| Naples Swampbuggy Races |
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2008 Swampbuggy World Champion - Dan Greenling... a.k.a."Mr. Weekend" Dan Greenling got started in the sport in 2001 by sponsoring a buggy called Awsome Opossum owned by Harold Stacy under the condition he could take a lap around the track during Saturday practice. " After that lap I was hooked and wanted to race" said Greenling. In May of 2002, Dan heard that Albert Doria was selling his Pro Modified buggy Showdown and bought it two weeks before the race. "My first race was against Don Jolly in Psyco and I won! Then I got to race Leonard Chesser in Dats Da One for the first time and he put me on the trailer. It was a real thrill to race Leonard after watching him for many years." In a buggy called Roll On, Dan won his first Big Feature in October of 2004. He won again in January 2007. He also has won the past twelve Pro Modified Challenges, which is a race held on Saturday where a single buggy runs one lap and fast time wins all. Going into the 2007-2008 season, the goal was to win the Championship. "We had been winning all these Saturdays then on Sunday either gettng beat or having mechanical problems on Sunday." Dan won the Big Feature in both October and January and was leading the points going into the final race of the season in March, "my thoughts going into the race were that we had to win the whole thing to be sure." Dan won his first two heat races beating Troy Ortega in Terminator III and Tyler Johns in Patriot then trouble struck. "We started having fuel pickup problems, we managed to get to the line and race but lost to Amy Chesser driving Aches-N-Pains. There were scenarios where several buggies could tie but those buggies either lost or broke and we ended up with the Championship. I would like to thank my wife Ladonna, two kids Tiffany and Dan Jr., Crew Chief Randy Fillmore, Wayne Harris, Pit Crew members Johnny Barrs, Rob Sifontes, Michael "Bugsy" Bugnell, Timmy Dodson, Jesse Amador and Rich Suarez." As for defending the Championship, Dan has this to say: " I welcome the challenge of the other buggies to try to take the cup back. They are the greatest group of competitors that I have been associated with. I look forward to racing them all as ususal, but do hope to put some mud in their eyes!" |
