Puzzle #1783 - The Green Machine and Jim Shampine

[Otto Puzzell]

Please, respond below and identify this car, and its driver-constructor.

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Thanks!

[Otto Puzzell]

Experts' turn

[Allemano]

 

[Otto Puzzell]

A use the builder failed to consider, I'm sure...

[fyreline]

Believe it or not, a car that I've actually sat in. This is the late, great Jimmy Shampine's radical-offset supermodified that debuted in the 1976 season at Oswego Speedway in upstate New York, just a few miles north of here. His series of cars were always painted this green color and always numbered as the "8-Ball". Years later Jim was tragically killed while racing. R.I.P., my friend.

[Otto Puzzell]

Very good. Still need the name of the car.

Locked for you for 24 hours.

[fyreline]

You're probably looking for the name "The Green Machine" . . . if I remember correctly, it even ended up being painted on the spoiler by the crew, but in reality Jimmy never called it that himself. Every car he ever raced was painted that same color and numbered as the "8-Ball" . . . and that's what Jimmy called it. He's a legend in supemod circles, along with other great drivers like Bentley Warren and Nolan Swift, who called his car the "10-Pin". Still lots of great racing at the Oswego, NY track - I highly recommend it to anyone in the area.

[Otto Puzzell]

He never, ever, used that name? OK, then. Great driver and innovator who met an untimely end at the Oswego track.

Nevertheless, "The Green Machine" is the name I wanted, and it was indeed painted on the car. Here is the un-retouched version of the picture, and another of his cars, which was not a Green Machine in any way. 

[fyreline]

The 69 car isn't a supermodified.  Different class of car entirely, which is why it wasn't "Shampine green". There are a lot of smaller tracks here in upstate NY (including dirt), but Oswego's 5/8-mile paved oval is well known as the "Home of the Supermodifieds", and that was Jim's specialty. A truly great driver, we still miss him.

Nope, I never heard him call that car (or any other) the "green machine", and neither did any of his long-time friends I have spoken with - but obviously someone came up with that name, and it ended up on the car, which Jimmy would have had to appprove. So it's certainly a legitimate part of identifying the car, and thanks for posting it.