ERNIE ELLIOTT - 07/25/1947
was the crew chief for his Cup Championship winning driver, brother Bill Elliott. The Elliott clan also included bother Dan Elliott and they made their Cup series debut at Rockingham in 1976. The Elliott's struggled using underfunded equipment for the next five years. During Ernie's career as a crew chief; he only led the efforts of his brother Bill. Ernie was also the team engine builder and had always built strong power plants for their Fords. Aerodynamics was a major issue for Ford in the early 1980's as the old style box nosed cars struggled to push threw the air. Elliott Racing caught the eye of Harry Melling, and Melling bought the team and hooked up with sponsor Coors. When the new sleek nosed 1994 Ford were introduced, the horsepower Ernie had been able to create just to make the old box nosed Fords competitive quickly showed; and the new car was the class of the field. In 1994 Ernie led Bill to three wins, but in 1985 they teamed together to win a jaw dropping 11 events. Among those wins were the Daytona 500, Winston 500 and Southern 500. Winning three of the four major NASCAR races won the pair the Winston Million dollar bonus. 1986 saw the team win twice, and in 1987 they once again won the Daytona 500 plus five additional races. 1988 saw Ernie lead the team to the penultimate prize in NASCAR as they claimed the 1988 Cup Championship. Ernie's motors were very reliable as Bill finished every race but one that season, and claimed six wins including the Southern 500. During the 1987 Cup season Bill Elliott pushed Ernie's motors to a record that will probably never be broken. In Qualifying for
the Daytona 500 Bill qualified his Ford on the pole at a record speed of 210.364. NASCAR was of the opinion the Fords were too fast; so before the race at Talladega, NASCAR changed the rules for the Fords to try and slow them down. Ernie went back to the shop to try and improve his motors, and when qualifying rolled around at Talladega, Bill once again put his car on the pole; this time at an all time record of 212.809. Ernie claimed three more wins in 1989, and one final win in 1991. Meanwhile Ernie had plans for his own son Casey Elliott. Growing up in a racing family, in 1993 at the age of 18 Casey was ready to move up to the NASCAR series. Casey was set to compete full time in the Xfinity series in 1994, but in December of 1993 it was discovered he had a cancerous growth in his leg. Surgery was performed to remove it, but the cancer returned and Casey passed away in January of 1996. Bill Elliott started his own team and called upon Ernie to be his crew chief for part of the season in 1999, and had six finishes in the top 14 for Ernie's 14 starts that season. For his career Ernie Elliott headed up the Elliott juggernaut for 33 of Bill's 44 Cup wins. They claimed two Daytona 500 wins (1985 and 1987), two Southern 500 wins (1985 and 1988), the Winston Million bonus, and the 1988 Championship. Also of note - in 1985 at Talladega Bill won the pole, but early in the race it looked like the motor blew up as smoke billowed out of the car. Bill got down to the inside, and no yellow flag flew. When they raised the hood the team discovered the power steering line had blown off, but the motor was still fine. They capped off the line, and Bill returned to the track just in front of the race leader almost TWO full laps in arrears. Ernie's power plant and his engineering abilities allowed Bill to catch up and RETAKE the lead with OUT benefit of a yellow. Bill retook the lead on lap 145, and the race's first yellow didn't fly until after lap 160. SO it was simply amazing and one of the greatest modern day feats in NASCAR history.
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