You
don’t have to spend much time talking to Chip Ellis before you realize that
he’s a pretty down to earth guy. Raised in the South, the well-mannered
husband, father, and five-time NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle national
event winner is both focused and polished when it comes to racing and dealing
with his increasing media attention. Away from the track and the race shop,
Ellis enjoys spending time with his family and friends, but there’s never a
motorcycle very far away.
Ellis’
style on the quarter-mile is smooth and fluid. He is thin (like a lot of riders
in Pro Stock Bike) but at 5′ 8 " and 135 pounds his frame is taunt and
muscular, perfectly suited to wrestling a six hundred pound, 325-plus
horsepower monster down the quarter-mile.
His
third full-season on the NHRA tour started slowly for the rider of Drag
Specialties S&S Buell, but the team’s determination and consistency has
paid off with six semifinal and four quarterfinal appearances. Combined with
the points he earned by qualifying no lower than fifth at 13 of 14 races, Ellis
was strong enough during eliminations to qualify for the NHRA’s first cut in
the Countdown to the Championship after the race at Reading, Pa.
Ellis
maintained pace with the competition throughout the first two races of the
second round of the playoffs and entered Dallas, the final race in the
‘Countdown to Four’ for Pro Stock Bikes, in fourth place. He is the only rider
above the cutoff line without a win this season, but the way George Smith and
George Bryce have the Buell performing, Ellis is considered a serious contender
for the and Dallas would be the defining moment in the season and possibly his
career.
Southern gentleman, good ole’ boy, and the quickest man on two wheels
You
don’t have to spend much time talking to Chip Ellis before you realize that
he’s a pretty down to earth guy. Raised in the South, the well-mannered
husband, father, and five-time NHRA POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle national
event winner is both focused and polished when it comes to racing and dealing
with his increasing media attention. Away from the track and the race shop,
Ellis enjoys spending time with his family and friends, but there’s never a
motorcycle very far away.
Ellis’
style on the quarter-mile is smooth and fluid. He is thin (like a lot of riders
in Pro Stock Bike) but at 5′ 8 " and 135 pounds his frame is taunt and
muscular, perfectly suited to wrestling a six hundred pound, 325-plus
horsepower monster down the quarter-mile.
His
third full-season on the NHRA tour started slowly for the rider of Drag
Specialties S&S Buell, but the team’s determination and consistency has
paid off with six semifinal and four quarterfinal appearances. Combined with
the points he earned by qualifying no lower than fifth at 13 of 14 races, Ellis
was strong enough during eliminations to qualify for the NHRA’s first cut in
the Countdown to the Championship after the race at Reading, Pa.
Ellis
maintained pace with the competition throughout the first two races of the
second round of the playoffs and entered Dallas, the final race in the
‘Countdown to Four’ for Pro Stock Bikes, in fourth place. He is the only rider
above the cutoff line without a win this season, but the way George Smith and
George Bryce have the Buell performing, Ellis is considered a serious contender
for the and Dallas would be the defining moment in the season and possibly his
career.
At
notched his sixth No. 1 qualifying effort of the season and advanced to the
semifinals, earning a berth in the exclusive Countdown to One field.
Ellis
enters the climatic final two races in
and
third in the points chase, one round win (20 points) out of first place. Ellis’
Buell has been performing well in late season outings, so with some equally
steady work from the rider he is in a prime position to win the 2007 Pro Stock
Motorcycle title.
Ellis’
road to NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle prominence began after he won back-to-back
world champions on the AMA/Pro Star tour in 2002 and 2003, prior to making the
transformation to Pro Stock Bike in 2004. He qualified at all four events he
attended during his first NHRA season, twice at No. 1, and he won his first
career final at the fall race in
Vegas
Ellis
shakes off the accolades as merely a byproduct of getting to do what he loves. Nobody
can tell a story like Ellis when it comes to talking about the path that he’s
taken to prominence in the Pro Stock Motorcycle division.
"I
grew up in
were divorced when I was probably two or three years old. My mom married my
step dad, then it was my brother and me and then my mom’s husband had three
kids, so it was five kids. We were living week to week, for sure, on a paycheck
deal.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"At
that time, my mom’s husband, Cecil Morris, really took good care of us kids and
he did the best with what we had."
