Dave Ely - Recent News

In the News
Ely turns the corner, sprints to the front By Keith Fritz Reading Eagle/Reading Times June 1, 2000 Dave Ely heard the boos and all he could do was smile. "It's funny," said Ely. "Before this year, I've never had anybody boo me for how I did." And that's exactly the point. Before this season, there was no reason to boo Ely for how he did. After all, in six seasons, Ely had only one win to his credit. And that came last year at Port Royal. But Ely, now in his seventh full season on the circuit, has turned the corner as well as many heads with his emergence a the driver for one of the top sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania. Friday night, Ely stood in Victory Lane for the fourth time this season after winning the feature event at Williams Grove Speedway, where he has two wins this season. The other two wins have been at Lincoln Speedway. "We came into this season better prepared than we've ever been," said Ely of Sinking Spring. "Last season, our cars were OK, but we as a team came into the year worn out. We put a tremendous amount of time and effort into building our truck and trailer." "This is the first year in the seven years we have been running that we started the season the same way we ended last season. We didn't make any changes to the cars or motors. Other years we always started the year with different cars and motors than we had finished the previous year with." But there was more than the same cars and motors from last season. There was a different Dave Ely. "I finished last season real strong," said Ely. "I was able to run up front with anybody. So I was more excited about this season than I've ever been, and I had a lot more confidence, too." "I know it sounds funny, but about midway through last season, I realized how much I enjoyed driving. It's not that I didn't like it before; I just kind of did it. And because of that, I don't think I put the effort behind it I do now." "Other years, I was always content. If I was running third, I would settle for that. Now I feel I can race with anybody. Last year I don't think I had the confidence in myself to know I could." After six years, where does all that confidence come from? "Last year, when I got my first win in a 410 sprint at Port Royal, I had Kenny Jacobs chasing me and right behind him was Lance (Dewease)," said Ely. "For some reason, I felt different that night. As I was leading, I wasn't counting the laps to get the race over with. That race could have gone another 20 laps and I feel I would have won. I don't know, I think in my mind, I was ready to win." And if there was a race to make a statement at, not only to others, but also to himself, Ely choose the right one at the right track. "That was a big win," admitted Ely. "It was a big race and I new I had won by beating some of the biggest names not only in Central Pennsylvania but with the All Stars, too." But while that win was big, bigger and better things were yet to come as Ely won the Early Bird Sprint Car Championship and the $6,000 prize money at Williams Grove in early April, beating P.J. Chesson on the final lap of the 30-lap feature event -- just six days after taking his first career win at Lincoln. "The night started out pretty good," said Ely. "I had fourth fastest time and finished third in my heat. I started the feature on the pole. I dropped back to third at one point. P.J., his brother James, and I were fighting for the lead. With about 10 laps to go, P.J. had pretty much driven away from me. He had about a straightaway lead on me. But as we came off Turn 2 and went under the bridge on the backstretch, the red flag came out. Truthfully, when I saw the red, I felt I could win. I felt I had more experience being in that position than he did. Besides, I had nothing to lose. I had watched P.J. on the restarts and every time he would drop to the bottom going into Turn 3 to prevent me from sliding him. Then he would run down the frontstretch and go into Turn 1 and 2 up high because he would have enough speed. My plan was to stick with him through 3 and 4 and down the frontstretch. But as he went high into 1, I was going to drop down to the inside and slide up in front of him." But Ely's slide jobs didn't always work. Two years ago, at one of the Thunder on the Hill events, Ely tried to slide in front of Greg Hodnett going into Turn 3,. But instead of sliding in front of Hodnett, Ely slid into him, sending both cars into a series of flips. "The big thing about the incident with Greg was I didn't race for six months," said Ely. "That happened in August, but I couldn't return until the following year. My shoulder injury would have been OK in six weeks, but I had a bad concussion so that's what took so long. At that time, I was starting to run better and I was still the young guy. Greg slid me in Turn 1 and 2. I came off 2 low to get underneath him going into 3. He knew what I was doing and came down to block me. We touched and ended up upside down." This time, the side job worked -- barely. "Yeah, it worked," said Ely. "But after watching the move on video, it was a lot closer than I wanted it to be." Ely is not taking anything for granted with his sudden rise. As he looks back, he sees the path he's traveled. "We've worked very hard to get where we're at," said Ely. "Right now, I think Fred (Rahmer) and our team are the two fastest teams on the circuit. We don't have half the budget a lot of teams have But I don't want to compare success with money. The guys who have big budgets and are real good would still be good with a lot less. Fred was good before he ever got in Al Hamilton's car. With us, I think it all comes down to attitude. Today, I don't go to a race I don't think I can win. Before this season, I wanted to win. I just didn't think I was ready to win." "Someday, I'd like to run with the World of Outlaws. But there's no sense trying to run with them unless you have the right deal. When you make that type of commitment, everything has to be right. Right now, I'm happy doing what I'm doing, where I'm doing it. But I'm not content." And that's the difference in Dave Ely. Back to News Archive

In the News

Ely turns the corner, sprints to the front
By Keith Fritz
Reading Eagle/Reading Times
June 1, 2000

Dave Ely heard the boos and all he could do was smile. "It's funny," said Ely. "Before this year, I've never had anybody boo me for how I did." And that's exactly the point. Before this season, there was no reason to boo Ely for how he did. After all, in six seasons, Ely had only one win to his credit. And that came last year at Port Royal.

