Wilson, Ellis To Head Whelen Modified Tours

NASCAR has announced the appointment of Jimmy Wilson to the position of NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour director and Juston Ellis to the same position for the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

Wilson, originally from Orlando, Fla., has served the two previous years as director of the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour. He’ll now lead the northeast-based NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, which traces its roots back to the first NASCAR-sanctioned event in 1948.

Ellis, who hails from Suffolk, Va., will fill the void left by Wilson. He served the two previous seasons as the technical director for the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

“We are very pleased to appoint Jimmy and Juston to their leadership positions with the NASCAR Whelen Modified and Whelen Southern Modified Tours,” NASCAR Tour Series Director Brad Moran said. “Jimmy will bring a wealth of experience to NASCAR’s oldest series, and it will be a great opportunity for Juston, who has done a great job with NASCAR since coming on as the Whelen Southern Modified Tour’s technical director.”

Wilson, 37, has nearly two decades of experience as a stock car racing official. He was a NASCAR Timing & Scoring official for four seasons in the mid-1990s and served as the series director and race director for the USAR Pro Cup Series for 14 years. In two seasons leading the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, the car count increased by an average of five entries per event.

Wilson fills the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour director position that was vacated by the recent appointment of Chad Little to the same position for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Prior to joining the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour officials staff in 2011, Ellis, 33, came to NASCAR with six seasons of experience as pit steward and technical director at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series-sanctioned facility. He graduated from Old Dominion University in 2002 with a degree in civil engineering.

Wilson and Ellis will lead their respective tours for the first time in the non-points UNOH Battle At The Beach, Feb. 18-19 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The NASCAR Whelen Modified and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tours will run a combination race as part of a tripleheader of feature racing action on a .4-mile oval on the track’s backstretch.

The 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points season will commence at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway on April 14, the first of 14 events. The 12-race 2013 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour points season will begin at on March 16 at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C.