Bill Elliott

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Bill Elliott
Bill Elliott Enlists.jpg
status not active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement 1st - (1988)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
828 44 55 320
NASCAR Xfinity Series Statistics
Best placement 29th - (1993)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
43 1 2 16
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series statistics
Best placement -
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
- - - -

William Clyde "Bill" Elliott (born October 8, 1955 in Dawsonville , Georgia ) is a former American racing driver, in 1988 he was the champion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup (then Winston Cup). He is the father of Chase Elliott . His nickname is Awesome Bill from Dawsonville .

NASCAR career

Early years

Elliott made his first start in the Winston Cup at North Carolina Speedway in 1976, having previously qualified 34th of 36 drivers. That race lasted only 32 laps for him when the oil pump on his Ford Torino failed, earning him $ 640  in prize money. He struggled for a total of five years without sponsor support, but showed that he could compete with the established drivers. So in mid-1977 Elliott bought a Mercury Cougar from Bobby Allison , who had parted ways with Penske Racing , and replaced his old Torino with it. This step should pay off. At the Southern 500 of the 1977 season, he made it into the top 10 for the first time with a tenth place. Two years later it was also at the Southern 500, where he finished second behind David Pearson .

Melling Racing

In the fall of 1980, Elliott secured his first major sponsorship of $ 500 from Harry Melling of Melling Racing at the National 500 in Charlotte , North Carolina . However, Bill's father, George, was on the verge of closing the team after the Atlanta Journal 500 for lack of a main sponsor. In the planned final race for car # 9, Elliott qualified the car on the outside pole, i.e. H. the second starting place. He still wore the Melling advertisement on the side because there was no money to paint over. The clutch failed during the race, but Elliott finished the race in 18th place. When Melling saw the team's efforts, he gave the team enough sponsorship to run twelve races in the 1981 season.

After a restrained 1981 season with one top 5 and seven top 10 results, including the team's first pole position at the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 , Melling bought the team from George Elliott on December 1, 1981. Two years later, Elliott won his first race in the Winston Cup at the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway in the last race of the 1983 season. He then received sponsorship from the Coors Brewing Company .

1985 season

In the 1985 season, Elliott achieved eleven wins and eleven pole positions and became the first driver to win the Winston Million at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway , three of the four most important races of the season, which are rewarded with a bonus of one million US dollars has been. This earned him the nicknames "Million Dollar Bill" and "Awesome Bill From Dawsonville". Winning the Winston Million included winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway . Elliott finished second in the championship this season.

These events led to Elliott becoming the first NASCAR racer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated .

1987 to 1994

Bill Elliott's car, with which he completed the fastest timed lap in a touring car: 212.809 mph on the Talladega Superspeedway

In the 1986 season Elliott could not build on the successes of the previous season. With two wins and 16 top 10 results, including eight top 5 results, he finished the championship in fourth place. The following year it went better again and with six wins and eight pole positions Elliott secured the runner-up. A completely different event caused a stir: on the Talladega Superspeedway , he achieved the highest speed ever recorded with a touring car with an average speed of 212.809  mph (342.483 km / h). His Ford Thunderbird was equipped with an engine built by Ernie Elliott.

In the 1988 season Elliott won another six races and with 22 top 10 placements, he secured his first and only championship. In the seasons 1989 and 1990 he could not build on the success and was sixth and fourth in the championship. After eight years, Elliott fell out of the top 10 of the championship for the first time in 1991, when he only got one win and twelve placements in the top 10. The result was an eleventh place.

Bill Elliott at Michigan International Speedway 1994

In 1992 he switched to the Junior Johnson team . In the first year Elliott won five races and ended up with a second place in the championship. After two unsuccessful years with only one win, he left the team at the end of 1994.

