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| Birth Name(s) : Bill Elliott |
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Full Bill Elliott Biography
William Clyde "Bill" Elliott (Born October 8, 1955 in Dawsonville, Georgia) is a part-time driver and former champion of, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007.
In 1983 Elliott earned his first Winston Cup win in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside in the final race of the 1983 season. He gained sponsorship from Coors the following year and won three races, four poles and finished third in the championship standings.
In 1986, Elliott won two races and eight poles and finished fourth in the championship standings. He also won that years all-star race, The Winston. In 1987 Elliott won six races including his second Daytona 500, seven poles, and finished second in the final point standings. 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. In 1988 Elliott won another six races, six poles, and his only Winston Cup Championship. Despite winning only one championship, Elliott has managed to finish in the top ten in the points 14 times, including 1992 when he finished ten points shy of champion Alan Kulwicki.
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 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.
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.
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. This was special for Elliott as the engine was one from his brother, Ernie Elliott, and the Melling Auto Parts paint scheme resembled the paint scheme from Elliott's car in 1982. 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.
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. |
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