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Garrett was given high praise I heard from Dave Steele when Dave said I couldn't do what Garrett can do when I was 14.

Garrett Green Named to Drive for Don Wilshe's Biobased.US Racing Team

Story by Richard Golardi
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VALRICO, Fla. (August 16, 2013) – Fifteen year old Garrett Green, from Valrico, Fla., is about to get the opportunity of a lifetime. The maturity and poise that he demonstrated at the Little 500 in May, with a top ten finish and earning the Rookie of the Year honor, will serve him well as he leaves home to live with the family of Dave Baumgartner in Ohio. Baumgartner will serve as Team Manager for the newly reorganized Biobased Racing team, which will have Garrett Green as one of its drivers. Baumgartner will also drive a sprint car owned by Biobased Racing’s Don and Suellen Wilshe. Garrett will also race a non-wing sprint car owned by Dave Baumgartner in select races in the Midwest.


Garrett’s journey begins on Monday, August 19th, when he boards a flight in Florida to go to the Baumgartner home in Ohio. If a car is ready in time, then his first race would be on Wednesday at M-40 Speedway in Michigan. Next would be Spartan Speedway in Michigan for the Spartan Sprints non-wing race on Friday, August 23rd. The non-wing races would be run with Dave Baumgartner’s car. Garrett’s last planned race in his family’s #3 sprint car was last Saturday at Showtime Speedway in Pinellas Park, where he finished in seventh place. His first race in a Don Wilshe Biobased car will be at Atlanta Motor Speedway on August 30th for the USCS race on the speedway’s ¼ mile track. This race will mark the debut of the team’s new lineup of Garrett Green and Dave Baumgartner.

At fifteen years old, Garrett will not be eligible for the upcoming Must See Racing events, as he is under the sixteen year old age minimum. I am told that this age minimum will be lifted for the last Must See Racing race of the year, a non-points race at Southern National Motorsports Park in North Carolina on November 23rd. He will be sixteen years old in August 2014, and will be eligible for all Must See events then. Living in Ohio will also allow him to add some local dirt sprint car races, and get experience on some high-speed half mile tracks, like Toledo Speedway. He will also be entered for USSA non-wing sprint car races at Anderson Speedway in September and October, and possibly other races outside of the Midwest.

Another new member of the team is Crew Chief George Rudolph, working alongside Team Manager Dave Baumgartner. The winged sprint cars will be owned by Don and Suellen Wilshe. Since Garrett is getting in at the end of the Midwest racing season, the possibility is still left open that Garrett may return to Florida during the winter to race in his familiar black #3 car in Winter Series races. Gary Green informed me that he does not intend to put another driver in the #3 sprint car. He does intend to enter the #1 car with Brian Gingras at the wheel for Florida races, and also the August 30th USCS Atlanta race. I was also told that since Garrett is a home-schooled student, there will not be a break in his studies, as he will continue the same course of studies while in Ohio. The Green family is confident that this move will present the best possibility for Garrett to advance his racing career, will still furthering his education as a home-schooled student. Garrett was racing since he was very young, and has always loved the sport.

In my conversation with Dave Baumgartner earlier this week, I found that Dave is excited about this new arrangement that will see him as a mentor and racing manager for a talented young driver. It was Dave Baumgartner’s idea to make these changes, which he proposed to Don Wilshe. Dave told me that he was very impressed with Garrett’s performance earlier this year in the Little 500. This was a race with a rookie class that included drivers with multiple championships, such as Bryan Clauson and Bobby East. Garrett finished ahead of all of them. “Garrett’s going to run my Beast car, and I’m going to put one of the Ford motors in the Beast car. He’s going to run the rest of the non-wing races up here. Then we’ll put a 410 motor in this car, and he’s going to run the HOSS and Auto Value races for the rest of the year. Then, he’s going to run for us in Atlanta, and we’re talking about doing the Salt Lake City race,” Dave told me. “He’s going to live in my house for the rest of the summer and the winter, because he’s going to be home-schooled. We’re going to build race cars, and we’re going to take two brand-new race cars to that North Carolina race that Must See just announced.”

“We’re stoked about it, and George is really excited about it. We’re going to kind of treat Garrett as sort of our young protégé. We’re going to kind of critique him a little bit. The kid’s really sharp actually. I’m really impressed with the things that he’s already done. We’re putting together one of Don’s Hurricane cars to run any 410 races that he can run, and the Atlanta Speedway race.” Baumgartner confirmed for me that he will run Garrett in his car for non-wing races, but all winged races will be in a Don and Suellen Wilshe owned car. “We’re going to put a 360 in the non-wing car, the Beast car, because you don’t need all that horsepower, and all that motor, for little short tracks. Don and Suellen have provided us with stellar equipment.”

There is the possibility of another driver driving in some of the Must See Racing events over the next year that Garrett can’t run. “I’ll run a lot of the Must See stuff right now, and we might have a different driver here and there. Don has been mentioning a couple of drivers. I want to help Garrett get to the next level.” Regarding car owner Don Wilshe, Baumgartner told me that,” “Don is the type of person that expects results for what he gives you. Personally, he deserves results. He’s one of the most stand-up people I’ve ever met in racing.” He praised Wilshe for being generous, giving him everything he needed, and being “a class act”. He also praised Gary and Robin (Garrett’s parents), and said they are “outstanding individuals”. He then characterized Crew Chief George Rudolph as “having forgotten more about winged pavement sprint car racing than most people know. It’s absolutely unbelievable what the guy knows.”

Could the team come to Florida for a few months in the winter, when there is the possibility of another Winter Series, as happened last winter? “We talked about that,” Baumgartner said. “Of course, Don has several 360 motors, so we have contemplated that. We could bring the cars down, and run them out of Gary’s shop for the winter. George is taking one of the Hurricane cars home for the winter. It’s actually his old car, and he’s going to finish it up for the spring.” He revealed that George Rudolph is currently staying at his house, and they work on the race cars together. “I own an irrigation and landscape company, and I go to work for four or five hours, and come back here and me and George just keep working on the race cars, and making them better. It’s been wonderful having him here as kind of a mentor.”

Dave said that he and Garrett are the only two team drivers, as of today. He and George Rudolph are taking over the duties of running and managing the team, and the drivers. “We’ll have some fun with Garrett. In the future, I think he’s going to be the real deal. He’s really fast, and I think he’s teachable. We’re going to do what we can to get him as many races as we can up around here. Garrett and I talk a lot on the phone, and he’s a really neat kid. My wife and my kids love him. We’re just going to race, and have some fun,” he said.

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