DARLAND, ELLIOTT AND SULLIVAN INDUCTED INTO SPRINT CAR HALL OF FAME
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
For two decades, beginning in the mid-1980s, there was perhaps no better rivalry on the USAC and local Indiana sprint car scene than the one waged between drives Dave Darland and Tony Elliott.
On most nights at the racetrack, when you looked at the sign-in sheet and saw those two names, not only were you convinced that this was a top-notch show. More than likely, those two names would be atop the results that night battling it out for the victory.
How fitting it is that Wednesday night’s announcement of the Class of 2017 for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame included both Darland and Elliott - two of the greatest ambassadors for the United States Auto Club in its 61-year history.
Darland, from Lincoln, Indiana, is one of the few individuals who will have the privilege of being introduced as a member of the NSCHoF while still active as a driver. Not only was Dave active in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car in 2016, he was a multi-time winner and increased his unprecedented total of series wins to 59, he also extended his streak of winning a USAC National feature to 24 straight years. The 1999 USAC National Sprint Car champion and Triple Crown Club member is one of just six drivers to have reached 100-plus USAC wins in his career.
Elliott, originally from Warsaw, Indiana, burst onto the scene in the 80s, capturing his very first USAC National Sprint Car victory in a photo-finish, beating Steve Butler to the line in an ESPN nationally-televised race at Santa Fe Speedway in Hinsdale, Ill. in 1987. Along the way, Elliott would capture 26 career USAC National Sprint Car feature victories, ranking him 15th all-time. In 1998 and 2000, Elliott reached the pinnacle of his profession by winning the USAC National Sprint Car championship. Sadly, in October of 2015, Elliott lost his life in a plane crash in South Carolina.
The link between Darland and Elliott will always be Kokomo Speedway where the two racked up win-after-win on their way to dominating the ¼-mile track for several years. Elliott is the only eight-time Kokomo track champion, scoring titles in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998 and 1999. Darland picked up four Kokomo titles before hitting the USAC trail full-time, sharing honors with Elliott as well as Terry Shepherd in 1987 before taking three more in 1991, 1993 and 1994.
It is also fitting that the gentleman who announced more Darland vs. Elliott battles over the years than any other announcer on this Earth, Dr. Pat Sullivan, was announced as an inductee to the NSCHoF Class of 2017 on Wednesday in the media category.
For many years, Sullivan has contributed substantially to the sport as a columnist for Sprint Car & Midget Magazine, serving as auto racing historian and as an author of countless articles and books pertaining to the sport. Race attendees at tracks all across the nation over the past three decades may be most familiar with the voice of Sullivan as the P.A. announcer for a plethora of USAC events as well as weekly venues such as Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway, Bloomington Speedway, Lincoln Park Speedway and Indianapolis Raceway Park/Lucas Oil Raceway among others.
Additional inductees include driver Terry McCarl, owner/mechanic Guy Forbrook, engine builder John Singer, writer/editor Doug Auld, and driver/builder/owner Earl Cooper.
These eight legends of the sport will be inducted into the NSCHoF on Saturday, June 3, 2017 at the museum located beyond turn two at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
That very same night, the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars will compete at Knoxville Raceway where fans will have the opportunity to witness hall-of-famer Dave Darland in action.
USAC extends its congratulations to all the Class of 2017 inductees to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
