In a photo taken by fellow racecar driver Doug Barr, Jeff Green prepared to qualify for a Formula 5000 Vintage Race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. Barr reported on Facebook that Green did not slow his 1972 Lola T300 at a curve later that day. (Photo courtesy of Doug Barr Facebook)

A well-known Peoria auto dealer and Indy-style auto racing enthusiast died during a Formula 500 Vintage Race a day before Father’s Day.

Jeff Green, president of Green Chevrolet, was racing his 1970 Lola T300 June 16 at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario when he lost control of the car at a turn. Witnesses told fellow race car driver Doug Barr that Green did not slow down before the turn.

“Green of Peoria, Illinois driving a 1972 Lola T300 left turn #8 at high speed, seemingly not even braking to slow for the corner a witness reported,” Green posted to Facebook at 9:30 p.m. CDT, June 16. “Details are few, but the arrival of a coroner seems to have delayed “official” medical condition statements.”

Green, 61, began his career in the auto business at 13, when he began detailing cars in Monmouth, eventually becoming an auto technician while there. He garnered a bachelor’s degree from Northwood University in Automotive Marketing and Business.

His family purchased its first Chevrolet dealership in Jacksonville, Illinois, and others followed. For almost 20 years, he managed the family’s Danville dealerships until moving to Peoria, where he purchased Chevrolet and Ford dealerships.

According to the auto racing site, thevrl.com, Green owned, along with the Lola, a 1966 Shelby Race Car, a Ferrari N-GT 360 #4 and a McLaren M1B. He was a member of several auto racing clubs, including the Sports Car Club of America, the National Auto Sport Association and the International Motor Sports Association.

Green Chevrolet in Peoria was one of several auto dealerships Jeff Green owned in the area.

Along with racing cars, Green was also a pilot who owned, and flew, a 2013 Robinson helicopter and a turbo propeller jet airplane. In 2010, Green posted a photo of a helicopter preparing to land at his Peoria Chevy dealership.

“Landed on our Chevy Hummer lot so I could give employees a ride/fear for their life,” he commented. Another of Green’s posts indicated that he and his son, Drake, attended racing school together in 2011.

Green married Pamela Rosnett Green in September 1988. A cause of death and a funeral services are pending.

—- Peoria auto dealer dies while racing in Canada —-