WARSAW, Ind. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Chris Seelman photo —
Two-time AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series champion Tony Elliott was one of four people killed in a small plane crash Friday on the shore of Lake Hartwell, just off the Georgia/South Carolina state line and about 20 miles outside of Clemson University. He was 54 years old.
Elliott’s brother-in-law first confirmed to WNDU-South Bend that Elliott was one of the four passengers aboard the plane late Friday evening.
Elliott was a renowned driver on both dirt and pavement surfaces over the years in Indiana and around the Midwest. He scored 26 career USAC National Sprint Car victories, along with nine National Midget trophies and five Silver Crown wins, for a total of 40 career USAC victories in addition to his two National Sprint Car titles in 1998 and 2000.
His individual race numbers in USAC competition were equally as impressive. He won the Indiana Sprint Week title in 1999, and had victories in the Four-Crown Nationals at Eldora in 1987 and 1993 in a sprint car; won the 1998 Jim Hurtubise Classic at Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track; was a two-time winner of the Sumar Classic at Terre Haute in 1998 and 2000; won the 1999 Ted Horn 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds and scored back-to-back victories in the Silver Crown Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt mile in 2000 and 2001 as part of his career highlights.
The Warsaw, Ind. native also was a frequent competitor in the Little 500 non-winged sprint car race, held annually on the quarter-mile paved Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, making 22 starts between 1990 and 2015. Elliott had a career record of seven top five and nine top 10 finishes at the nation’s most grueling sprint car event, as well as a pole start in 2008. He led a total of 1,059 laps in his Little 500 career and completed 7,690 trips around the quarter-mile bullring across those 22 starts.
Elliott finished 22nd in this year’s 67th running of the race, retiring after 257 of the 500 laps.
Elliott’s impact across the Midwest was far-reaching, owning Elliott’s Cars and Karts in Warsaw in addition to supporting numerous drivers and facilities around the region. He had an advertising billboard posted at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway this season and had just recently retired from competition in his own right, while still spotting and mentoring several of the next generation competitors in the USAC national divisions.
“I only ever got to speak to him in passing, but you always felt like he valued your time and conversation,” said longtime midget and sprint car crew member and mechanic James Phelps of the veteran driver. “He was real, he enjoyed his racing friends & family. He was having a good time even when he had a bad day on the track.
“He was a racer and a fan, but he was also a student of the history of the sport and loved passing that along that when he could. I think he really enjoyed giving back to the younger guys and sharing his knowledge with those he felt deserved his time.”
One of those drivers was 16-year-old USAC Silver Crown rookie Austin Nemire, who will complete his debut season in the champ cars next weekend at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, N.Y. Elliott was Nemire’s spotter during the young gun’s debut Silver Crown start at Toledo Speedway in May, and Nemire said the advice he received from Elliott over the course of this season was much of what helped him to get a handle on the car and his lines at several of the race tracks he visited this season.
“It’s hard to narrow down Tony into a few words,” Nemire admitted. “He’s just done so much for our racing community. He was always there to help if you needed it and he never really seemed to have an angry bone in him. He was always smiling.”
“For me, he helped me everywhere we went. He was my spotter at Toledo in the Silver Crown car at the beginning of the year and he helped me a ton in practice and the race. He even helped me this past weekend at Eldora [during the Four-Crown Nationals] with what lines I should try to run, and it was the best advice he could have given me. I picked up time and it really made me appreciate what he had to offer us younger guys.”
“I’ll never forget when I raced quarter midgets at the Rumble (in Ft. Wayne) and he told me, ‘Win this one, and I’ll give you another $50’ and when I won it, that’s exactly what he did. Tony was a man of his word and I always respected him for that.”
Also killed in the crash were Warsaw (Ind.) Councilman Charlie Smith, Smith’s son Scott and former Tippecanoe Valley (Ind.) High School football coach Scott Bibler. According to multiple reports, the quartet was on their way to Clemson, S.C., to watch the Clemson Tigers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football game.
Race Chaser Online sends its heartfelt condolences to the families of all the victims, the USAC community, the Midwest racing family and all those affected by Friday’s tragic events.
