Blue Ridge family races to build memories and win too

If you have ever attended a race at Sugar Creek Raceway in Blue Ridge, you have seen the Green family. Michael Green, G2, and his son Dakota Green, G3, each drive in the hobby sportsman division. Michael's son, Conner Green, G4, drives in the Crown Vic division. "It's a lot more than just a race to us. There would be no point in it if we couldn't all do it together," Dakota said. Conner and Michael echo those words. The Green's work on the cars in the shop during the week. When race day rolls around, the family gathers fuel and tools, charges batteries and packs a cooler full of drinks, then head for the track. The Green's arrive at the track around 3 p.m. to get a good parking spot. They meet up with other racers and friends. As the night goes on, The Greens and other crew members go back and forth between all three cars and help each other prepare for the features. "You can't get that anywhere else. There's no way that you can push each other any harder than what we do. We help each other. We push each other to try to make each other better," Michael said. Race day also includes spending time with fans. "There's a lot of kids we don't know, and they'll want to come up and take pictures with the cars, and we'll let them sit inside the cars. That's really cool to see," Dakota said. He had that same experience as a kid. Dakota and Michael often race neck-and-neck each week. "We race each other hard, but we try to give each other room enough to where we don't wreck each other. We have bumped before. We've started side-by-side twice on the front row. We're usually right there with each other." Michael said. Dakota said both are competitive. "He doesn't let me get ahead and I don't let him get ahead," he said. They celebrate each others successes. "My last race (July 23), I didn't even finish. Dad finished first. It was just a good night all the way around. No matter who's in front," Dakota said. "I'm just as happy or probably more happy if he wins than I am," Michael said. Michael won his first feature race ever July 23 at Sugar Creek and Dakota won his first race ever May 2 at the track. Michael, Dakota and Conner consistently run in the top ten in their respective divisions. Green family racing began with Michaels dad Kenny. Kenny raced when Michael was a teen. Michael worked in his dad's racing shop along with his uncle Ricky. His father drove as number G3, the same number Dakota runs today. Michael said his dad was G1, but decided to run G3 on his car. "Even though his number was G3, he's G1," Michael said. "That was the method behind it." Kenny no longer races. He comes and watches and supports. "I did let him drive my car one time during a practice just make some laps in it. He really liked that," Michael said. Michael first raced in his mid teens in a four-cylinder pony car. It was a V8 class engine with wide tires. It was similar to a street stock of today. After a couple of seasons, Michael moved to a Camaro in the hobby category. After several years of racing, Michael stopped racing, got married and settled into a life as a local business owner. "I always loved it and I always wanted the boys to be able to experience what I had," Michael said. In 2023, he bought a pony car, and a 604-engine late model car. Michael drove the late model. Dakota drove the pony car to gain experience. Michael's first race was a scary ride. He started in the back of the field. "I felt like I was driving at the speed of sound. It was so fast. I remember coming through a corner and I looked up at the race receivers they talk to us on, and they hollered at me and said that the leaders were fixing to pass me. "And I look up and there's (Copperhill driver) Jason Deal up above me on the track looking down at me. And I was thinking, he is absolutely leaving the ground flying. It was just like everything stopped at that moment," Michael said. In 2026, he's raced six features, and had one win, five top fives and six top 10s. This is Dakota's third season. After his pony season, he moved to the hobby division in 2025. In 2026, he's had one win, five top five finishes and one top 10. This is Conner's second season. In 2026, he's finished second place three times and third place one time. Dakota's scariest moment in a race car was when he started fourth place and moments later, a car bumped into him and he rode the wall and hit the flag stand. Conner recalls his scariest moment. "I was on the high side like I always am. He comes up and spins in front of me and slings mud. I had no more tear offs on my helmet, so I couldn't really see. I tried to smear it off my helmet and it's just swiped everywhere. So I smacked the wall 60 miles an hour." Conner and Dakota plan on racing the rest of their lives. "As long as I have the money, I don't really think I'm ever going to stop racing," Conner said. "I'm just going to keep racing and do what I'm doing as long as the Lord lets me," Dakota said. Michael said spending time with his sons is the most important thing. "Memories that we'll make, even if we ever do stop racing, we still got those memories. We can always look back and say, 'we did this,'" he said.

Blue Ridge family races to build memories and win too

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