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William Clyde Elliott (Born October 8, 1955 in Dawsonville, Georgia) Elliott made his first Winston Cup Series start at Rockingham in 1976, qualifying 34th in a field of 36 cars. 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 Bill'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. He gained 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 that year's all-star race, The Winston held at Atlanta,the only year the race was run somewhere other than Charlotte. In 1987 Elliott won six races including his second Daytona 500, seven poles, and finished second in the final point standings, in that year's all-star race 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. 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. Elliott left Melling to join Junior Johnson and Associates in 1992. Elliott's sponsor during his time with Johnson was Budweiser. He did win the final race of the 1992 season, but lost the championship by 10 points to 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. After winning the Southern 500, Elliott announced he would be starting his own team with sponsorship from McDonalds in 1995. 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. Elliott Semi-retirement. 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 help the team get back top 35 owner point. Following the missed Daytona race, Bill announced that 2008 will be his last year driving in the Sprint Cup Series. 1988 Winston Cup Championship
Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)Most Popular Driver (1984-1988, 1991-2000, 2002)2007 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee
