Career

Ellis"s success (12 poles and 8 wins) in the first two seasons of the Busch Series earned him a shot at a Winston Cup ride. Driving for most of three seasons in the Chevrolet camp, his best finish was an eighth at Dover in 1986. He was also considered an excellent sub-driver in the Cup Series, filling in for Neil Bonnett in 1989 and replacing a suspended Geoff Bodine at Junior Johnson Motorsports two years later.

After his release from Freedlander Racing in 1986, Ellis returned to the Busch Series with J&J Racing.

In 1991, he competed in the Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway, replacing Bodine. His Busch Series career totals are 28 poles (second all-time behind Mark Martin) and 22 wins (tied for fifth all-time with Sam Ard).

Ellis"s last Busch Series start was in 1995. Ellis was a stunt driver for the film Days of Thunder along with Bobby Hamilton and drove race cars numbered 51 and 18 in selected races.

They had underreported the income generated by their car-wash business by over $300,000 between 2003 and 2007.

Achievements

• Often referred to as "Terrible" Tommy Ellis for his rough tactics, he won the last National Late Model Sportsman championship in 1981, the last year before the format changed from "points chasing" late model sportsman racing at various short tracks to across the country (now known as the Whelen All-American Series) to the current touring format, currently known as the Xfinity Series, the next year. He won the successor series in 1988. Between 1988 and 1990 Ellis won nine poles and seven races. He was the Busch Series champion in 1988 in an unsponsored Buick.