Mark Green comes home to join KCR

Eddyville, KY – NASCAR veteran Mark Green will soon be the driving force behind the wheel of Keith Coleman Racing (KCR) the team announced today. A native of Owensboro, Ky., Green has signed on for the remainder of the 2004 season, starting in Kansas City, and will pilot the car through 2007.

“I am very excited to be involved with KCR,” said Green. “This is an up and coming organization and I wouldn’t be with them if I wasn’t sure we had the ability to run at the front of the pack.”

Green has run in 13 races on the Busch Series this season, with his best finish being 21st at the Goulds Pumps ITT Industries 200. He has been competing on the Busch Series since 1995 when he competed in two races for Brewco Racing. Green promptly stepped up to ten races in 1996, scoring one top ten finish and qualifying second fastest at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

In 1997, he completed his first full season with the NASCAR Busch Series and came through with flying colors. Green set the track qualifying record at the Milwaukee Mile in July and achieved his career first top five finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. He ended the season 11th in the points standings with one top five and five top 10 finishes.

“As a new organization, we felt it was important to find a veteran driver who can put us in front early,” said Ruben Houser, team manager. “Mark has the knowledge and experience of having done it before and we couldn’t get that from a rookie.”

But racing is more than just a job for Green, it is in his blood. His father was a drag racer in the 1970s and his two brothers, David and Jeff both compete in NASCAR sanctioned events. Jeff pilots the #43 Cheerios car on the Nextel Cup Series while David is among the points leaders behind the wheel of the #37 Timberwolf car on the Busch Series.

Green’s son Tyler, 15, got the racing gene as well. He recently won the Hardee’s Summer Shootout Bandoleros Young Guns Championship in North Carolina, beating several other NASCAR prodigies in the process.

Green and his wife Cathy, who is also a native of Owensboro, made the move to North Carolina in 1999 to further his racing career. The couple has two children: Rachel, 19, who attends the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and the aforementioned Tyler.

“We are very excited to be involved with a Kentucky team,” Cathy Green said. “Mark’s career has come full-circle and we are very thankful for the opportunity. We may live in North Carolina now, but Kentucky is home.”