green logo on the new car, and ended up putting that one on its lid one night about mid-season.

I've never had very good luck in a race car, honestly. If an airplane were going to crash into a dirt track in MO, I'd be there in a race car, and that damned thing would land on me.

The way I see it, there may be nothing to it, but why tempt fate?

I've not had a lick of green on a car I've driven since.