Tommy Ellis

Tommy Ellis (born August 8, 1947) is an American former stock car racing driver who competed in 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 final year before the format changed from "points chasing" late model sportsman racing at various short tracks across the country (now known as the Whelen All-American Series) to the current touring format, currently known as the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, the next year. He won the then-called Busch Series championship in 1988.

Racing career

Ellis's success (twelve poles and eight 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.

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

Ellis' 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 eighteen 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.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold– Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics– Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. *– Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1976	Champion Racing	10	Ford	RSD	DAY	CAR	RCH	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV 21	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	ONT		92nd	100
1981	Ellis Racing	55	Chevy	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 26	DOV	MAR 30	NWS	CLT 4	CAR	ATL 33	RSD	62nd	392
1982	Gordon Racing	24	Buick	DAY DNQ		75th	260
Ellis Racing	12	Chevy		RCH 11	BRI	ATL	CAR	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 11	DOV	NWS	CLT	MAR	CAR	ATL	RSD
1983	Terry Motorsports	32	Buick	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	BRI	CLT 15	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD		NA	-
1984	Morgan–McClure Motorsports	4	Chevy	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI 28	NWS 29	DAR 23	MAR 29	TAL 13	NSV 14	DOV	CLT 14	RSD	POC	MCH 38	DAY 14	NSV 11	POC 34	TAL 9	MCH 36	BRI 28	DAR 19	RCH 15	DOV 34	MAR 17	CLT 33	NWS 14	CAR	ATL	RSD		31st	1738
1985	Freedlander Motorsports	18	Chevy	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	DOV	CLT 20	RSD	POC	MCH 21	DAY 17	POC 36	TAL 30	MCH	BRI 30	DAR 33	RCH 10	DOV 26	MAR 30	NWS 11	CLT 40	CAR 30	ATL 36	RSD		34th	1100
1986	DAY 19	RCH 24	CAR 14	ATL 13	BRI 11	DAR 29	NWS	MAR 24	TAL 32	DOV 9	CLT 35	RSD	POC 15	MCH 14	DAY 38	POC 9	TAL 34	GLN	MCH 39	BRI 12	DAR	RCH 21	DOV 8	MAR 26	NWS 13	CLT 31	CAR 35	ATL 12	RSD		23rd	2393
1987	DAY DNQ	CAR 38	RCH 27	ATL 17	DAR 40	NWS	BRI	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	RSD	ATL		58th	286
1988	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI DNQ	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR		91st	37
Winkle Motorsports	97	Buick		CLT 30	NWS	CAR	PHO	ATL 42
1989	Wood Brothers Racing	1	Ford	DAY	CAR	ATL	RCH	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI DNQ	DAR	RCH	DOV		66th	115
21		MAR 29	CLT 18	NWS 16	CAR
Hendrick Motorsports	18	Chevy		PHO DNQ	ATL
1990	Speed Racing	83	Olds	DAY	RCH DNQ	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV 31	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL		106th	-
1991	Junior Johnson & Associates	97	Ford	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT 16	DOV 21	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL		70th	100

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1982	Gordon Racing	Buick	DNQ
1986	Freelander Motorsports	Chevy	21	19
1987	DNQ

