Late 1974 Funny Car champion Shirl Greer’s Tension ’65 Dodge Coronet never made it to California when a flip of the coin determined its fate in 1965. 51 years later, a coin flip similarly sealed the decision for son Van to leave his replica car home and accept a ride in Eric George’s ‘72 Maverick to compete for the NHRA Summit Racing Series National Championship in the Pro category.

In another chapter of the tight and geographically widespread racing community coming together to help a racer out, well-connected West Coast racer and K&N Spring Fling bracket event promoter Kyle Seipel facilitated the deal between Van and George when a series of issues and a coin flip prevented him from making the tow across the country from his native Tennessee.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a sign and a test,” said Van. “If I’m holding the trophy at the end of the day tomorrow, it was a sign. If I go out first round then it might have been a test.

“I won the [Division 2 Summit Finals] in a ’65 Dodge, a replica of what dad had back in 1965. It looks like his car; I painted it black and everything. He and my mom got divorced in 1965, and he was going to California to race; that was their plan. They got to about Knoxville, where [Interstate] 40 splits to go south, and there was a race over in Warner Robins [Ga.]. They flipped a coin to decide if they ran that race. The coin said ‘go.’ He ran that race and met his second wife, and the car never made it to California.”

History repeated itself when Van’s master plan of getting the tribute car to California was presented with a dilemma.

“I was going to try to bring it the old replica that I won with,” said Van. “It broke an axle a couple of weeks ago, had carburetor trouble, just stuff going on and on. My wife got real sick. We weren’t sure we were going to be able to make the trip. My buddy Kyle tried to find me a ride. It wasn’t working out, and it was getting close to time to go, so I packed everything up just in case I had to bring it. Even if I got a ride, I was going to bring it anyway. I flipped another coin and lost again, so I’m out here in somebody else’s car. [The ’65 Dodge] still ain’t going to make it. Maybe I can try to win it again and bring it out here.”

Seipel cites Greer being an authentic, hardcore racer as the reason they became fast friends. It doesn’t take a long conversation with Greer to see what Seipel does.

“I’ll race anything pretty much,” said Greer. “Anything that’s got wheels on it. I ran a motorcycle some last year. Just to do it, just to have fun. Won a few races in it. I’ll race anything. I run my Dodge Dually, everything I’ve got.”