March 13, 2014 — Audio and story by Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — Photo courtesy — MARBLE FALLS, TX — Ask Clayton Green’s competition how he beats them, and they’ll just shake their heads. Some say he knows the move they’ll try and make before they actually make it.
Psychic?
“Not a chance,” Green laughs. “I’ve raced against most of my competitors long enough that I pretty much know what they’ll do, and I can set up for it.”
Green, a junior at Marble Falls High School who races at Houston (TX) Motorsports Park (HMP), has built a quick resume of success at a young age. The young Texan got the racing bug from his father Steven after getting tired of sitting in the team trailer on a weekly basis.
“I told my dad I wanted to race, that I was done sitting around,” Green recalls with a smile.
Green started racing go-karts in 2005, and made the move to the Bandolero division in 2007, finding success almost instantly and going on to win everything he could in the INEX classes. Green won the Texas State Championship in the Bandits class in 2007, finishing seventh in the national standings, and added a second Bandits championship in 2009 when he finished sixth overall, grabbing two wins at HMP in the process.
In 2010, Green moved to the Bandolero Outlaw division and continued his dominant attack, winning the Texas State championship for the second time as well as winning 16 of 18 races at HMP en route to the track championship. Green also set the record for being the youngest driver in INEX history, and the first from Texas in five years, to win the Bandolero Outlaw National Championship race.
Following his Bandolero success, Clayton moved into the Legend car ranks and continued his remarkable run, winning the Legends track championship at HMP in 2011 and the Texas State championship in the Legends Young Lions division in 2012 en route to a sixth place finish in national points, tying his 2009 result in the Bandoleros.
But, Green says, the transition to the bigger cars did not come easy.
“The Legend car was a completely different animal than the Bandolero was,” Green expressed. “The brakes on the Legend take some figuring on how to get them to work best for you, and it really gets you ready for how a late model or a stock car drives. You also have to perfect your shifting because of how important getting a good start or restart is.”
The 16-year-old talent continued his transition up the motorsports ladder in 2013, running his Legend races in the top-ranked Pro division and finishing third in national points, wrapping up yet another track championship at HMP on the strength of six Houston wins. It was his fourth track title in the last five years.
“Winning the track title this year in the Pro class was huge for us,” said Green of his 2013 season. “That’s the best competition in the entire division; you know you’re racing the best of the best week in and week out and I’m so proud of our little team for managing to pull this deal off at HMP again. It really means a lot to us.”
Away from the race track, Green has just as much going for him as he does on the track. Green became an advocate for the Finish Alive Stop Texting (FAST) organization in 2013 to promote the company’s message of eliminating texting and other distractions while driving.
“People in general, especially kids my age, need to realize: I’m a professional driver, so to speak, but I drive a race car at a hundred miles an hour. If I can’t text and drive, how can they?”
Green now looks towards 2014 as a building block to his future plans. The Texas teenager will move up to the NASCAR Fiesta Modified division at Houston Motorsports Park with an eye on his fifth HMP track championship, but his first under the NASCAR Home Tracks banner. The Fiesta modifieds are built similarly to IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) specifications.
“This year, my goal is to win the Texas State championship in the Modified series, and go after Rookie of the Year honors in the WHELEN (All-American) Series. The Late Model plans kinda got put on hold temporarily, but that’s coming. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
Where does the road take Clayton Green next?
“Where do I want to go with this?” he considered when asked about his future plans. “For every kid like me in this sport, the goal is to make it a profession. This is just the beginning.”
Go to www.finishalivestoptexting.org for more information on FAST and keep up with Clayton Green on Twitter @ClayGreen54 and Facebook (ClaytonGreenMotorsports).
Listen in to our extended interview with Clayton Green as he talks his rise up the motorsports ladder, his upcoming season and his background in motorsports:
