On Wednesday, it was officially announced that Bill Elliott will be one of the five inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January. Elliott joins Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly and Rex White as part of the 2015 class.
“This has been an incredible day,” Elliott commented. “I’m totally speechless over today. I never thought that I’d be in the Hall of Fame, especially starting out as a little red-headed kid in Dawsonville, Georgia.”
While Elliott’s accomplishments speak for themselves as he joins the Hall of Fame, his son is quickly becoming one of the rising stars to watch in the Nationwide Series. Ten races into his rookie season, Chase Elliott has two wins, five top-fives and currently leads the points.
“Chase has been great so far with what he’s been able to accomplish,” Bill Elliott commented. “I felt like Texas was impressive, but I felt Darlington was unbelievable from where I sat and watched him run. The biggest thing I looked at is he’s never been there, and to run like he ran in never being at that race track, it was a blast.
“Going into the weekend, though, I thought Darlington would be a place that he’d run well based on how he had ran at other tracks in knowing how to drive a race track.”
With Chase’s accomplishments, people are already wondering when he will move up to the Sprint Cup Series. Car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he’d prefer to have Chase run two seasons in the Nationwide Series. Chase has commented that he will let the powers that be decide his fate and see where it goes.
Bill Elliott was asked today about Chase’s future and says that in this sport, you need to take it one day at a time.
“I’ve tried to instill that in him,” Elliott commented. “I’ve told him, ‘Look, ride the horse while you have the reins; Earnhardt told me that one time because one day you will be on it, and one day it’ll be on you’. I said, ‘It’s a large roller coaster filled with ups and downs. If you’re in it, you have to make the best of it’.”
As Bill Elliott heads to the hall of fame, people are looking at Chase in carrying the torch and the success that he could possibly have. Similarities have been noticed in their driving styles and how they handle themselves off of the track.
When Bill was in his prime, he was a quiet individual that was focused on what he was doing on-track. He credits that to the belief that his father instilled in him about “be seen, not heard”.
“Early on, it was difficult because it was so hard for me to be open,” Bill expressed. “I was so uncomfortable around people and it’s ironic considering where I’ve ended up. That was the hardest thing for me to overcome was to be in front of a group of people, especially the media, because I didn’t know how to deal with them.”
Bill added that back then, drivers were thrown to the media and fans, and left to deal with that themselves.
“It was hard to open up and instill that in myself,” Bill continued. “That’s one of the regrets that I have is how I handled certain things, but yet it helped grow me and make me the person that I am. Eventually, it made me the person that I am.”
Moving to the next generation, he feels that he can help Chase in those situations based on what he went through. So far, things have gone well.
“I think he understands that side of it a 1000 percent and I think that’s where he’s got so much potential,” Bill commented.
