Bill Elliott

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Clyde Elliott

Born:	October 8, 1955 (1955-10-08) (age 52)
Birthplace:	Dawsonville, Georgia
Achievements:	1988 Winston Cup Championship
Awards:	Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) Most Popular Driver (1984-1988, 1991-2000, 2002) Sprint All-Star Race II Winner 2007 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Car #, Team	#21 - Wood Brothers Racing
2007 Sprint Cup Position:	42th
Best Cup Position:	1st - 1988
First Race:	1976 Carolina 500 (Rockingham)
First Win:	1983 Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
Last Win:	2003 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 (Rockingham)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
44	320	55
NASCAR Nationwide Series Statistics
First Race:	1983 Mello Yello 300 (Charlotte)
Last Race:	2005 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis)
First Win:	1993 Fay's 150 (Watkins Glen)
Last Win:	1993 Fay's 150 (Watkins Glen)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
1	16	2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Statistics
First Race:	1996 Carquest 420K (Las Vegas)
Last Race:	1997 Carquest 420K (Las Vegas)
Wins	Top Tens	Poles
0	1	0
Statistics current as of October 8, 2007.

Bill Elliott car that set the record for the fastest recorded time in a stock car - 212.809 mph at Talladega Superspeedway

William Clyde Elliott (born October 8, 1955 in Dawsonville, Georgia) is a part-time driver and former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007.^[1] He won the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship and has garnered 44 wins in that series. He had two Daytona 500 victories, and a record four consecutive wins at Michigan International Speedway during 1985-86. He holds the track record at both Talladega and Daytona International Speedway with speeds of more than 200 mph. Elliott won NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award a record 16 times. He withdrew his name from the ballot for that award after winning it in 2002. The award will be renamed for Elliott when he officially retires from the sport^{[citation needed]}. In 2005, Georgia Governor Sunny Perdue declared October 8th as Bill Elliott Day in the state of Georgia. Elliott as also been honored by the state legislature, having a stretch of road in his native Dawsonville renamed Elliott Family Parkway.

[edit] NASCAR career

[edit] Early career

Elliott made his first Winston Cup Series start at Rockingham in 1976, qualifying 34th in a field of 36 cars. Elliott only lasted 32 laps that day before the oil pump failed in his Ford Torino, earning him $640. Elliott toiled for five years in the Winston Cup Series without sponsorship, and along the way showed flashes that he could compete with the established veterans of the sport. In mid-1977, Elliott bought a Mercury Cougar from Bobby Allison after his split from Penske Racing to replace the inferior Torino, and the move paid off. He earned his first top-10 finish in the 1977 Southern 500 (10th), and his first top-5 finish 2 years later in the same race, finishing second to race winner and boyhood hero David Pearson.

[edit] With Melling Racing

In the fall of 1980, Elliott gained his first major sponsor in the form of $500 from Harry Melling of Melling Racing in the 1980 National 500 at Charlotte. Melling would extend his contract and gave the team enough sponsorship to run a 12 race schedule in 1981. After a 1981 season that consisted of one top-5 and seven top-10 finishes in 13 races, including the team's first pole in the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500, Melling bought the team from Elliott's father George on December 1, 1981. In 1983 Elliott earned his first Winston Cup win in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside in the final race of the 1983 season, his first race with Coors sponsorship. He gained full sponsorship from Coors the following year and won three races, four poles and finished third in the championship standings.

In 1985, Elliott earned 11 wins and 11 poles out of 28 races and also won the first Winston Million^[2] in the Southern 500 at Darlington. This earned him the nickname "Million Dollar Bill", and "Awesome Bill From Dawsonville." He won the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega and the Southern 500 to earn the Winston Million. This led to him becoming the first NASCAR driver to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Elliott finished second in the championship standings by 101 points, losing the Winston Cup Championship to Darrell Waltrip after a string of poor finishes in the last quarter of the season.

In 1986, Elliott won two races and eight poles and finished fourth in the championship standings. He also won the The Winston II, held at Atlanta, the only year the race was run somewhere other than Charlotte. He won six races in 1987, including his second Daytona 500, seven poles, and finished second in the final point standings, in The Winston where he tangled with Dale Earnhardt in what has become known as "the Pass In The Grass". However, Elliott's most lasting accomplishment that year was setting the NASCAR speed record at Talladega with an average speed of 212.809 mph in his Ford Thunderbird which contained an engine built by his brother Ernie. This was the same race in which Bobby Allison got in to the catch fence and injured several fans. After this incident NASCAR mandated the use of restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega. As a result, the speed record will likely never be broken. In 1988 Elliott won another six races, six poles, and his only Winston Cup Championship.

