Dan Elliott still finds himself in the garage, this time holding a microphone instead of a tire. Credit: HHP Images

Where is ... Dan Elliott

CONCORD, N.C. -- Back in the 1980s, when the television contract for NASCAR ran just a few million dollars a year, it was normal for Bill Elliott to answer the phone in the Melling Racing shop in his hometown of Dawsonville, Ga.

As the story goes, if Elliott didn't recognize the voice, he would often claim that he was actually his brother Dan, telling the caller, "Bill isn't here."

Dan Elliott played an integral role in introducing pit road speeds into NASCAR. Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Dan worked side-by-side with his brothers for nearly 30 years. Bill drove the cars, Ernie, the oldest, oversaw the motors, and Dan built the transmissions. The trio formed the nucleus of a team that dominated the Cup level for much of the 1980s.

Dan was also his brother's tire changer, and he played a major role in NASCAR mandating speed limits on pit road for the 1991 season.

During the 1990 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, rear tire changer Mike Rich, just 32, was killed when the car of Ricky Rudd accidentally slid into him on pit road.

The accident also injured Dan, who had also been involved in a frightening pit road accident in 1987. In that incident, the other tire changer ruptured his spleen and spent a month in the hospital.

After his second accident, Dan Elliott successfully lobbied NASCAR to institute a speed limit on pit road. He worked four races on pit road in 1991, then promptly quit. To this day, he suffers daily back pain from the injuries.

"I wanted to make sure I could still change tires after the accident, and I could, but I said, enough is enough," Elliott said.

Elliott, now 55 and still living and working in Dawsonville, still works full time in the sport, albeit in capacities he never imagined. He consults for R&J Racing, located just down the road in Toccoa, Ga., making sure their gears and transmissions are ready for Speedweeks, where they hope to qualify for the Daytona 500 with Bill Elliott behind the wheel.

"It doesn't take a lot of time," Elliott said. "I have got their stuff ready for Daytona. As soon all the data is back from testing, we will decide what to run."

Bill, the youngest of the Elliott brothers, spends much of his time in Colorado, where he has a home. Dan still works in the same complex where Bill Elliott ran his own race team from 1994 to 2000.

Dan Elliott misses the full-time work, mainly because he liked watching the races knowing that a transmission he labored on was part of the game. He still has his ideas working in racing -- he has a side business providing transmissions and rear end gears to local Late Model racers.

Dan Elliott wore many hats for his brother Bill when they dominated the sport in the 80s and early 90s. Credit: Getty Images

"When you quit doing the Cup stuff, there is such a flow of information that you don't get anywhere else," Elliott said. "You are the first to know anything. If something new comes along, you know it before anyone else. We made some components that had never been made before, and you were excited for being responsible for it."

In addition to his Late Model business, Elliott also spends every Monday as an analyst for Comcast Cable. Elliott will attend the occasional race as a media member, and his voice -- identical to Bill's -- can often be heard asking questions in the garage.

"We break the race down and talk about the race," Elliott said. "If it is an off weekend, we will talk about trends. It keeps me up to speed with all the teams and what is going on."

Morphing from crewman to media member has been an adjustment.

"As you learn, you learn patience," Elliott said. "You may get to see a driver quickly, you may have to wait several hours or you might not get to see them at all."

His life today is a far cry from the 1980s, when he made less than $20,000 a year for working 80 hours a week on his brother's race team. His years in the sport have left Elliott with a hundred stories and a thousand opinions.

Times have changed.

"When we started, you did it for nothing," Elliott said. "Everyone is making big money [now] and complaining about the hours they work.

"I am thinking, 'You should have been there then.' Even before me, someone paved the way for all these people to make the money that they are making. A lot of them paid with their lives or their health. I am blessed, I really am."

In addition to building the gears for his brother, Dan also doubled as the team's hauler driver. Because the team's shop was located in the back roads of Georgia -- not North Carolina -- Elliott often found himself driving alone, and in a huge hurry.

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"[The team] never got the truck loaded on time," Elliott said. "One trip, they got the truck loaded for Richmond. That is an 11-hour trip, and they got it loaded at 8 p.m.

"I called a trooper friend of mine. I said, 'Any way you can go to Richmond? I need someone with me in case I get caught for speeding. I have to be there in the morning.'

"We drove all night long wide open, 85 to 90 mph. Everything was that way."

Elliott has watched as his hometown, Dawsonville, has grown from an unknown outpost to practically a suburb of Atlanta. His father's old car lot has been replaced by a gleaming subdivision.

When he and his brothers sped down the highway, they only had to avoid the county sheriff. Now, there are 22 deputies.

"The county is growing at such a fast pace," Elliott said. "People would say, 'Where is Dawsonville?' It was like going back to Mayberry. Pace has picked up dramatically. It is definitely not the same place."