Like
many of his fellow competitors Ellis was just a kid when the racing bug bit
him.
"When
I was 10-years-old we started racing bicycles and that’s when I got the
itch," Ellis said. "I always wanted a motorcycle but my mom would
never let me have one. So we did the BMX bicycle thing and I won national No. 1
in the 10 Expert class in 1980.
His
dreams of riding his own motorcycle became a reality when he went to live with
his father, Dale, just as he became a teenager.
"I
moved in with my dad when I was 12 or 13-years-old and he bought me a YZ 80 and
then it was on from then, man!" Ellis said, developing a gleam in his eye.
Ellis
found himself in a constant trouble and he let his grades tumble during junior
high school.
"I
didn’t get good grades and I didn’t want to go to school," said Ellis.
"When I lived with my dad we moved three of four times when I was in the
seventh grade, so trying to fit in with any clique of kids for a child at that
age was pretty tough for me.
"We
finally moved out to a little town called Seinsula, which is just west of
When I got into high school I started doing better because when I turned 15 my
dad bought me a street bike and if I didn’t keep at least a C average then I
wasn’t allowed to ride my bike anywhere.
Once
he got me that bike and then I got a car, man, I was on my own a little at
school," Ellis said. "I didn’t want to lose my privilege of driving
because I was always on the go.
"My
dad was self-employed and we ran a salvage yard, wrecker service, and a body
shop and all that stuff," Ellis said. "So I worked for him after
school and on the weekends and stuff like that and when I turned 18 I started
driving the tow truck. That was an opportunity to make extra money, doing calls
at night with the sheriff’s department and city police kept me pretty busy.
"From
early on I had a good work ethic," Ellis said, "even when I was 10
and 11-years-old I’d go to work for my dad and my granddad at their business.
They started me off at a $1 an hour and a 40-hour workweek, but at 12 years old
that was big money.
"They
instilled a good work ethic in me and it’s paid off. I’ve worked really hard. I
eventually moved on and did paint and body work for 15 years."
Then
came his first experience in drag racing.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"I
started racing motocross around the age of 15 or 16," said Ellis. "We
just didn’t have enough money to really travel. We raced at Orlando Speedworld
and I won a lot of races over there. They had a drag strip at the facility and
my first trip down the quarter-mile was on a 600 Ninja that I actually traded
one of my dirt bikes for. I went down there and ran a 12.10 at 110 mph, and I
thought ‘man, this is awesome!’ So a couple of years later I bought a Yamaha
XZR-1000 and we’d go up there about once a month and goof off.
"In
1992, I moved to
and street racing was real big up there," Ellis said. "So that’s when
I really got my start was out on the street. And I just kind of had a knack for
it so people stared asking me to ride their bikes. Next thing I know I was
making some really nice money street racing, so then we started going to the
track and one thing lead to another and we started racing in the AMA ProStar
series.
"I
got hooked up with
and raced for them for six years," said Ellis, who speaks in a friendly
southern drawl. "I won three championships with them. I still raced
motocross quite a bit but it was mostly drag racing.
"I
didn’t really know that much about drag racing, but when I moved to
going to the track three times a week. Then I started watching the NHRA deal
and I always wanted to try it. In 1999,
had their ‘Team Green’ program, where they gave us motorcycles and the parts to
ride and stuff like that and I finished my first year out number two.
"And
then in 2000, I was still riding for
but it was on a turbo-charged, alcohol injected Funny Bike. In my first year in
that class I won pro rookie of the year and finished No.3, second year we
finished No. 2, and then the third year we won the championship. My best
performance on that bike was a mid-6.50 elapsed time at 220 mph. It was pretty
awesome and I really loved it.
"After
that," Ellis said, "I was still with
Bike class, and I won the championship again. We were racing a Kawasaki ZX 12,
which was like a production frame with slicks and wheelie bars. We were running
7.80s and 7.90s
"And
then in 2004, the last year I was with
I rode in two classes, 1000 Supersport and 600 Supersport. I finished No. 1 in
600 and No. 2 in 1000 in the same year."
Ellis’
next move would forever change the path of his drag racing career. That’s when
Ellis made the move to the NHRA and connected with George Bryce and George
Smith of G-Squared.
