Ernie Elliott

Ernie Elliott owns one of the most distinguished engine builder records in the history of racing. Entering Winston Cup Racing as a family operation in 1978, the Elliott's competed only on a limited basis with moderate success until 1983. With financial backing and major sponsorship, their success moved rapidly. In 1985, cars powered by Ernie and driven by Bill charged to a record setting 11 poles, 11 Superspeedway wins, a record tying four consecutive Superspeedway wins and the only Winston Million bonus ever awarded for winning three of the &quotBig Four" events (Daytona 500, Winston 500, Southern 500). If anyone ever deserved recognition for engine builder excellence it was Ernie Elliott for his Ford V-8's that provided the power and reliability that brought home the bacon.

Randy Dorton

Randy Dorton was in the North Carolina town of Concord when he put together his first complete engine. It was a 427 Ford built for local half-mile dirt tracks. Charmed by the challenge, he went to work after school for the Sox and Martin drag team. In 1975, with car builder Harry Hyde's influence, Randy joined the K&K Racing Team. In 1986, he put together his own engine shop which built drag boat engines for Rick Hendrick. The next year Hendrick contracted with Hyde for a race car and Dorton for three engines. Before those were finished, the order increased to six and the Hendrick NASCAR operations kicked into high gear. While his well-developed mechanical talents were catapulting him to the 1986 Engine Builder of the Year Award, the Hendrick Motorsports team was unable to capture the Winston Cup, although team members Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond certainly distinguished themselves.

Lou LaRosa

Lou LaRosa's career is peppered with the names of famous drivers his engines have helped across the finish line. Back in 1979, Lou built an engine for a rookie in Winston Cup Racing named Dale Earnhardt. Not only did he earn his first Winston Cup, win, but also went on to become Rookie-of-the-Year. Since those initial successes, LaRosa's powerful engines have propelled the likes of David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Ricky Rudd and Brett Bodine into victory lane. Working for the Richard Childress Racing Team, LaRosa distinguished himself as the first engine builder winner to earn his award in the same year that his driver won the Winston Cup. The driver – Dale Earnhardt! Now that's teamwork.

David Evans

As engine builder for Rusty Wallace's Kodiak Pontiac in the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Evans helped his racing team achieve a second place finish in overall series points. During that year, Blue Max Racing posted more top five and top ten finishes than any other team. This feat was due in no small part to the contributions of David Evans and his award-winning engine building skills. David out-earned 37 other engine builders in points to gain the title of Engine Builder of the Year in 1988.

Rick Wetzel

Heading into the 1989 Atlanta race, Wetzel, Chief Engine Builder for Ken Schrader's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, led his teammate Mark Isler by just five points. Rick's mechanical expertise and Ken's driving skills combined for a fourth place race and a first place Engine Builder's finish. "I can't believe this," said Wetzel shortly after Schrader crossed the finished line, "It's like a dream." With this award, he joined engine building superstars like Ernie Elliott, Randy Dorton, Lou LaRosa, and David Evans.

Eddie Lanier

Thirty-two years of dedicated engine work with some of the most prestigious teams in racing, led to Lanier's capture of the '90, '93 and '94 Clevite NASCAR Engine Builder of the Year award. Before helping to propel Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing to 29 Winston Cup victories plus 5 non-point paying races such as the Winston, and The Busch Clash plus 125-milers at Daytona, he worked with Kenny Bernstein, the Mach 1 Race Team, Junior Johnson, the Ford-backed Holman and Moody Team and Petty Enterprises. As a teenager he dreamed of doing this work and today he is an acknowledged champion on top of the sport.

Sheldon Pittman

Nicknamed "Runt" by his friends, Shelton Pittman started 20 years ago building engines in Wilmington, North Carolina. These first efforts were directed toward winning local drag races. He graduated to dirt track cars, sportsman cars at Daytona and finally to the NASCAR circuit building engines for Winston Cup cars. Over the years "Runt" Pittman has contributed to the success of championship drivers like A.J. Foyt, Donny Allison, David Pearson, Davey Allison and Rick Wilson. According to Pittman, the high point of his career came in 1991 when the Morgan-McClure team (of which he had been a member since 1989) won the Daytona 500 with Ernie Irvan driving the #4 Kodak Chevrolet Lumina.

Jeff Wilson

After 14 years of dedication to engine building excellence, Jeff Wilson is more convinced than ever of the value of teamwork in achieving success. During his career, Jeff has built winning engines for Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, and Geoff Bodine. As chief engine builder for car #11, the Budweiser Ford Thunderbird driven by Bill Elliott, he helped Bill achieve five victories and helped to place the Junior Johnson & Associates Team in the top three a total of eleven times during the 1993 season. In 1992, Jeff was awarded the Clevite NASCAR Engine Builder of the Year title.

Charlie Siegars

Siegars is the only Clevite Engine Builder of the Year recipient to have won 4 consecutive years. While he was a first time winner of the award in 1995, Charlie's racing roots date back to the 1960's. In that decade, he began building engines for his own dragster. Now, he's the chief engine builder for Hendricks Motorsports and the Dupont Chevrolet #24 car driven by Jeff Gordon. With the success Charlie has experienced, it is no surprise he is our 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup champion.

Doug Yates

Doug Yates had always planned on having a career that included building engines. What he didn’t know is that he’d be doing it for his family business and for some of the top drivers on NASCAR’s Winston Cup circuit. Yates is chief engine builder for Robert Yates Racing’s Engine Department, which builds the engines for both the #88 UPS Ford Taurus and the #28 Texaco/Havoline Taurus, driven by drivers Dal Jarrett and Ricky Rudd in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Yates’ personal achievements include winning the Henry Ford Racing Achievement Award (1999), Copenhagen/Skoal All-Pro 2^nd Team honors (1992, 1987) and first-team selections to the Copenhagen/Skoal All-Pro team in 1993, 1994 and 1996. Yates and his 40 employees are credited with building some of the best and most reliable horsepower in NASCAR, and in the 1999 season built the engines that helped driver Dale Jarrett capture the Winston Cup Championship. That year, Yates won the 1999 AE Clevite Engine Builder of the Year Award.