Racer Profile: Stick Elliott

February 28, 2008

By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Born July 27, 1934, Shelby, North Carolina’s Stick Elliott began his racing career on the dirt tracks of North Carolina racing Toy Bolton’s No. 18 Chevrolet. He was a regular at Concord Speedway. History has it that Elliott accumulated 106 dirt track wins. One of his rivals of the day was Ralph Earnhardt, father of the late Dale Earnhardt. Some suggest that Dale learned a lot of his racing skills from competing against Stick Elliott.

In 1962, at the age of 27, Elliott made his debut in the NASCAR Grand National Division (later renamed the Winston Cup Series) driving Toy Bolton’s No. 18 Ford at Concord Speedway. Elliott’s debut in the bigs did not work out like he had dreamed as he was eliminated from competition on lap 48 after being collected in a crash. He was credited with a 17th place finish and collected $33. Two months later, Elliott recorded a eighth-place finish in the Greenville 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. He recorded a seventh-pace finish in the Dixie 400 at Atlanta International Raceway. He closed the 1962 NASCAR Grand National season with 21 starts in the 53-event season and charted two top-ten finishes.

In 1963, Elliott competed in 28 of the years 55 NASCAR Grand National events. He finished sixth in the Nashville 400 at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway driving Toy Bolton’s No. 18 Pontiac. Despite 14 DNFs, Elliott recorded seven top-tens.

In 1964, equipment failures marked Elliott’s seven Grand National starts. Mechanical failures caused him DNFs in all seven events. 1965 was not much better as he made 15 starts and suffered through ten DNFs. When the equipment held up, Elliott ran up front. He finished second in the Pickens 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, fourth in the 200-lap event at Valdosta Speedway, and seventh in the Southern 500 at Darlington.

1966 was another season of the frustration of mechanical failures. Elliott started 19 NASCAR Grand National events and had 13 DNFs. He had a fourth place finish in the Pickens 200, and eighth place finishes in the Fireball 300 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway and in the Volunteer 500 at Bristol.

Elliott made only one event in the 1967 season, the World 600 at Charlotte. He recorded a 14th place finish in Bolton’s No. 47 Chevrolet. His final appearance in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition came in 1971. He made two starts that year driving O. L. Nixon’s No. 31 Dodge. Mechanical failure dropped him out of the National 500 at Charlotte, and he finished 20th in the American 500 at Rockingham.

Despite a lack of funding and inferior equipment, Stick Elliott made 93 starts in seven years in NASCAR’s premier division and recorded three top-fives and 15 top-tens. Elliott continued to compete on the North Carolina dirt tracks on into the 1980s driving O.L. Nixon’s No. 57 Chevrolet Malibu and Camaro. He earned a reputation over his career as a hard-nosed racer who did not mind using his front bumper to move someone out of his way.

Stick Elliott died November 1, 1980 from Cryptoccocal Meningitis.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com