Shawn Ellington was born in Merced California in 1977. He moved to Sayre Oklahoma in 1982 where he grew up sweeping up in the auto body shop that his dad Richard owned. Working around the shop his dad taught him a lot about cars. They had a few hobby cars that they enjoyed working on together, and they were always tinkering around with ways to make them faster. Now that Shawn is a dad himself he enjoys working in the shop with his dad and his son Aiden. They have several project cars, including a 1955 Chevy, but his heart is in the Murder Nova. He is in his element when he sits in the car before a race. He feels at home there. He says there isn’t a greater adrenaline rush in the world than screaming down the street in the Murder Nova.