Ellis
currently lives in Plains,
near the team’s shop in
In the brief times that he has a chance to get away from racing, he cherishes
spending time with his family.
"I
have a 5-year-old little girl, McKenzie, and I try and spend as much time as I
can with her and my wife, Kathy," said Ellis. "We’ll usually go to
the lake or go ride four wheelers or dirt bikes or go to Chucky Cheese. I spend
time with them and my crew chief, Ken Johnson, who lives on a lake, and we go
over to his house a lot. I’m a family guy all the way and I’m happy just
relaxing and hanging out."
"My
hobbies are riding my dirt bike and going boat racing once in a while,"
said Ellis. "We have an Allison bass boat that can run over 100-mph, so
sometimes we go to the boat drags. And sometimes I drive a friends unlimited
outboard hydro and I really enjoy that too. But as long as I’m outside I’m a
happy guy."
McKenzie
has already made a lasting impression on her dad.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"I
couldn’t live without her," he said with a smile. "It’s amazing, the
time between Brainerd and Indy we were on the road a month straight and just to
go home and see how much she’d grown in that month was amazing. When she wraps
her arms around my neck and says ‘Daddy I love you’ it melts me. She’s not to
the point where she understands tomorrow and everything to her is in
‘night-nights’, so I always hear ‘How many ‘night-nights until you come home
daddy’?
"When
I come home after I’ve been gone a little while we always go over to Chucky
Cheese and hang out and I always make sure that I spend as much time with her
as I can. The guys at the shop are very good at making sure I get that time in
because she’s very important to me."
With
as much as Ellis is consumed with racing you have to wonder if that’s all he
thinks about.
"I
can leave it at the track," said Ellis, "But sometimes when I’m by
myself I think about it; I’m always thinking about what we can do better or
what I can do better. But if I’m out at the lake and I’m just trying to relax
then I try and let everything stay at the shop and just focus on hanging out
with my family. Because I really think you need that down time."
Ellis
doesn’t spend much time away from the shop due to the ever-shrinking
off-season.
"I
work at the shop and help build all the Pro Stock bikes," said Ellis.
"I do all of the electrical and a lot the fabrication and any paint and
body work that we have to do. Last year we built three bikes and we have three
chassis ordered now, so I’m sure we’ll have three of four to build over the
winter. Not only do we build them, but I’m the first one to test ride them (at
to make sure everything’s good on the bike. Almost every bike that we’ve built
has gone 7.0-seconds on the very first pass and the one that didn’t still ran
7.10 on its maiden voyage. We’re confident in the work that we do."
The
proof is in the bike Ellis rides, which is the same one he’s campaigned for the
last two seasons.
"That
work at the shop keeps me pretty busy, but a lot of times during the winter
we’ll go camping and ride four wheelers when we have the time."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
Even
though S&S provides engines for seven current riders on different teams,
Ellis has no problem momentarily blocking out relationships and friendships
when he pulls into the staging beams ready to race.
"This
is a mental sport and sometimes it’s hard to keep your focus," said Ellis.
"I’ve struggled with that some this year. It’s not that I worry about
them, it’s more I’m worried about me. I know my guy’s give me good equipment
and all of our customers get the same stuff that we have, so it’s up to me to
get the job done."
The
last two years have had its share of dark moments for Ellis and the Drag Specialties
team. Last season crew chief Ken Johnson was involved in an accident and lost
his leg, followed by the team’s transporter being stolen. Then in May of this
year there was the murder of Ellis’ grandfather. One wonders how Ellis can
remain focused.
The
will to keep forging ahead is what drives Ellis.
"A
lot of stuff has happened to me since I’ve been at G2 Motorsports," Ellis
said. "It’s been crazy. It just comes down to determination and I’m not a
quitter. I wanted to race and I wanted to do the best I could. You just have to
say your prayers everyday and believe what you believe in. I have great family
support and if it wasn’t for my wife Kathy I wouldn’t even be doing this.
“She’s
definitely fifty percent of this deal, because she’s supported me through all
of it. She’s always there to support me no matter what. That’s a huge factor.
She’s been right there for me every time. We’ve been together 15 years and
married 12. She’s the only one that’ll put up with me that long."
