Chip Ellis might compare notes with Tony Dungy.
Dungy, a former head coach with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers was
relieved of his duties as head coach on November 14, 2002 despite
taking the franchise to the playoffs in four of his six seasons.
A half decade later, Chip Ellis lost his driving job with the G2
Motorsports team on the same date after losing the final round at the
NHRA Finals in Pomona, Ca. In a season of 18 races, Ellis’s employment
came down to .068 of a second – the holeshot he gave up to Matt Smith
in that championship-deciding race.
Team owners George Smith and George Bryce opted to not renew the Ellis contract Wednesday afternoon.
"My agreement with Chip for 2007 was that we would put forth a maximum
effort and do our best to perform at the highest level," Smith said in
a prepared statement. "And with Ken Johnson, Dale Ellis, the guys back
at S&S and the whole crew here at G2 in Americus, we did just that.
I challenged Chip to be able to surge hard and cut good lights on
Sunday. That was part of the deal. Had we won either of the final
rounds we were in at Pomona or Las Vegas, we would have won a
championship.