With a last name like Elliott, former Ohio resident Mary Lee Elliott likes to have a little fun when it comes to talking about racing.

Elliott was one of 14 lucky Dawson County residents who won a Bill Elliott die-cast model car last week in a giveaway hosted by the Dawson News & Advertiser.

Im sending the car to my son who works in San Francisco, and I told him he can put it on his desk and tell everyone he knows Bill Elliot, Mary Lee Elliott joked. Weve only

lived in Dawson County four years, and when we drove down Elliott Family Parkway on our first visit, my husband and I Iooked at each other and said, Wow. This is it.

An anonymous donor gave the cars to the newspaper after he found them tucked away in a storage area of his chicken house.

And the cars were in pristine condition.

I just wanted everyone to have a Merry Christmas, the elderly gentleman said after the giveaway.

His wish came true.

Winner Jane Clark planned to give the car to her great-grandson, Benjamin Chupp, 4.

At his age, he just loves cars, Clark said. Hell appreciate it more when he gets a little older.

Longtime Dawson County resident Wayne Jordan had a different take on being a winner.

I want to thank the man that donated all these cars, Jordan said. It was so nice of him to do that for the people, and it just meant a lot to me. He said he knew Mildred and George Elliott, and I remember them from when I was a kid. They were just good people.

Ten-year-old Jimmy Fallstrom had already been primed on the fine art of collecting cars.

When asked if he plans to play with the car, he answered, not surprisingly, Heck no. Im a collector.

Car lover Arthur Krug moved to Dawsonville from Michigan with his wife Donna, just to be close to where Bill Elliott grew up and to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.

We wanted to get out of the cold weather in Michigan and could have lived pretty much anywhere, Krug said. My wife researched a lot of areas, and I have a passion for racing and high-performance cars. And knowing Bill Elliott was from here and the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame is here, I wanted to be close to all this.

Krug said hes owned a 1965 GTO, a 1940 Ford, and a 1963 Corvette.

Kaleb Holbrook, a DCHS graduate and a 35th-round draft pick by the L.A. Dodgers, said hes excited to be a winner.

Im hoping to get Bill Elliott to sign it, he said. Thatd be pretty cool.

Could happen. After all, it is Dawsonville.