Texan Shared the Podium with Californians Donny Greene and Mark Ingalls
In this week’s Throwback, let’s take it back to March 6, 1981, at the Daytona Novice Road Race. Captured here is the podium (L to R) with third-place finisher Donny Greene, race winner David Greene (no relation), and a fierce second-place competitor, Mark Ingalls. Standing to the right of the winner is Miss Winston Lynn Griffis.
Talk about a finish! Out of a massive 99-rider field on Daytona Speedway’s grueling 3.87-mile circuit, these three put on an absolute masterclass. Mark Ingalls controlled the pace for almost the entire 50-mile race on his year-old Yamaha, while Donny Greene stayed right in the thick of the lead trio’s slipstream. But it was Houston, Texas native David Greene who played the ultimate game of high-speed chess. After letting the two California riders “tow” him around, David made a brilliant last-lap pass on the east banking, eking out the victory by just a hair at an average speed of 101.720 mph.
As David joked in the winner’s circle, “It was really nice of you boys to tow me around like that!”
You can read about this race and much more by subscribing to the Cycle News Archive issues
