Tom Greene retires as President of the Motor City Region
by Dean V. Ricci

The award shown above was presented to Tom Greene on Jan 17, 2009 with gratitude from the Board of Directors
and the General Membership of the Motor City Region

The club enters a new era in 2009 with the retirement of Tom Greene at the close of December 2008. Tom has served the club well in his many years of voluntary service. We are forever indebted for all he has done.

I first met Tom at (of course) a car show. The event was Carnival of Cars at the old Packard Proving grounds in Shelby, Michigan. I had been walking around the grounds admiring the cars when I came upon a bunch of Mustangs and Shelbys. During the course of the conversation I managed to get Tom and a few others to walk over to my car to have a look at it. Tom took a look at my 1966 Silver Blue Mustang Convertible and said it was quite a nice looking car. What more did I need to hear to be convinced Tom was a man of exquisite taste in fine automobiles.

I joined the Motor City Region that same year and have stayed an active member all that time. There are many storys one can tell about Tom and the Motor City Region.

One that comes to mind is when it seemed everyone was bit by the Vintage Racing bug. It seemed like a natural progression to take the vintage iron out of the parking lots of car shows and put them back on the racetracks where they belonged. And -- in the case of Shelbys in particular, where they made their fame and fortune. A group of us had gotten together and decided we should form a team of some sort that we Shelby Club members could rally together with. We had asked Tom if we could create a logo for the club and use it at the vintage racing events. Tom gave us the green light and the logo for the Motor City Region Race team was created. We had some shirts made up and a couple of flags. Mostly those involved were there as support and crew for the club members that were going to race.

Nobody races without first going through a driver's school, and Tom had taken his 66 Shelby to Waterford Hills as one of the driving schools needed to obtain his vintage license. During the course of the weekend, something had failed on his car and it looked like he would not be able to finish the class.

Well, I had been a member of the Detroit Region of SCCA and knew quite a few people at Waterford that might be able to help Tom out. Somehow we got Tom into a rent-a-ride for the remainder of the school and he was able to complete his training while the Shelby nursed it wounds. Tom was very grateful that I was able to help and upon another occasion he was able to do me a favor.

A group of us from the region had gone out to Waterford Hills for a one lap timed event type thing.

I had just taken my car out onto the course, a 1984 20th Anniversary Mustang. As I entered turn one at Waterford, I heard a very sick sound coming from the valve train of the old 302 V8. I parked it on the infield and started to wonder why my car which is still under warranty at this point is not cooperating. We were all certain that I wasn't going to drive this car home, so Tom had attached a tow rope to the injured pony and said that he would look after getting my car back home, and would I lead the way driving his Shelby? Easy sell.

I drove the beastly '66 Shelby home with his son Brian riding in the passenger seat (I'm sure to make sure I didn't break anything) and that is still the only time I have ever driven a Shelby Mustang.

Those of you who have attended the vintage races that club members like, Ed Ludtke, Tom Greene, Phil Jacobs, Mike Sedlack, Kurt Fredrickson, Ken Luba and others had driven their vintage cars in, can remember that one Waterford weekend where it was raining cats and dogs. Few drivers that weekend could demonstrate car control as was demonstrated by Tom on the back straight.

Around the mid-point of the race, Tom had gotten himself off on the grass along the back straight. Well grass plus water equals one really slick surface. Tom amazed all of us in the pits by turning a complete 360 with the Red Shelby and getting himself back on the track to complete the turn. This was very similar to what Danny Sullivan had done in the Indy 500 earlier that year. In fact, post race you might have heard one or two club members refer to Tom as Mr. Sullivan.

Well these are only a few of my many stories to be shared here in this article. I'm sure all of you out there have your own memories of spending time with Tom during the course of the past 25 years or so. As he and his wife move on down to Tennessee, to live in the house with the separate garage for the Shelbys, keep your sites set on the many road trips down their way we will have in the future.