Following his championship season, Elliott broke his wrist in a crash during testing at Daytona and required relief by Jody Ridley during several races in the first part of the 1989 season. Elliott won two poles and three races and finished sixth in the championship standings. In 1990, Elliott won one race and two poles and finished fourth in the championship standings. Tragically in the 1990 race at Atlanta, Elliott's rear tire changer Mike Ritch was killed when Ricky Rudd lost control of his car, spun, and slammed the crew member between his car and Elliott's. This resulted in NASCAR restricting the speed of cars on pit road. The year 1991 saw Elliott's sponsorship change to Coors Light beer and the familiar red car was replaced by a blue one. Elliott won once in the Pepsi 400 and won two poles and finished eleventh in the championship standings during his last season with Melling.

[edit] With Junior Johnson

1994 car

Elliott left Melling to join Junior Johnson and Associates in 1992. Elliott's sponsor during his time with Johnson was Budweiser. In 1992, Elliott won five races (including four in a row) and three poles, but much like his 1985 season he finished a disappointing second in the championship standings after squandering a large lead in the standings with a late season string of poor finishes. He did win the final race of the 1992 season, but lost the championship by 10 points to Alan Kulwicki. The difference was that Kulwicki gained the 5 bonus points for leading the most laps in the race. Kulwicki led one more lap (103 vs 102) than Elliott. The 10 point difference was the closest point differential until NASCAR changed to the Chase for the Cup points format 12 years later.^[3]

The team never seemed to recover^{[citation needed]} from the disappointing loss, with Elliott going winless in 1993 and finishing eighth in the standings and only scoring one win the following season in the 1994 Southern 500 while finishing 10th in the championship standings. After winning the Southern 500, Elliott announced he would be starting his own team with sponsorship from McDonald's in 1995.

[edit] As an independent driver and at Evernham

1997 racecar

After leaving Johnson's team, Elliott fielded his own Winston Cup race team from 1995 to 2000. Elliott suffered a long winless streak during this time, though he did manage two top ten finishes in the championship standings. In 1996, Elliott suffered a broken leg during an accident and missed several races that season. Elliott sold his team to Ray Evernham in 2000 and began driving the #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid the following year. In his first qualifying effort while driving the #9 Dodge, Elliott won the pole for the 2001 Daytona 500. Later in the season, he won the Pennzoil Freedom 400 at Homestead from the pole (with then-teammate Casey Atwood starting second and finishing third), which was his first win in over seven years. In 2002 he won twice, including that year's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and won four poles. His last win came in 2003 at Rockingham. During the 2003 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Elliott led 189 of 267 laps and was on his way to victory, but a cut tire on the final lap gave the win to Bobby Labonte. He still finished the race and maintained his ninth-place position in the final points standings. A few weeks later, Elliott announced that he was relinquishing the #9 car to Kasey Kahne and switching to a part-time schedule driving R&D cars for Evernham.

[edit] Semi-retirement

In 2004, Elliott drove the #91 Dodge Intrepid for Evernham in three events (along with the Budweiser Shootout) and also drove the #98 Dodge Intrepid in one other event because of sponsorship issues between Coca-Cola (Elliott's sponsor) and Pepsi (Evernham's sponsor). Elliott was listed as the owner of the #98 car, but Evernham leased the car to him. Although he only made six starts during his first part-time season, he still managed to have some success which included a ninth-place finish at Indianapolis and second and third-place qualifying efforts at Texas and California respectively.

