Carrying on the family legacy, Austin Dillon committed to doing best in NASCAR
Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon is making select appearances this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Austin Dillon has the pedigree to be a success in racing, for he is the grandson of team owner Richard Childress and son of former driver Mike Dillon.
At 19 years old, Austin is just getting started in his NASCAR career. Why? Because he didn’t get truly interested in becoming a driver until just a few years ago.
And it wasn’t because his family sheltered him from the sport they were in. No, Austin has been around NASCAR his entire life, going to the track to watch Richard Childress Racing win races and championships and following his dad’s driving career, too.
Austin, though, was into other sports as a youngster, playing basketball and baseball from an early age to his teen-age years.
“What we’ve always done is, ‘Whatever you do, you’re going to commit to something and do it. Finish it and follow it through,’” Mike Dillon said.
If the baseball team was having a bad season, you have to stick with it, his parents told him. So Austin learned perseverance.
Austin was pretty good at baseball, playing second base for the Forsyth County (N.C.) team that reached the 2002 Little League World Series.
But a few days after he turned 16, Austin caught a race on television.
“I didn’t really get interested [in driving] until one day we were watching TV and there were these little cars called Bandoleros on,” Austin said. “It was Humpy [Wheeler’s] series, so we went over there, and my grandfather set us up a test for me and my brother [Ty].
“And we loved it, and ever since, we’ve been on.”
That’s the way he was raised. Once you pick something to do, you commit to it and don’t waver from it. Baseball and basketball soon went by the wayside.
“He’s been very committed,” Mike said. “They played stick-and-ball sports when they were younger. Now, they’re committed to racing, and everything else is gone. It was either one or the other. You can’t put the effort into [both sports] that it takes to be successful.”
Austin won races in Bandoleros and soon moved to Legends cars, another 600 Racing series founded by former Lowe’s Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler.
And Austin won in Legends, too. His dad wanted him to get experience in all kinds of race cars, so he drove dirt Late Models, asphalt Late Models, UMP Modifieds, just about anything he could get in.
For 2008, RCR ran him in the NASCAR Camping World East Series, where Austin won a race as a rookie and finished second in the season standings.
He also made his debut in the Nationwide Series, running two races for the potent RCR team, including a fourth-place finish in his second start at Memphis.
This year, he’s run three races and will attempt to make this weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway.
But Michigan will be his last race for a while. See, Austin is going off to college.
Well, he’s not going too far off, as it were. He’ll attend High Point University to study communications. And while he’s living in a dorm in college, he’s only 25 minutes from home.
“If I get homesick or something, I can just roll down the road and see everybody,” Austin said. “It’d be pretty easy.”
Of course, that works both ways. Mom and dad can drop in at any time.
“They’ll be trying never to leave me,” Dillon said. “My dad already said he’s going to have to move in. We’ll have to see. I might have to kick him out.”
Austin is studying communications because “It’s a different part of the business, and you’ve got to learn a little bit of everything.”
“Hopefully, one day, if racing doesn’t work out, it’s a good part to be in,” Austin said. “My grandfather was really stressing it that he wanted us to go to college, to be the first from our family going there.”
Austin balked at going to college at first, but then understood why.
“But I also realized it would be a good opportunity for me,” Austin said. “It would be fun to go out there and do it. As much as I love racing, I’m still going to be able to go race and do the things I love.”
In high school, Austin often spent Fridays day-dreaming of being at the race track.
“I was always wanting to get to the race track,” Dillon said. “Luckily, this year, I’m not going to have any Friday classes.”
High Point University sponsored Dillon at the race at Iowa Speedway recently, but that’s the only privilege he gets. He’ll have to study hard to make good grades.
“They’re still going to be tough on me, just like any other student,” Austin said.
College won’t necessarily derail his career, though. RCR wants to run him full time in one of its Nationwide cars, so college may have to be postponed next year if sponsorship is found.
“Obviously, sponsor dollars are doing to dictate what we do there,” Mike said. “I think he needs to run a full-time series. We’re looking at Nationwide, and if that doesn’t come through, I’d like to run the Truck series. It just depends on what kind of dollars we can put together.”
Whatever Austin does next year, he’ll do it 100 percent, whether it’s college or racing.
If it’s racing, Austin could get the chance to prove how good he is.
“Austin’s got the heart,” Mike said. “He’s put the time in to studying and trying to work. He never wanted anybody to beat him in anything. If he can figure it out, he can be as good as he wants to be.”
