(NOTE: This was featured in the Hickory Daily Record in 2014.)
Elledge is making up for lost time
Elledge is making up for lost time
By
Tom Gillispie
You might call 4-Cylinder racer Matt Elledge a
late bloomer. A lot of drivers nowadays started in go-karts when they were six
or seven, but Elledge, started “I guess when I was 17 or 18.”
He was still at North Wilkesboro High School
then; he graduated in 1996.
Elledge, 36, says his dad, David Elledge, was a
crew chief for NASCAR Dash Series racer Gary Staley. Around “2004 or 2005,” the
Elledges decided to build a 4-cylinder racecar for Matt.
“I raced at Hickory on and off for five years,
but I took off two and a half years when my daughter Libby was born,” said
Elledge, who lives in Statesville but keeps his shop in North Wilkesboro.
Last season was Elledge’s first year back, and
he finished fifth in points despite starting his season late.
“My first race back I won, and that was
exciting,” he said, “and I won two or three more the rest of the year.”
Elledge has won two of three races this year and
is leading 4-Cylinder points with 148, followed by Curtis Pardue of Hickory
with 130, and Eddie Gilbert of Newton with 128.
Chase Pollard, the defending division champion,
won the season opener, with Elledge second.
Elledge beat out Pollard on April 12.
And Elledge won on May 10, with Larry Pollard
(Chase’s dad) second.
“This year, my main focus is the points
championship (in the 4-Cylinder division) and to win as many races as
possible,” Elledge said.
Asked if it would bother him if he didn’t win
the title, he said, “It would bother me a little bit; I won’t lie. My goal has
always been to win races, but this year part of my goal is to win the
championship.”
Elledge says he’d like to try a Limited Late
Model car — even to practice it — if someone has one available.
“I want to run Limited Late Model, but that’s
probably year after
Elledge says he’s a field technician in
audio-visuals for an electronics company that services homes.
“What I
do for a living is different from what I do for fun,” he said.
Elledge says that, as a kid, his favorite driver
was Bill Elliott, who was recently voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Unlike Elliott, Elledge doesn’t drive Fords. He
says his engine is Nissan, and the rest is a generic fabricated car.
Elledge says he checks his car over carefully
after each race; this time, he found a broken oil pan.
But he’ll be ready for Saturday, when the
4-cylinders return.
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(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
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