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NBSC	Pts	Ref
1982	Ellis Racing	12	Pontiac	DAY 22	RCH 25		MAR 33	DAR 15	HCY 20	SBO 14	CRW 11	RCH 3	LGY 16	DOV 4	HCY 10	CLT 4	ASH 2	HCY 2	SBO 16	CAR 29	CRW 7	SBO 3	HCY 2	LGY 1	IRP 2		HCY 7	RCH 15	MAR 4	CLT 38	HCY 2	MAR 25		3rd	3873
36		BRI 3		BRI 4
1983	12	DAY 7	RCH 16	CAR 11	HCY 1*	MAR 9	NWS 13	SBO 1	GPS 24	LGY 19	DOV 8	BRI 3	CLT 34	SBO 1*	HCY 1*	ROU 2	SBO 1*	ROU 16	CRW 20	ROU 6*	SBO 1*	HCY 3	LGY 3	IRP 5	GPS 14	BRI 3	HCY 4*	DAR 7	RCH 2*	NWS 1	SBO 4	MAR 25	ROU 16*	CLT 12	HCY 19	MAR 31	4th	4929
1984	Olds	DAY 35		24th	1440
Pontiac		RCH 15	CAR 27	HCY 6	MAR 29	DAR 15	ROU 2*	NSV	LGY	MLW	DOV	CLT	SBO 23	HCY	ROU	SBO 25	ROU 12*	HCY	IRP	LGY	SBO 3		RCH 1*	NWS	CLT 26	HCY	CAR	MAR
36		BRI 18	DAR
1985	12	Olds	DAY 10	CAR 29		DAR 22		DOV 2	CLT 9		CLT 26	HCY	CAR		16th	2065
Pontiac		HCY 23	BRI 15	MAR 3		SBO 25	LGY 1*		SBO 1*	HCY	ROU	IRP	SBO	LGY 1*	HCY	MLW	BRI	DAR	RCH 1*	NWS	ROU		MAR 1*
1986	DAY 31	CAR	HCY	MAR	BRI	DAR	SBO	LGY	JFC	DOV	CLT	SBO	HCY	ROU	IRP	SBO	RAL	OXF	SBO	HCY	LGY	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH 26	DOV	MAR	ROU	CLT	CAR	MAR		67th	155
1987	Falk Racing	04	Pontiac	DAY	HCY	MAR 30	DAR	BRI	LGY	SBO 1	CLT		ROU 21	JFC	OXF		RCH 32		30th	1362
J&J Racing	58	Buick		DOV 22		DAR 11		DOV 37		CLT 19	CAR 22
Chevy		IRP 27
Pontiac		SBO 6	HCY	RAL	LGY 26	ROU 20	BRI	JFC		MAR 28		MAR 32
1988	99	Buick	DAY 18	HCY 4	CAR 6	MAR 22	DAR 14	BRI 2	LNG 1*	NZH 10	SBO 3	NSV 20	CLT 12	DOV 6	ROU 6	LAN 17	LVL 1	MYB 25*	OXF 7	SBO 2	HCY 3	LNG 1*	IRP 3	ROU 7	BRI 24	DAR 14	RCH 4	DOV 2	MAR 15*	CLT 6	CAR 9	MAR 3		1st	4281
1989	DAY 39	CAR 3	MAR 1	HCY 2	DAR 16	BRI 29	NZH 2	SBO 1*	LAN 6	NSV 7	CLT 34	DOV 5	ROU 16	LVL 21	VOL 2	MYB 9	SBO 2	HCY 1*	DUB 12	IRP 15	ROU 3	BRI 8	DAR 6	RCH 2	DOV 12	MAR 29	CLT 16	CAR 10	MAR 10		3rd	3945
1990	DAY 35	RCH 10	CAR 6	MAR 9*	HCY 2	DAR 18	BRI 21	LAN 3	SBO 15	NZH 20	HCY 14	CLT 5	DOV 33	ROU 15	VOL 14	MYB 7*	OXF 15	NHA 1*	SBO 7	DUB 18	IRP 16	ROU 9	BRI 9	DAR 11	RCH 15	DOV 27	MAR 27	CLT 28	NHA 5	CAR 8	MAR 12		6th	3829
1991	Speedway Motorsports	56	Buick	DAY 13	RCH 30	CAR 16	MAR 23	VOL 29	HCY DNQ	DAR 31	BRI	LAN	SBO	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU	HCY	MYB	GLN	OXF		33rd	1253
Ellis Racing	12	Buick		NHA 43	SBO	DUB	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH 18	DOV 7	CLT 4	NHA 13	CAR 40
Chevy		MAR 26
1992	14	DAY DNQ	CAR	RCH 20	ATL	MAR 13	DAR	BRI	HCY	LAN	DUB	NZH	CLT		NHA 33	TAL	IRP	ROU	MCH		43rd	841
Buick		DOV 22	ROU
23	Olds		MYB 29	GLN	VOL
12	Chevy		NHA 30	BRI	DAR	RCH 35		MAR 30	CAR
Buick		DOV 23	CLT
77	Chevy		HCY 28
1993	Key Motorsports	05	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	DAR	BRI	HCY	ROU	MAR	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	IRP	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	ROU	CLT	MAR DNQ	CAR DNQ	HCY 5	ATL		76th	155
1994	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR 10	DAR	HCY 30	BRI	ROU 6	NHA	NZH	CLT 16	DOV 41	MYB 34	GLN	MLW	SBO 28	TAL	HCY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 38	DOV 37	CLT	MAR	CAR		46th	753
1995	Bobby Jones Racing	50	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	SBO	IRP 17	MCH 34	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM		77th	173

ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series

(key) (Bold– Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics– Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. *– Most laps led.)

ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	APSSC	Pts	Ref
1988	Hendrick Motorsports	18	Chevy	DAY	ATL	TAL	FRS	PCS	ROC	POC	WIN	KIL	ACS	SLM	POC	TAL	DEL	FRS	ISF	DSF	SLM	ATL 2	102nd	-

External links

driver statistics at Racing-Reference

PrecededbyLarry Pearson

NASCAR Busch Series Champion 1988

SucceededbyRob Moroso