But Ely, now in his seventh full season on the circuit, has turned the corner as well as many heads with his emergence a the driver for one of the top sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania.

Friday night, Ely stood in Victory Lane for the fourth time this season after winning the feature event at Williams Grove Speedway, where he has two wins this season. The other two wins have been at Lincoln Speedway.

"We came into this season better prepared than we've ever been," said Ely of Sinking Spring. "Last season, our cars were OK, but we as a team came into the year worn out. We put a tremendous amount of time and effort into building our truck and trailer."

"This is the first year in the seven years we have been running that we started the season the same way we ended last season. We didn't make any changes to the cars or motors. Other years we always started the year with different cars and motors than we had finished the previous year with."

But there was more than the same cars and motors from last season. There was a different Dave Ely.

"I finished last season real strong," said Ely. "I was able to run up front with anybody. So I was more excited about this season than I've ever been, and I had a lot more confidence, too."

"I know it sounds funny, but about midway through last season, I realized how much I enjoyed driving. It's not that I didn't like it before; I just kind of did it. And because of that, I don't think I put the effort behind it I do now."

"Other years, I was always content. If I was running third, I would settle for that. Now I feel I can race with anybody. Last year I don't think I had the confidence in myself to know I could."

After six years, where does all that confidence come from?

"Last year, when I got my first win in a 410 sprint at Port Royal, I had Kenny Jacobs chasing me and right behind him was Lance (Dewease)," said Ely. "For some reason, I felt different that night. As I was leading, I wasn't counting the laps to get the race over with. That race could have gone another 20 laps and I feel I would have won. I don't know, I think in my mind, I was ready to win."

And if there was a race to make a statement at, not only to others, but also to himself, Ely choose the right one at the right track.

"That was a big win," admitted Ely. "It was a big race and I new I had won by beating some of the biggest names not only in Central Pennsylvania but with the All Stars, too."

But while that win was big, bigger and better things were yet to come as Ely won the Early Bird Sprint Car Championship and the $6,000 prize money at Williams Grove in early April, beating P.J. Chesson on the final lap of the 30-lap feature event -- just six days after taking his first career win at Lincoln.

"The night started out pretty good," said Ely. "I had fourth fastest time and finished third in my heat. I started the feature on the pole. I dropped back to third at one point. P.J., his brother James, and I were fighting for the lead. With about 10 laps to go, P.J. had pretty much driven away from me. He had about a straightaway lead on me. But as we came off Turn 2 and went under the bridge on the backstretch, the red flag came out. Truthfully, when I saw the red, I felt I could win. I felt I had more experience being in that position than he did. Besides, I had nothing to lose. I had watched P.J. on the restarts and every time he would drop to the bottom going into Turn 3 to prevent me from sliding him. Then he would run down the frontstretch and go into Turn 1 and 2 up high because he would have enough speed. My plan was to stick with him through 3 and 4 and down the frontstretch. But as he went high into 1, I was going to drop down to the inside and slide up in front of him."

But Ely's slide jobs didn't always work. Two years ago, at one of the Thunder on the Hill events, Ely tried to slide in front of Greg Hodnett going into Turn 3,. But instead of sliding in front of Hodnett, Ely slid into him, sending both cars into a series of flips.

"The big thing about the incident with Greg was I didn't race for six months," said Ely. "That happened in August, but I couldn't return until the following year. My shoulder injury would have been OK in six weeks, but I had a bad concussion so that's what took so long. At that time, I was starting to run better and I was still the young guy. Greg slid me in Turn 1 and 2. I came off 2 low to get underneath him going into 3. He knew what I was doing and came down to block me. We touched and ended up upside down."

This time, the side job worked -- barely.

"Yeah, it worked," said Ely. "But after watching the move on video, it was a lot closer than I wanted it to be."

Ely is not taking anything for granted with his sudden rise. As he looks back, he sees the path he's traveled. "We've worked very hard to get where we're at," said Ely. "Right now, I think Fred (Rahmer) and our team are the two fastest teams on the circuit. We don't have half the budget a lot of teams have But I don't want to compare success with money. The guys who have big budgets and are real good would still be good with a lot less. Fred was good before he ever got in Al Hamilton's car. With us, I think it all comes down to attitude. Today, I don't go to a race I don't think I can win. Before this season, I wanted to win. I just didn't think I was ready to win."

"Someday, I'd like to run with the World of Outlaws. But there's no sense trying to run with them unless you have the right deal. When you make that type of commitment, everything has to be right. Right now, I'm happy doing what I'm doing, where I'm doing it. But I'm not content."

And that's the difference in Dave Ely.

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