Victoria-born Bud Green began racing cars in 1936 at Langford Speedway. He drove Phil Foster’s ”Speedway Special”, a four-cylinder flathead Chrysler-powered car.
Bud suffered the most serious spill of his career in May, 1938, when he flipped end-over-end several times in heavy traffic during the A-Main event. After several months of “sheet time”, Bud was released from the hospital in a full body cast which, unfortunately, would not fit into the race car!
During 1939, 1940 and 1941, Bud scored well enough to capture the B. C. Championships for all three consecutive years.
Moving to Seattle and being “Johnny-on-the-spot” for the post-war “Mighty Midget” racing boom in 1945, Bud and his “rock ’em, sock ’em” style of driving gained more attention than ever. Luckily, his 1947 car owner, Les Wasilchen, was the proprietor of a thriving auto rebuild shop, as the car got thoroughly crunched at least once on every track throughout the circuit that year. He still ended the year in 5th place.
After the 1947 season, Bud began devoting more of his time to driving his favourite sprint cars again. He was driving a Cadillac-powered sprinter for owner Mac McBurnie at Yakima, Washington’s 1/8th mile track early in 1950. Bud’s determination to take the lead began to wear on Mac’s nervous system to the point that when he saw Bud dive his new sprint car into the first turn without shutting off, he popped a whole roll of “Tums” into his mouth and began chewing – paper and all!
After a brief stint into “Hardtop” racing, Bud completed his sprint car racing career at Victoria’s Western Speedway in 1957, just a few miles from where it had all begun 21 years earlier.
In later years, Bud was involved with the “Golden Wheels Fraternity” out of Seattle. He ran a restored vintage sprint car at various meets throughout the Pacific Northwest and enjoyed the fellowship of his many racing friends.
In August of 1978, he brought his restored sprinter to Western’s 25th anniversary celebration and in addition, drove in one of two “Old Timer” races in a locally-owned Camaro “Super Stock”. His hard charging driving style undiminished by his years of active racing retirement, Bud had the misfortune to be involved in a backstretch accident in which he demolished a portion of the track’s backstretch fence.
Bud passed in August of 1985.
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- 1936 – Bud Green in Phil Foster’s Chrysler-powered “Big Car” (photographer unknown).
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- Circa 1940 at Langford Speedway – Bud (on the right) with fellow competitor Bert Sutton (left) and fans (possible George Hobson photo).
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- Year unknown – Langford – Bud in the “Douglas Tire” Special (possible George Hobson photo).
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- Year unknown at Langford – Bud in #15 car (possible George Hobson photo).
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- 1978 at Western’s 25th anniversary celebration – Bud in his restored sprint car (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1978 at Western – Bud climbs from Peter Mortel’s Camaro “Super Stock” following “Old Timer’s race” backstretch accident (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1978 at Western – Bud with Track Starter Phil Hendry (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- Year unknown – Bud in his Seattle repair shop with brother Pike (center) and an unknown shop employee (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1980 at Portland’s “Rose City Speedway” – Bud with granddaughter Toni (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1980 at Portland – Bud with daughter Sandy (in hat) and son-in-law (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- Year unknown – Bud and Sandy at “Golden Wheels” banquet in Seattle (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1996 at “Hall of Fame” – Sandy speaking at her Dad’s induction ceremony (Barrie Goodwin photo).
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- 1996 Inductee Bud Green (on the right) with his brother Pike – artist’s portrait
