Chip Ellis has accomplished plenty in his lengthy NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle career.
Ellis has won seven career NHRA national events, and he has become a steady rent-a-rider since 2018, driving for the teams of Vance & Hines, Matt Smith Racing and Ryan Oehler.
Ellis competed at the season-opening Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 10-12 for MSR and checked another item off his Pro Stock Motorcycle bucket list – eclipsing 200 mph.
Ellis accomplished the feat with a 6.790-second elapsed time at 200.02 mph during the third qualifying session on March 11.
“I’ve actually been 229 but not on a Pro Stock Motorcycle,” Ellis said. “It was awesome, man (going 200 on a Pro Stock Motorcycle). I know we had a lot more left in the bike. We just didn’t get to show it on Sunday because we had a wire break (in first round).
Ellis qualified No. 6 and was upset by Oehler in round one when Ellis’ Buell broke right after he left the starting line. Oehler clocked a 6.870-second time at 194.81 for the win.
“The (wire break) was something stupid,” Ellis said. “But it was awesome, and I appreciate what Matt did for me to be able to get the 200 mph (run). I really felt good. We had Oehler first round, and according to qualifying, we had him covered by three hundredths on paper. I understand it’s racing, and anything can happen, and it did. But I had him on the tree, so there should have been no reason as long as we made a decent run that we should have won the first round.”
Ellis is unsure when he will compete in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class as he has no races on his schedule right now. The Pro Stock Motorcycle class returns to action on April 28-30 at the Circle K Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.
Ellis has plenty to keep him busy at his Chip Ellis Racing shop in Mocksville, N.C.
“This looks like a boat shop in here,” Ellis said. “Normally, I build headers, but I just picked up a brand new 2023 Allison race boat for a customer that we’re going to rig here. He’s out of Iowa. He actually bought two boats, and then we have a new boat coming that should be done next week, so I have a lot of boat work to do.”
Ellis’ daughter, McKenzie, 21, is a boat racing champion in the 1,400-pound class.
“Well, I think for right now, we’ll probably start the season off in the same class, and then we’ll step up to Pro Mod,” Chip said about McKenzie. “She raced some Pro Mod races. I don’t know if we raced any last year, but I know the year before last, she ran Pro Mod at a couple of races, and she won, but at one race, she got really out of shape and got thrown around in the boat a little bit and it kind of scared her. So, she said, ‘Dad, let’s just back off Pro Mod. Let me run 1400,’ so that’s what we did. But I think this new boat; it’ll probably be a little easier to drive because we’re getting the center of gravity lower with this new engine combination that we got.
“It’s really up to her whatever she feels comfortable with. The one series we run, there’s not a lot of Pro Mod boats that show up.”
In terms of things left to do in his Pro Stock Motorcycle career, Chip would love to reach the winner’s circle at the Gatornationals.
“For me personally, like everybody wants to win Indy, but I wanted to win Gainesville, and I really think that we had a motorcycle that was capable,” Ellis said. “Gaige (Herrera, the race champion) was fast, man. There’s no doubt about it. Those guys were flying. But I think we had the best chance at winning that race because, I mean, we still had more left in the bike. I made some mistakes during runs, so I want to win Gainesville, and the reason being when I was nine or ten years old, my stepdad took me there, and I grew up in Florida (in New Smyrna Beach).
“I remember seeing Don Garlits. The one thing that I really remember was getting Bob Glidden’s autograph. We were actually on the way out the gate, and he was out near the gate or whatever and I had one of those little seat cushions. I had it for forever, and I got his autograph.”
