I'm sitting here on a dreary looking Saturday afternoon, a bit bummed out that the 'burg had to postpone its last race.
But I'm reminded of my dad's funeral. His best friend and brother-in-law gave the eulogy. He concluded by saying that my dad never knew a stranger; he would talk with anybody, even an ancient Indian gentleman at a middle of nowhere gas station in New Mexico.
This makes me think of Tony Elliott from my angle. Friendly, quick smile, always ready to say hello and a bit more. He probably knew me only by sight, but that's okay. He had that rare ability to be instantly likable and leave people with good thoughts of him--as he has done here.
Oh, and besides that the man could race a little, if I may engage in understatement.
Tony would come down the The burg every now and then and I guess about 87 is when I started really watching him regularly following USAC with Staab running it full time in the sprints. Tony and House were running grey cars then.
What he did after that is self explanatory. In the last few years I've seen him at a bunch of different tracks mostly as just being a fan and hanging out with racing folk. But he still ran now and then. Was always on Facebook posing pics of the latest hauler to leave the lot. Football post and racing and boating. Dude lived life to the fullest.
R.I.P Tony Elliott. Nice man every time I met him!
It has been a gut wrenching morning after hearing this news .words cannot even express how I feel today ,You will be sorely missed my friend my thoughts and prayers go out to Cindy and the kids
I first met Tony way before he was a big USAC stud. We were at Eldora for the Bush Bash last outlaw race of the year , man guess it was early 70's. I had torn my car up and was drowning my sorrow in town close to Eldora, think its New Weston. Had like 10 12 shots of peppermint snapps when up walked this guy and said rough day I looked up and there he was with that big contagious smile I felt better right away. He helped me with the shots and we stayed friends all these many years . We talked couple times a year and saw each other at tracks and always joked around. In all the years I knew Tony he was always the same guy friendly and always had a smile for everybody. RIP my friend
My wife logged onto IOW on our way home from Gas City last night. When she told me the news it was shocking and very sad. Both our thoughts went to the first time we met Tony in of all places Yuma, Arizona in the late 80's. At the time we were a young couple from Pennsylvania and knew of Tony mostly from the racing papers. My wife had a Kokomo shirt on and up walked this fellow with that signature great smile on his face and said "Hi. I'm from Kokomo are you?" with that voice that raised a few octaves when he was excited. We explained where we were from and chatted with him like we knew him all our life. What a great personality and great spirit. We instantly became Tony Elliott fans. We followed his career from that time forward and enjoyed watching him run for many years.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cindy and the rest of his family and we lost a truly special driver and more importantly a wonderful human being. Godspeed Tony and look forward to seeing that smile once again when we meet in heaven. Thanks for the memories!!
I was at the POWRi midget race at Belle-Clair when I saw the thread on IOW. I can't count the times I saw Tony display his talent in a midget, sprint or Silver Crown car, but I knew I could always count on seeing him contend for the win.
I didn't actually know Tony, but after reading all the comments about his smile, I feel sharing this little anecdote is appropriate. At the 2014 USAC Four Crown Nationals I was reaching for a paper towel in the men's room at about the same time Tony was. He smiled, so I did likewise and spoke to him. I said, "Excuse me sir, didn't you use to be Tony Elliott"? The smile grew to a laugh. I thought of that incident last night when I first saw the sad news.
Few drivers have been contenders in the top echelon of auto racing as long as Tony was and we have all suffered a loss, of course, most significantly his family and close friends. I extend sincerest condolences to his family and those closest to him.
Goin to miss ya buddy ,,Thoughts and prayers to Cindy and the kids , so l guess when the sun goes down I'll put on my tony elliott t-shirt grab a beer go to the deck look to the stars and think about a friend , thanks TE,,, lb and sharon
