Bill Elliott will take his place among the stock car greats tomorrow night in Concord, NC, as he is formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“You start your career and you don’t know where it’s ever gonna end up and to end up being nominated and then inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame is kind of a goal that’s a lifelong dream,” said Elliott. “I guess for me it’s probably more important that you’re still around to see it. You look at all those guys who were able to pave the road for you to come along to do what you love to do.”
Ford is recognizing Elliott’s induction with a special video that looks back on his career with the manufacturer and his many accomplishments. Some of those include: Winning the Winston Million in its first year of existence in 1985; Setting track records at Daytona and Talladega in 1987; Winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 1988; and being the second winningest-driver in Ford’s NASCAR Sprint Cup history with 40 victories.
“Whenever you’re young you think you can race forever. The older you get the more you realize that there’s a time to lay the swords down and look to the next whatever part of your life is and for me that’s kind of where I’m at,” said Elliott. “You kind of go through a point and reflect on everything that got you to where you’re at today and then you turn around and look and its 30-40 years later and you realize, ‘Where has all this time gone?’”
Elliott, who will be part of the Hall’s sixth induction class, holds the record by being named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 16 times. He will be joined in this year’s class by Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Rex White and Joe Weatherly.
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