In 2005, Elliott continued his part-time driving duties which included driving the #39 Coors Dodge Charger for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Budweiser Shootout and the #91 Evernham Dodge in several events. Although he made three more starts than the previous season, he did not have the same amount of success. He managed to get an eleventh-place finish and a tenth-place qualifying effort at Michigan, along with a ninth-place qualifying effort at Texas. He also competed in select NASCAR Busch Series events for Rusty Wallace and also drove the #6 Unilever Dodge for Evernham at Memphis, which celebrated the 40th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

For the 2006 season, the 2005 owners' points for the #91 team went to the new #10 Evernham team and driver Scott Riggs and the 91 team was discontinuted. On January 4, 2006, Elliott announced that he would pilot the #36 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for MB2 Motorsports in the 2006 Daytona Speedweeks events. This included the Budweiser Shootout, the Gatorade Duel, and the Daytona 500, which Elliott had not competed in since 2003. On March 17, 2006, it was announced that Elliott would drive the #00 Burger King Chevrolet for Michael Waltrip Racing in five NEXTEL Cup events which included Chicagoland, New Hampshire, Indianapolis, California, and Homestead. On August 8, 2006, Evernham Motorsports announced that Elliott would return to the organization for the Watkins Glen race driving the #19 Dodge previously driven by Jeremy Mayfield. The team fell out of the top-35 in owners' points after Indianapolis, leading to the firing of Mayfield, and Evernham assumed that Elliott would guarantee a starting spot in the field by being a past champion. However, since the driver switch was made past the entry deadline, NASCAR said that Elliott was not eligible for the past champions provisional. For the race at Kansas, Elliott teamed up with R&J Racing to drive the #37 Dodge. Elliott finished a season-high 16th at the Banquet 400 at Kansas, but did not qualify for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte two weeks later. Elliott was scheduled to be the Team Red Bull entry at Atlanta and Texas, but A. J. Allmendinger drove the car instead (though he did not qualify for either race). Elliott instead drove the #37 Dodge at Atlanta, marking the 30th Anniversary of Elliott driving at his hometown track.

Elliott in the Wood Brothers car in 2007

Elliott attempted to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500, but failed to make the race in the #37. Elliott signed to drive the #21 for Wood Brothers Racing for at least two events for 2007, in part due to his championship provisional, which guaranteed starting the race. Since fellow champion Dale Jarrett had used all of his guaranteed starts in his Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, Elliott was the only champion eligible for the provisional not guaranteed a spot by being in the top 35 in owner's points. His first race for the team was the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte, which he qualified without needing one of his six provisionals. He lead the race at one point until he was involved in a wreck around lap 200. At Michigan, Elliott gave the team a much needed 11th place finish, and was kept in the car until the fall Richmond race. The car then fell out of the top 35 again but at Bristol got back into top 35 in points. Ken Schrader returned to the #21 replacing Elliott at a testing session at Talladega Superspeedway due to the team being back in the top 35 in owners points. He returned for the final four races after the 21 fell out ofof the top-35 once again.

On September 23, 2007, in an interview with Charlotte Observer Len Wood the co- owner of the #21 said in 2008 Elliott would have his own sponsor and share ride with Jon Wood & Marcos Ambrose.^[4][5] Bill Elliott returned to the #21 to try to get the car back into the Top 35 points at Lowes Motor Speedway.

2008 Cup car at Daytona

NASCAR: Elliott: I'm done with top series after 2008 | ajc.com</ref> Elliott has qualified for seven races this season, with a best finish of 26th. He has announced that 2008 will be his final season as a Sprint Cup driver.

[edit] NASCAR Video Games

See also: Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge

In 1990, Konami released the first officially-licensed NASCAR game, Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge for MS-DOS. The game was released for the NES and Amiga in 1991, and Bill Elliott's NASCAR Fast Tracks was released for the Game Boy at the same time.

Elliott continued to appear in most NASCAR games until the release of EA Sports' NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup in 2004 when he began his semi-retirement. The following year, he was seen in several screenshots and videos for EA Sports' NASCAR 06: Total Team Control driving the #91 Stanley Tools Dodge. However, he was removed from the game before its release and the #91 was removed from the Custom Car Garage feature for NEXTEL Cup. Ironically, Elliott's then-teammate Jeremy Mayfield was also absent from NASCAR 2005 (though he reappeared in NASCAR 06) and an official explanation was never given for Elliott's absence in 2006. Jeremy Mayfield was originally going to be the cover of Nascar 2005: Chase for the Cup, but when that was given to Kevin Harvick, he refused to be in the game. Unlike Elliott in NASCAR 06, Mayfield had not been seen in any screenshots or videos for NASCAR 2005. However, Kasey Kahne was featured in the #9 Evernham Dodge, and Mayfield and the #19 Evernham Dodge had been featured in previous NASCAR games.

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Drivers statistics at racing-reference.info

[edit] Notes