Tommy Ellis

Tommy Ellis
Ellis' 1984 car at Pocono Raceway
Born	August 8, 1947 Richmond, Virginia
Achievements	1981 National Late Model champion 1988 Busch Series champion
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
78 races run over 12 years
Best finish	8th (1986)
First race	1976 Delaware 500 (Dover)
Last race	1991 Budweiser 500 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 6 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
235 races run over 14 years
Best finish	1st (1988)
First race	1982 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Last race	1995 Detroit Gasket 200 (Michigan)
First win	1982 Gene Lovelace 200 (Langley Field)
Last win	1990 Budweiser 300 (Loudon)
Wins Top tens Poles 22 108 28
Statistics current as of March 4, 2012.

Tommy Ellis was a NASCAR short track driver of the 1970s and 1980s. Often referred to as "Terrible" Tommy Ellis for his rough tactics, he won the last National Late Model Sportsman championship in 1981, the last year before the format changed from "points chasing" late model sportsman racing at various short tracks to across the country (now known as the Whelen All-American Series) to the current touring format, currently known as the Xfinity Series, the next year. He won the successor series in 1988.

Racing career

Ellis's success (12 poles and 8 wins) in the first two seasons of the Busch Series earned him a shot at a Winston Cup ride. Driving for most of three seasons in the Chevrolet camp, his best finish was an eighth at Dover in 1986. He was also considered an excellent sub-driver in the Cup Series, filling in for Neil Bonnett in 1989 and replacing a suspended Geoff Bodine at Junior Johnson Motorsports two years later.

After his release from Freedlander Racing in 1986, Ellis returned to the Busch Series with J&J Racing. Between 1988 and 1990 Ellis won nine poles and seven races. He was the Busch Series champion in 1988 in an unsponsored Buick. In 1991, he competed in the Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway, replacing Bodine.

His Busch Series career totals are 28 poles (second all-time behind Mark Martin) and 22 wins (tied for fifth all-time with Sam Ard).

Ellis's last Busch Series start was in 1995.

Ellis was a stunt driver for the film Days of Thunder along with Bobby Hamilton and drove race cars numbered 51 and 18 in selected races.

Legal troubles

In 2010, Ellis and his wife Brenda were sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to federal tax-evasion charges. They had underreported the income generated by their car-wash business by over $300,000 between 2003 and 2007.^[1]

Busch Series statistics

Year	Races	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Rank
1982	29	1	13	16	5	3rd
1983	35	7	16	21	7	4th
1984	14	1	3	4	4	24th
1985	15	5	7	9	3	16th
1986	2	0	o	0	0	67th
1987	15	1	1	2	0	30th
1988	30	3	12	20	5	1st
1989	29	3	11	18	1	3rd
1990	31	1	5	13	3	6th
1991	13	0	1	2	0	33rd
1992	10	0	0	0	0	43rd
1993	1	0	1	1	0	76th
1994	9	0	0	2	0	46th
1995	2	0	0	0	0	77th
Total	235	22	70	108	28	'88 champ

References

• Driver's statistics at Racing Reference

1. Hallman, Randy. "Former NASCAR driver Tommy Ellis pleads guilty to tax-evasion charge". AutoWeek. Retrieved 26 January 2011.