Elliott wants to be left off

[Lars]

Elliott wants to be left off: [#9] Bill Elliott, perennial winner in the most-popular driver balloting, doesn't want to play any longer and has asked that his name be taken off the ballot. But The National Motorsports Press Association, which conducts the vote, still has his name on there. And fans, some of whom have long kept Elliott at the top of the list, are caught in the middle. Elliott won the award 10 times in a row and has won it 15 times altogether. Last season, he agreed to have his name removed from the ballot
as part of an effort to honor the memory of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt. Confusion has come about over how long the driver's name was to stay off the ballot. In the future, likely with the driver's retirement, the most-popular driver trophy - not the award - is expected to carry Elliott's name. As David Poole, president of the NMPA, put it: "Bill's name has been on it so many times, it may as well stay there."(See full story at ThatsRacin.com)(4-11-2002)

Wonder if Bill knows that Junebug is in the lead right now?

[Ax Slinger]

Junebug?

[RaceFanStan]

I saw that too, it surprised me.
To tell the truth, it surprised me that Bill won it so many times.
Dale Earnhardt was clearly the fan favorite but never won the award until after he died and Bill Elliott removed himself from the ballot.
I felt that somehow the voting was "organized" and wasn't a true indicator of a driver's popularity, for years Bill had little success and no wins, yet he was voted the most popular driver.

Go Junebug !!! LOL

[RaceFanStan]

Hmmmmmmmmm, I just went to NMPA, I used 3 different email addys and birthdays and voted 3 times, so much for 1 vote a day, huh ?

[Lars]

Stan...you cheater...lol. Guess that's how the BE fan club got it done every year? Tim, that's what the old man called dale jr, you knew that right?

[Ax Slinger]

Actually, no, I didn't know that.

[Ax Slinger]

Originally posted by Stan_MarlinMan
Hmmmmmmmmm, I just went to NMPA, I used 3 different email addys and birthdays and voted 3 times, so much for 1 vote a day, huh ?

Only 3?

You don't need to change anything except the email addresses... And they don't even have to be real. Just make them up as you go. Depending on how fast you type, you could be voting every few seconds.

[P1_Senna]

Wow, now I thought I had heard some conspiracy theories in my time. With the X-files dropping off the radar for most people, I assumed that would be the end for most of the really creative ones.

But an annual ploy by the Bill Elliot fanclub to rig the vote for Most Popular driver? Even for a confirmed suspicionist such as myself, that is just too much to take.

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by Stan_MarlinMan
Hmmmmmmmmm, I just went to NMPA, I used 3 different email addys and birthdays and voted 3 times, so much for 1 vote a day, huh ?

So you have been getting your tips from Dawsonville?

[RaceFanStan]

I knew there had to be a weakness in the "system".
No disrespect to Bill Elliott intended but I just couldn't see how he could win "Most Popular Driver" even in the years that he really sucked.
I'm NOT slamming Bill, I like Bill, I just feel that he wasn't really the most favorite driver.
I better go now and cast my 10 votes, LOL.

[Ax Slinger]

Don't forget Stan, that at least half of the 15 times he won the MPD award, there was no Internet... 1984, 85, 86, 87, 88, 91, and maybe 1992 were all voted before the Internet was available to the general public, which was somewhere around 1992-93. And even then it took several years after that before the Internet became as popular as it is today. So you can't assume he won all those times because of a flawed Internet voting system.

[RaceFanStan]

Before the internet I asssume that his fan clubs kept the phone lines hot.
JMO

[Lars]

Actually it's fact...I always gave Djay cr*p about it, but he told that he'd call & vote 4 or 5 times a day for Bill.