Tony Elliott, Dave Darland Going Into National Sprint Car HOF
Tony Elliott, Dave Darland Going Into National Sprint Car HOF
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Staff Report-
Tony Elliott, Dave Darland Going Into National Sprint Car HOFThirty years ago, Tony Elliott and Dave Darland shared the track championship at Kokomo Speedway. The ever-popular sprint car drivers and native Hoosiers went on to win a dozen Kokomo Speedway titles between them, as well as multiple United States Auto Club national titles. They battled on short tracks throughout the country, and in June their racing careers and names will forever be linked again, as the late Elliott and the 50-year-old Darland will be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall Of Fame. The announcement of the eight-person 2017 class was made Tuesday. The induction ceremony will take place on June 3 at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum, which is located just outside of turn 2 at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. Elliott, who was 54 when he died in a 2015 plane crash in South Carolina, is a graduate of Warsaw Community High School and cut his teeth racing at the now-closed Warsaw Speedway. He won the first of his eight Kokomo Speedway track championships in 1985, and then shared the title with fellow Warsaw driver Terry Shepherd and Darland in 1987. Elliott’s other Kokomo Speedway championships came in 1988, ‘89, ‘90, ‘95, ‘98 and ‘99. Elliott won his first USAC feature in 1987 at Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale, Ill., beating Steve Butler to the line in a photo finish that was nationally-televised on ESPN. Elliott won USAC sprint car national championships in 1998 and 2000, and ranks 15th in USAC career victories. Darland, the Lincoln, Ind., driver known as “The People’s Champ”, won championships at Kokomo Speedway in 1987, ‘91, ‘93 and ‘94. Darland, who still drives full-time and who is competing this week at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla, was the 1997 USAC silver crown national champion, the 1999 USAC national sprint car champion, and won USAC national midget titles in 2001 and 2002. Darland ranks first in USAC history with 59 national sprint car wins, and is among just six drivers to have at least 100 wins in USAC’s three series. Also in the 2017 hall of fame class are driver Terry McCarl, owner/mechanic Guy Forbrook, engine builder John Singer, writer Doug Auld and Earl Cooper, who was a driver, owner and builder. The USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series will compete at Knoxville Raceway on the night of the induction ceremony, with Darland expected to be behind the wheel.
