11/20/2012
Five Flags Speedway
Reigning Snowball Derby Champ Elliott Ready to Defend Title
Elliott Won’t Let Superstition, Talented Field or Go Kart Disappointment Stand in his Way
Now, Elliott will head back to Pensacola as the defending Snowball Champion, looking to hold off a talented field of short track experts and NASCAR racers in a star-studded event December 2nd.
“Regardless of having won in past years or not, this is a new year,� said Elliott. “We’ve won this year, but those races are already in the past. Today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow, so you can’t dwell on that. It’s a new year and a lot of guys have their stuff together and there’s a lot of really, really sporty cars and drivers out there that are going to be really good when it comes Snowball time. We’re definitely going to have to bring our A-game.�
To win the 2011 Snowball Derby, Elliott, of Dawsonville, Georgia, had to battle back from an early spin. Then, he had to thwart the late-race challenges of Alabama’s D.J. VanderLey. Elliott and VanderLey battled door-to-door in the closing laps for one of the most memorable Snowball Derby finishes in the race’s 44-year history.
“The best part about it was that it was a good show for all the fans that came down,� said Elliott. “If a good show is put on, I feel like the racetrack has had a good night and that’s what racing is all about.
“I had a lot of fun racing with D.J. last year. That was definitely a nerve-wracking experience. You want to try to keep calm as best you can but at the same time, you’re racing for the Snowball Derby.�
Elliott has won just about every major Super Late Model event that he has entered in addition to the Snowball Derby. Still, Elliott knows that those wins don’t come easy and won’t again this year.
“Even the year before that and the previous year, in that race it is so hard to be in position to have a chance to win the race. And for us to have been in a position where we were capable of possibly winning that race last year, you just have to really do your best in that position to make the most of it because you don’t know how many times you’re going to have that opportunity. So for us to come out of there and make the most of it, it definitely meant a lot to me and we’re not giving up on it. I think when we go back this year we’ll have just as good of a shot to win it as anybody else so I’m excited about it.�
For Elliott, bringing home the trophy in the biggest late model race of them all was a one-of-a-kind experience.
“You don’t know what to think,� said Elliott. “At this point in short track racing, there’s nothing better. To go down there and to be competitive, to me, is a great accomplishment and much less to come around there and realize you just won that race and how much it means to you is just unbelievable. I cannot put enough emphasis on the fact that you don’t know what to think. People always say it’s the Daytona 500 of short track racing. And obviously I’ve never won the Daytona 500, but I know what it feels like to win the Snowball and it is an awesome feeling.�
When it comes down to being a repeat winner in the 45th annual event, Elliott says he’s superstitious.
“I think anybody would be lying to you if they said they’re not superstitious,� said Elliott. “Because in anything you do you say, ‘Well I did this last week, I need to do that again.’ Paul Byrd pitched in the majors for a while and he obviously, just like anybody, had his ups and downs and he was talking about superstition. He said, to him, it was more of a mental preparation that you got yourself ready for an event. And that’s the best thing that I’ve ever heard about superstition because that makes the most sense.
“You do stuff to mentally prepare yourself for that upcoming event and whatever it may be, you kind of get into a routine and you don’t want to change that routine. You want to keep things going the way you had been and to me that really put superstition in its place.�
Although the big shows are on Saturday and Sunday, there is one race during the week that brings out the competitive side in the drivers and crews alike.
“The go kart race at Fast Eddie’s last year (the Fast Eddie’s Snowball Showdown) was definitely not for me that night, I struggled severely. I didn’t even make the race. But that’s alright, that place was fun. I was actually surprised. I made a mistake by going over there earlier to try to scope things out because I really wanted to do well. But I guess that’s just a racer for you. Hopefully we can go back over there this year; that was fun.�
For tickets and more information on the 45th Annual Snowball Derby Weekend, November 28th through December 2nd at Pensacola, Florida's Five Flags Speedway, visit www.snowballderby.com.
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