Elliott to retire from full-time racing

Speed Racer

Speed Racer

aka "mach5driver"
BY STEVE BYRNES
FOX Sports Net
Oct. 21, 2003 11:40 p.m.

After weeks of speculation, Totally NASCAR has learned that 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott will retire from full-time competition at the end of this season.
Elliott will reportedly run five races next year at tracks significant to his career.

Sources say Elliott, who has 43 wins and 55 poles in 726 starts, might make it official this weekend in Atlanta. Elliott is from nearby Dawsonville, Ga.
 
Man that ****s!!! I have always been a Bill Elliott fan. I guess I will have to find me a new driver or just quit watching.
 
Just wont be the same without Bill on the track:( ...sprint fan32
was it really necessary for you to say "I wont miss him" ??? dont like it, TOO BAD...Have a nice day :)
 
Hopefully, it means more time for dirt racing.

I wonder if he will race at the 5 tracks where he won the very first Winston Million.
 
I love to see that red Dodge, with "Awesome Bill" running it. He's been having a good second half to the NASCAR season. I'll miss him.
 
Elliott's 10 most awesome wins

BY RYAN MCGEE
FOX Sports Net
Oct. 23, 2003 1:22 p.m.

The wait continues for the official announcement... but all signs point to the fact that after 28 years of NASCAR Winston Cup racing, Awesome Bill Elliott is hanging up his helmet as a full-time driver this November.
This weekend we head back to his hometown track, the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where the crowd has always been decidedly slanted toward the man from Dawsonville, just one hour north of downtown Hot-lanta.

Elliott's resume is remarkable and easily among the greatest in the history of stock car racing -- 727 starts, 43 wins, 55 poles and more than $35 million in the bank. So, you are probably wondering, what are the biggest wins of Bill Elliott's amazing career?

Glad you asked. As we now present a special "Bill Elliott racing at home one more time as he inches closer to retirement" edition of his top 10 most awesome victories.

10. Valleydale Meats 500, Bristol, 4/10/88: Elliott had won on nearly every type of race track imaginable entering 1988, but none of his 23 wins had come on a short track. His win at Bristol during the sixth race of the season got the critics off his back and also set the stage for a six-win championship season. He added a second short track win at Richmond in 1992.

9. Winston Western 500, Riverside, 11/20/83: It's hard to believe that his first win came on a road course, but that's exactly what happened at the Riverside International Raceway. Elliott held off Benny Parsons, Neil Bonnett and Dale Earnhardt in the final race of the season. He finished third in points, the first of eight consecutive years in the NASCAR Top 10.

8. Hooters 500, Atlanta, 11/15/92: The most bittersweet win of Elliott's career came on his home track in another season finale. He entered the race third in points behind Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki with one simple mission -- win the race and lead the most laps. He won, but led 102 laps to Kulwicki's 103 and lost the title by a mere 10 points, still the closest margin in Winston Cup history.

7. Atlanta Journal 500, Atlanta, 11/3/85: In the heat of another furious point battle, this time with Darrell Waltrip, Elliott dominated on his home track. He led 175 of 328 laps to capture his 11th win of the season. He lost the title to D.W. at Riverside one week later, but the victory capped one of the greatest individual seasons in NASCAR history.

6. TranSouth 500, Darlington, 3/29/92: After 10 years with car owner Harry Melling, Elliott joined legend Junior Johnson for the 1992 season. Nice move. Elliott stumbled at Daytona, but won the next four in a row -- a streak that started at Rockingham and ended at Darlington with an eight-second win over Harry Gant.

5. Pennzoil Freedom 400, Homestead-Miami, 11/11/01: Elliott left Johnson in 1995 to start his own team. Bad move. He went winless in 185 races as a driver-owner, and his career was considered by most to be over. But when he signed on with Ray Evernham in 2001, Bill became a contender once again. His Homestead win snapped a 226-race winless streak and put a smile on Bill's face for the first time in years.

4. Daytona 500, 2/17/85 & 2/15/87, Daytona: It's hard to separate these two, so we won't. Hey, a win in the Daytona 500 is a win in the Daytona 500, right? The 1987 win did come a little harder than '85, when he dominated by leading 136 of 200 laps. For his second win, Bill had to make up a 23-second deficit to beat gas gambler Geoff Bodine. "This victory is sweeter than the one in 1985," Elliott said at the time. "Then, the car was superior. Today, it was only equal to some others, and I had to race it."

3. Winston 500, Talladega, 5/5/85: This one simply wasn't fair. Elliott fell two laps behind early in the running, forced to watch rival Cale Yarborough lead lap after lap. But with horsepower from brother Ernie under the hood of the Coors Light Thunderbird, Elliott made up both laps under green and defeated Kyle Petty by nearly two seconds. The win also set the stage for Elliott's shot at the Winston Million (see No. 1). "I don't know what to say," said Yarborough, who finished third. "It doesn't seem fair." See, I told you so.

2. Brickyard 400, Indianapolis, 8/4/02: More than Daytona, more than Talladega, even more than our number one pick, Elliott himself says that his win over Rusty Wallace at the Brickyard was "the biggest, man, just the biggest!" For three weeks during the summer of 2002, the 46-year old looked 26 again, winning two poles and two races in three tries. His win at Indy added his name to a fraternity of racing greats that includes the names Foyt, Unser and Andretti.

1. Southern 500, Darlington, 9/1/85: He tired of talking about it years ago, but there is no doubt about the most awesome victory of Bill's career. At the time, no single race and no single driver had brought so much attention to NASCAR than Elliott at the Southern 500 of 1985. For the first time, Winston offered a $1 million bonus to any driver who won three of NASCAR's four "crown jewel" events -- the Daytona 500, Winston 500 Coca-Cola 600, and Southern 500. After wins at Daytona and Talladega, Elliott was denied at Charlotte, setting up an excruciating three-month media build-up to Darlington. The soft-spoken Georgian even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. In the end, Elliott overcame mechanical problems, a near wreck with Dale Earnhardt and leader Cale Yarborough to ice the win. One of NASCAR's most timeless images is the rain of fluttering "million dollar Bills" falling down around Elliott in Darlington's Victory Lane.
 
Awesome Bill had a press conference today and released his all new market lines of Pork Rinds.....................still waiting to hear if he is going to retire...........
 
Care to name a few? Just because someone doesn't win a race in a year, then they're washed up? Puhleeeze, don't give me that load of crap. Sure, some of the older drivers are having a tough time of it (Martin for one example), but never count them out.
 
that ****s

man now theres only going to be one person to watch that i like now witch is dale Jr ive watched Elliott since i was a lil kid him and Dale Sr. my dads a big Elliott fan it just wont be the same with out him hey maybe that cry baby jeff gordon should retire
 
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