08.16.03_008_ELL_UNK_0059_1.jpg (66202 bytes)

Photo ID # 08.16.03_008_ELL_UNK_0059_1
Car #: #8?
Driver (s) : Tommy Elliott
Location: Polo Grounds (thanks Ed Duncan)
Date: 1959?
Photographer: unknown
Photo provided by: Kevin Newman
Comments: Comments from Kevin: Not many people remember the NASCAR midgets. Tommie Elliott drove for Ken Brenn in 1959 and finished second in national points, including a championship at the POLO GROUNDS.  Now that's a trophy!
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08/16/03 Ed Duncan The track is the Polo Grounds. 
08/17/03 Jim Murrow I remember the NASCAR midgets very well. I was 11 when my cousin bought a Kurtis copy Ford midget, and we hit the NASCAR trail. That was 1957, and the fastest cars on the circuit were the #10, Offy driven by Johnny Coy, and the #20, and #24 Offys owned by Ken Brenn, and driven by Tommy Eliott, and, (I think), Jim Whitman.

Recently at New Hampshire International Speedway, there was a round-table discussion in which race historians and other experts from several states took an unofficial vote to determine who was the greatest midget-car driver on pavement in the Northeast. Johnny Coy got every vote.

Johnny was the 1958 NASCAR National Midget Champion, and shared the head table at the banquet with Grand National, (now Winston Cup) Champion, Lee Petty

The Ken Brenn cars were bright red, and lettered and numbered in gold leaf. On the hood of each car was the stylized Ken Brenn Offy, that was seen on all of Brenns cars in those days. The car in the photo, is not a Ken Brenn car. In '57 the Brenn cars were each towed on brand new, matching Ford Ranch Wagons, and there was a spare Offy engine in the back of each wagon. An Offy engine, in 1957 went for about 3 times what a new car cost. 

The starting lineup at that time put the fastest cars in the back. The Ford powered cars started in the front, then the slower offys then the fastest offys. The 10, 20, and 24 would always be all the way in the back, and they used to follow each other, nose to tail, through the field. When they got to the front, they would race each other for the win. It was a real thrill to watch those three working their way to the front together. Thanks, Jim Murrow

09/26/03 Terry Kelleher Tommie Elliott was so smooth in anything he drove.  He never needed to bump his way to the front of the pack.  He just stayed on you right on you.  He would have the driver in front of him keeping looking back until that man spent too much time looking back and not enough time looking at what was developing in front of him.  Tommie would then take the advantage the leaders inattention gave him.  Tommie was an ace on the dirt too!  A fabulous all around driver.

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