SEASON IN REVIEW
Richmond, Virginia driver “Terrible” Tommy Ellis picked up his first LASTCAR Busch Grand National Series Championship in 1987, scoring three last-place finishes in fifteen starts during the twenty-seven race season.
Ellis was competing in his sixth season on the tour, one year after his best season in the Cup Series. Ellis made his first Cup start at Dover in 1976, but didn’t run the series again until he brought his own team into the series late in 1981 season. In just his fourth series start, Ellis scored a stunning 4th-place finish in the National 500 at Charlotte. That same year, Ellis won the final NASCAR Sportsman Series championship before the present-day Busch Grand National Series was formed the following year.
In 1982 and 1983, Ellis returned to the Busch Grand National Series and stormed to eight series wins, and he finished 3rd and 4th in the series standings. In 1984, while helping the new Morgan-McClure Motorsports team get going in the Cup Series, Ellis ran half of the Busch season and won at Richmond, winning the pole and leading all 150 laps.
In 1985, Ellis signed with Eric Freelander, starting a driver-owner relationship that would last through the 1987 season. Freedlander Financial, Eric’s company, sponsored both Ellis’ Cup (#18) and Busch (#12) rides. In 1985, Ellis ran half of both the Cup and Busch Grand National Series seasons, scoring five wins in Busch, but just one Top Ten in Cup. In 1986, Ellis scaled back to just two Busch starts to allow for twenty-four Cup starts, resulting in three more Top Tens in Cup. In 1987, the pendulum swung the other way once more - Ellis no longer had Freedlander as his sponsor in Busch, and after Ellis quit three laps into the TranSouth 500 at Darlington, his Cup ride went to Dale Jarrett.
Ellis made fifteen Busch Grand National Series starts in 1987 between two teams. He raced eleven times in the #58 Buicks and Chevrolets owned by J&J Racing, then another four starts in Eddie Falk’s #04 Pontiacs. Incredibly, on May 16, in just his second start with Falk, Ellis scored a stunning last lap victory at South Boston when he bumped Larry Pearson out of the lead coming off the final corner.
Unfortunately, Ellis finished under power in just two other races that year, resulting in 12 DNFs and three last-place finishes, making him the first NASCAR driver in any division to win a race and the LASTCAR title in the same year.
Ellis’ first last-place finish came at Langley Speedway on August 9, when his #58 J&J Racing Pontiac broke the suspension after 85 laps of the Busch 200. The next two came in consecutive races with different teams. In his final start of the season for Eddie Falk, the engine let go on is #04 Falk Auto Pontiac after 24 laps around Richmond during the Freedlander 200. One week later in the Grand National 200 at Dover on September 19, his #58 J&J Racing Buick broke a valve after six laps.
The following year, Ellis and J&J Racing rebounded in the most convincing way possible, scoring three wins and storming to a convincing 295-point win over Rob Moroso in the 1988 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Championship. Ellis and the J&J crew would go on to win four more races over the next two seasons before the two parted ways. Ellis continued to run a handful of Cup and Busch Grand National Series races from there, bringing back his old team to the Busch Grand National Series and driving in relief of both Neil Bonnett and Geoff Bodine in Cup. During the 1990 Daytona 500, he also joined Bobby Hamilton as drivers of two non-scored “camera cars” used to gather footage for the film “Days of Thunder.”
Ellis’ final NASCAR start came in the Detroit Gasket 200 at Michigan, site of his 235th Busch Grand National Series start, on August 19, 1995. Driving for owner Bobby Jones, Ellis finished eleven laps down in 34th. Dale Jarrett, his replacement for the Freelander ride, won the race, then was disqualified for an illegal carburetor, dropping him to last place in the 42-car field.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
One year before his momentous return to the Cup Series as Jack Roush’s new driver, Mark Martin scored his first Busch Grand National Series last-place finish at Darlington on March 28. Martin’s #31 Bruce Lawmaster-owned Ford broke an oil pump after just six laps of the Country Squire 200. Martin ran every race that season and won three of them, securing a strong 8th-place finish in the point standings.
One of Martin’s wins came June 27 in the Poole Equipment 150 at the Orange County Speedway. That race saw outside-polesitter Rick Mast take the early lead, then lose his engine after five laps, sending him to the end of the 26-car field. His four laps led were the first of any Busch Grand National Series last-place finisher.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Tommy Ellis (3)
2nd) Mike Alexander, Joe Harrison, Brett Hearn, John Linville, Bosco Lowe, Rick Mast (2)
3rd) Ron Bouchard, Dale Earnhardt, Tommy Houston, Jimmy Lawson, Mark Martin, Patty Moise, Mike Porter, Paul Radford, Morgan Shepherd, Tommy Sigmon, Joe Thurman, Darrell Waltrip (1)
