Hoss Ellington Passes
Stock Car Racing History
To this day, in my top five paint schemes ever. That 1 with the star in it is just plain awesome.
Forum Activity for @jay-coker
Stock Car Racing History
Hoss Ellington Passes
Stock Car Racing History
Sadly, longtime Nascar driver and owner Hoss Ellington has passed away after a battle with cancer, according to the Star-News Online. 
Hoss Ellington, the former NASCAR driver and owner who settled in Wilmington, has died at 79.
The North Carolina native died Saturday after a battle with cancer, according to an obituary from Andrews Mortuary.
Born on May 12, 1935, Charles Everett Hoss Ellington moved to Wilmington in 1961 to start an insulation business.
He attended a race at the Carolina Beach Speedway one weekend night in 1963, according to a 2009 StarNews profile.
By the next weekend, he had built a car and entered the race. Leading the race but afraid his engine was going to overheat, Ellington coasted to the finish line and finished second.
The next week he came back and won the race. Over the next several years he won 17 of 21 dirt track races.
He was a NASCAR driver from 1968 to 1970 and a NASCAR car owner from 1968 to 1988. During that time, he was known for his quick wit, one-liners and a stable of drivers that included Donnie Allison, Davey Allison, David Pearson, Buddy Baker, A.J. Foyt and more. In 262 races, the 21 men who took the wheel for Ellington won $1.3 million, eight poles and five races, including the 1977 Talladega 500.
Ellington was inducted into the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
In 2009, he told the StarNews he spent many mornings on his tractor tending to his garden.
It's been a good life for me, he said at the time. If I had it to do over again, I would do the same thing.
He is survived by his wife, three children, two step-children and four grandchildren.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at Andrews Market Street Chapel at 1617 Market St.
updated by @jay-coker: 08/06/18 06:47:07PM
3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
Ford's got nobody to blame but themselves. A few years ago, they had the perfect opportunity to lock up Chase Elliott, given his dad's longtime ties with the blue oval. But instead, they allowed Mr. Hendrick to sign him, and now they will live to regret the way they did Bill in his later years. I think Carl is on his way out, and when he does Roush will be left with Stenhouse, Bayne, and Biffle- a far cry from the days when that team had Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and even Jamie McMurray. If RPM decides to move to Chevy or Toyota, I'm afraid the Fords are going to be looking a lot like the Ford of the late 1970s-early 1980s: overmatched.
2015 NASCAR HOF class
Stock Car Racing History
I'll do my best to respond. I don't think it's a surprise as it was an inevitability. Wendell was before my time, so I can't speak specifically as to his ability as a racer. Based on what I have read of him, he has a hard racer during an era when his skin color would have made it twice has hard. I think if you look at it from a strict statistical perspective, yes there are several other candidates that deserve to go in over him.
However, as we well know, there is no set guideline as to requirements/eligibility to get into the Hall, and the racial hurdles Wendell had to overcome cannot in any way be discounted. Again, the vote is interpretational, so what you might deem Hall Of Fame worthy may be completely different than what I deem.
As I stated during the announcement, I really feel like this was a year where you could have elected ten people, and they all would have been deserving. As a nine year old kid back in 1987 that picked #9 as his first basketball jersey number (all because of Bill Elliott,) I can tell you that I am full of joy that Bill got in on the first ballot, and had a higher vote total than anyone except his boyhood hero, David Pearson. When you think about guys like Benny Parsons, Terry Labonte, and Curtis Turner that didn't get in- and we all know they are deserving- I think if anything, it says for the foreseeable future, NASCAR will continue to have strong induction classes in the years ahead.
Two final points: I keep hearing the argument against Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress getting voted in is that most feel they are still writing their legacy in the sport. If that is the case, why keep nominating them year after year? Let someone whose final chapter has been written get a chance at the vote. It's pretty much contradictory if you ask me.
Final point: You create a special award for people that perhaps wouldn't normally make the Hall Of Fame, and then decide the first recipient has to have the last name of France?!? At this rate, NASCAR will nominate Paris, France for the HOF next year! Unreal. Maybe guys like T Wayne Robertson and Ralph Seagraves and Smokey Yunick will get their due someday now that they have bestowed yet another award on the Frances. Or, maybe they can create another award next year and give it to yet another France family member!
The TRUE All-Star Race really happened back in 1985
Stock Car Racing History
In honor of All-Star Weekend, some historical and statisticalperspective of the drivers in the 1st The Winston, held in 1985:
Combined 25 Winston Cup Championships
687 wins
2718 top 5s
4109 top 10s
530 poles
updated by @jay-coker: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
May 12, 1984: NASCAR's Nashville Nuttiness
Stock Car Racing History
He doesn't care. He and a friend actually claimed to me at one point they were responsible for a certain race surfacing, which was a lie because I personally knowthe guy that acquired the race directly from the video room at the Charlotte Motor Speedway! Both of them have had accounts deleted there due to copyright issues, and I can only hope that they one day have their IP addresses blocked from YouTube over it.
May 12, 1984: NASCAR's Nashville Nuttiness
Stock Car Racing History
Credit to Russ for the Motorweek Illustrated recap- I would appreciate people NOT watching the video from the guy that posted the full race on Youtube. His video was posted from my personal collection WITHOUT permission.
HOF On Line Voting...
Stock Car Racing History
Nascar actually has a nominating committee that determines the final 20. Doesn't mean that Sam hasn't been brought up with them- but that nominating group is responsible for whittling down the list.
HOF On Line Voting...
Stock Car Racing History
Thank the nominating process for allowing the order in which these guys get voted in to get messed up, but you KNOW if Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace are gonna get in first ballot, then Awesome Bill is a no-brainer first ballot inductee as well. Personally, I think given the ties he and Benny Parsons had, it would be fitting if they went in together in the same class. I think I finished out my ballot with Raymond Parks, Robert Yates, and Curtis Turner. Still can believe no Smokey Yunick on the ballot.
Bruton Smith can go build his own Hall Of Fame. Just my opinion, of course. 
Doesnt look like anyone watched the show Sat. nite
Current NASCAR
Well now we know that Marcos Ambrose can punch his way out of a wet paper bag.