Jeff Green (101:25)
Well, that's the last part. There is very ten. Tough, very tough. But, you know, the folks at NASCAR very supportive of watching him participate and allow me to be a part of those weekends where maybe I don't have to work the Xfinity race. I can just be there as be a dad, but always just be a dad and work at the same time. But very challenging. I know early on, you know, we. We had our bandos, we had our legend cars and. And, you know, trying to want to do it myself and giving the best opportunity, you know, then you plug in a guy like Timmy Latica and Cheryl that gives him an opportunity to drive their legend car. Then watching him drive some equipment that's not ours, not mine, I just kind of get back to look at it. I really didn't see a truer picture of Austin and his abilities. Right. And not that I ever said, hey, you're going to be a race car driver, but what I wanted to do is, like, if he could really do it. And prior to him driving Timmy Latica's legend car, I gave him many opportunities to not fail, but just to stumble because either I didn't know the tricks to do on a legend car and stuff like that, but he always, always rose to the top. So then that's another confidence you have, right? But also an issue, right? Like, now we gotta find him another rider going up the ladder. So there for a while, I really thought that I've not done a good job as a dad. Based on my career, my brothers, our family, just. I haven't done a good job of putting Austin in the right spot. Whether that's, you know, setting money aside. And again, you know, during our era, the money was not like it is now or even in the late 2000s. But nonetheless, you know, I just thought, man, I haven't done a good job. And man, that's tough as a dad. And I Know, you're finding that out with your kids now in other aspects, right? So. So Timmy Latica took Austin to another level in legend car. Boom. They were winning. And every challenge that Austin met, he met that and surpassed it. So I was very proud of him. I never got to go to college neither. My brothers. I always say my education past high school was racetrack, man. Racetrack, racetrack. So he. I was so proud of him. Went to App State, graduated four years of college, done a great job. And then I always told him, like, you do that first, then we'll worry about the rest of it, then count my blessings each day that Mr. Doug Peterson came along with TA2, gave him a shot to drive his TA2 car. And then Mr. Peterson said, Hey, I want to give Austin an opportunity and show him to the world. And, man, again, I can't thank the good Lord for that opportunity that Doug gave him and then to put him out there right, for people to see. And I think all I ever wanted was just give him an opportunity, just put him in that element and no matter how big, small, and see what can happen. And, gosh, he's made me proud. But then, you know, two years ago, no, last year, when Mr. Peters decided to take his team to go Xfinity racing, I'm like, oh, wow, this is a big jump. Do you guys really know? And I'm like, yeah, you know, we got. So they obviously did road course racing as their profession, and that's where they went on the Xfinity side. Bought a couple cars from rcr and man, they did really good. One of the neatest things, Richard, Richard Childers at Cota on Sunday. So Austin's first Xfinity race on road course was Cota last year. And so I saw Ursi on Sunday and he probably saw my smile a mile away, right? Austin ran seventh in his first race, and RC's like he said, I had to ask one of my boys Yesterday, who's that 32 car? And whoever said what, that's Peterson racing, Jordan Anderson racing. Like, who's driving that thing? And they're like, Austin, Austin Green. Like, is that David's son? So what a proud moment, right? I'm like, you know, Richard, really, it just made me feel so, so, so blessed that Austin was able to go put that race together. So fast forward. He had a great race at Sonoma. Just things were really good. And then, you know, Mr. Peterson's like, hey, I want to do more of these, do some oval stuff and, you know, ultimately think about going full time. So what a blessing. Thank Mr. Peterson every day for this opportunity. And then to me, and I kind of tell Austin after the fact, you know, it's like, hey, you know, there's a lot of pressure, you know, this particular day you had to go out, not only make the race, but just be respectful to the other drivers because one day that's going to be reversed. Little did I know that one day was the same day as first race. And I was so proud of how he respected other drivers. And the comments I hear on a Sunday, you know, from Kyle Larson to Justin Allgaier, I mean, just everybody, right? So, so, so proud and, but very, you know, what do we do now? Right. And as you well know, it's not like back in the day to where you saw that talent. And I tell Austin all the time, like, you know, things go full circle. Yes, we need sponsors. We always have to work towards that. But you just be yourself to do the right things. And no matter whether you win, lose or draw, it's all about how you get there. And you know, most recently he won the ARCA race at Charlotte. And whether he had won or he ran second because very good equipment. Shane Huffman, those guys ppg, top notch stuff. But that adds to the pressure. Right? And I hung out all day on top of the truck with Shane and Connor Mosak and just being a dad, this and only radio, no talking. Sure. I was just so impressed on Shane and the team and listen to Connor and Austin talk after practice and, and but Dale, if he'd ran second or third or fourth or fifth, I'm still proud of how he navigates. Right. And to me that's going to get him further than. Because we know we can't win them all and. But yeah, just very proud, I hope, you know, I just hope that the little momentum will keep going and, and he'll just get a shot.