Independent driver and Evernham Racing

After leaving Johnson's team, Elliott founded his own team, which existed from 1995 to 2000. However, he was not successful in all these years and could not win a single race. His best results were second place and third place in the Daytona 500 behind Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton . So he sold the team to Ray Evernham and from the 2001 season drove the Dodge Intrepid with the starting number 9. In qualifying for the season opener, the Daytona 500, Elliott secured pole position. During the season he won the Pennzoil Freedom 400 from pole position at Homestead-Miami Speedway . This was his first win since the 1994 Southern 500. Over the next two years, he won other races at Pocono Raceway , Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and North Carolina Speedway . In the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Elliott led 189 of 267 laps and was only separated from victory by a puncture on the last lap, which went to Bobby Labonte . A few weeks after his ninth place in the championship, Elliott announced that he would hand over the car with the starting number 9 to Kasey Kahne and only drive individual races in development cars for Evernham.

In the 2004 season, Elliott sat in three races both at the wheel of the Dodge Intrepid with the starting number 91 and with the starting number 98. The background of the change of car was due to sponsor commitments. Elliott's sponsor was Coca-Cola , Evernhams was Pepsi . Accordingly, Elliott was registered as the owner of car # 98, although it was actually only rented from Evernham. Despite only six season starts, he had some success with a ninth place on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a second and third place on the Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway .

In the 2005 season Elliott went back to selected races at the start. He drove the Dodge Charger with starting number 39 for Chip Ganassi Racing at the Budweiser Shootout and the Dodge with starting number 91 in several races for Evernham. Despite three more starts than in the previous season, he had less success. The best result was an eleventh place on Michigan International Speedway . In addition, Elliott competed for Rusty Wallace in selected races in the NASCAR Busch Series . At Memphis Motorsports Park he started in the Dodge with starting number 6 for Evernham.

For the 2006 season, the owner points of the car with the number 91 went to the car with the number 10 from the new Evernham team and their driver Scott Riggs . On January 4, 2006, Elliott announced that he would drive the number 36 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for MB2 Motorsports at the Daytona Speedweeks. 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 he would pilot the number 00 Chevrolet for Michael Waltrip Racing in five Nextel Cup races at Chicagoland Speedway , New Hampshire Motor Speedway , Indianapolis Motor Speedway, California Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. During the season, the Red Bull team announced that Elliott would drive three races for the team in preparation for entry into the Nextel Cup with Toyota in the 2007 season.

On August 8, 2006, Evernham Motorsports announced that Elliott would drive Jeremy Mayfield's former # 19 Dodge for the race at Watkins Glen International . After the race in Indianapolis, the car dropped out of the top 35 owner points and Mayfield was fired. Evernham promised a guaranteed starting place in the race due to Elliott's status as a former champion. However, since the change was made after the registration deadline, according to NASCAR, Elliott was not eligible for this regulation.

For the race at Kansas Speedway , Elliott teamed up with R&J Racing and was behind the wheel of the Dodge with start number 37. As a special feature, this car had an engine from his brother Ernie Elliott and the color scheme of the Melling-sponsored car of 1982. He finished the race with the season high and 16th place, but could not qualify for the Bank of America 500 two weeks later in Charlotte.

2007

Elliott tried to qualify for the Daytona 500, but failed. He then signed with Wood Brothers Racing to drive the car with starting number 21 for at least two races during the season. The reason for this was the possibility of qualifying the car as a former champion via the regulation.

His first race for the team was the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway . For this, however, he did not have to claim any of the maximum six guaranteed starting places under the former champion rule. The best result achieved Elliott with an eleventh place on the Michigan International Speedway.

NASCAR video games

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

Elliott appeared in most NASCAR games until the release of EA Sports ' NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup in 2004 when he announced his half retirement.

Teams

Races won

Winston / Nextel Cup (44 wins)

Busch Grand National Series (1 win)

International Race of Champions (2 wins)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Elliott, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elliott, William Clyde
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American NASCAR racing driver and champion
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Dawsonville , Georgia