Mike Dillon (racing driver)

Mike Dillon
Born	Michael Dillon (1965-02-01) February 1, 1965 Lexington, North Carolina
NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	66th (1998)
First race	1998 California 500 (Fontana)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
154 races run over 7 years
Best finish	12th (1998)
First race	1995 Sundrop 400 (Hickory)
Last race	2001 Cheez-It 250 (Bristol)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 15 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
3 races run over 2 years
Best finish	79th (1999)
First race	1997 GM Goodwrench / Delco 300 (Phoenix)
Last race	1999 DieHard 200 (Milwaukee)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

Mike Dillon (born February 1, 1965) is an American former professional stock car racing driver for Richard Childress Racing, and the current general manager for the team after having raced in all three national series. He is the son-in-law of Richard Childress.

Racing career

Winston Cup Series

Dillon made one Cup Series start in his career. Subbing for the injured Mike Skinner, he qualified the No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet in the 27th position in the 1998 Fontana race. Dillon struggled in the race, finishing 35th, 11 laps down.

Dillon also competed in the 1997 Mountain Dew Southern 500 as a relief driver for Dale Earnhardt, finishing the race after Earnhardt blacked out on the first lap.

Busch Series

Dillon made his NASCAR debut in 1995. That year he ran five of twenty-six races for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 12 Kennametal/Salem National Lease Chevrolet, making his debut at Hickory, where he started 12th and finished 16th. He would make his next start at Myrtle Beach, getting his first career top-10 starting spot of 9th, before leading 5 laps en route to a 17th-place finish. He would then follow it up with an 18th place result at South Boston Speedway. Dillon crashed out of the other two races, with a 42nd at Charlotte and 29th at Rockingham. However, he did beat his best career start with an 8th place start in Charlotte.

Dillon ran for NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year in 1996 in the No. 72 Detroit Gasket Chevy for Parker Racing, but only made 21 of 26 races and struggled to 23rd in points. He earned his first career top-10 of 10th at South Boston.

Dillon made all the races in 1997, and finished 15th in points. Still running in the #72, Dillon scored his first career top-5 at Dover. He also added on a pair of 6th and a 10th to have 4 top-10 finishes. Dillon set his career best start of 4th at Richmond, and also led 21 laps at Gateway before a late crash.

Dillon's best career season came in 1998. He had 2 top-5s and 7 top-10s en route to 12th in points. The two top-5s were a 4th at Hickory (led 54 laps) and a 5th at Watkins Glen International.

In 1999, he moved to the #59 Kingsford team owned by ST Motorsports. He did not qualify for two of the races and that relegated him to 16th in the final points. In addition, Dillon only had one top-10, with a 7th place coming at Watkins Glen. Despite the lack of top-10s, Dillon stayed in 16th in points largely because he finished all but two of his races.

In 2000, Dillon moved back to Richard Childress Racing (RCR), driving the newly formed #21 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. Dillon did not improve that much, as he did not qualify for the season ending race at Miami, and his best finishes were a pair of top-10s. (9th at Daytona and 8th at Dover). The result was 23rd in points.

Dillon's driving career ended in 2001 after getting injured in a wreck at Bristol Motor Speedway. Before then, Dillon had no top-10s and his best 2001 finish was 18th at Atlanta. The following was a quote from RCR:

"Richard Childress Racing (RCR) named Mike Skinner as the driver for its BGN #21 Rockwell Automation team this weekend at Texas while fulltime driver Mike Dillon recuperates from injuries sustained from a March 24 crash at Bristol. "Mike (Dillon) took a hard lick at Bristol so he's pretty sore and stiff," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of Richard Childress Racing Enterprises, Inc. "He also took a hard lick a couple of weeks ago testing in Nashville. Everyone knows racing at Texas Motor Speedway can be very tough. So, to do what's best for our team and for Rockwell Automation, we've asked Skinner to step in for now to get the job done." None of Dillon's injuries were serious and a CT scan proved negative. His status will be reevaluated after this weekend."

Dillon was more injured than originally thought, and eventually, Dillon quietly stepped aside from the team. Mike Dillon currently serves as the General Manager of Richard Childress Racing's three NASCAR Cup teams. Beginning in 2007, Dillon was the spotter for the Richard Childress owned #33, then driven by Clint Bowyer.

Craftsman Truck Series

Dillon made three career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, all for Richard Childress. In 1997, Dillon made his debut at Phoenix driving the #33 Realtree Chevy, where he started 29th and finished 26th.

The other two starts were in 1999, running at Watkins Glen and Milwaukee. The 26th in '97 would remain his best finish as he finished 30th at the Glen and 32nd at Milwaukee. However, he did set his career best start of 24th at Watkins Glen.

Personal life

Dillon's sons Austin and Ty compete in the NASCAR Cup Series. Mike is the son-in-law of Richard Childress.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NWCC	Pts
1997	Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	TEX	BRI	MAR	SON	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	CAL	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR RL†	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	ATL		NA	-
1998		31		DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL 35	CLT	DOV	RCH	MCH	POC	SON	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	NHA	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	DAY	PHO	CAR	ATL	66th	58
† – Relieved Dale Earnhardt in race.

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NBSC	Pts
1993				DAY	CAR	RCH	DAR	BRI	HCY	ROU	MAR	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	TAL	IRP	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	ROU	CLT	MAR	CAR	HCY DNQ	ATL						NA	-
1995	Richard Childress Racing	12	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY 16	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB 17	GLN	MLW	TAL	SBO 18	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT 42	CAR 29	HOM								54th	449
1996	Parker Racing	72	Chevy	DAY 15	CAR 32	RCH 23	ATL 14	NSV 20	DAR 26	BRI DNQ	HCY 26	NZH 25	CLT DNQ	DOV 38	SBO 10	MYB 21	GLN 19	MLW 33	NHA 23	TAL 29	IRP 21	MCH 35	BRI	DAR 22	RCH 18	DOV 28	CLT DNQ	CAR 15	HOM DNQ								23rd	1945
1997				DAY 18	CAR 31	RCH 14	ATL 26	LVS 10	DAR 27	HCY 16	TEX 13	BRI 31	NSV 34	TAL 15	NHA 35	NZH 21	CLT 14	DOV 19	SBO 15	GLN 18	MLW 31	MYB 6	GTY 19	IRP 11	MCH 38	BRI 30	DAR 39	RCH 16	DOV 4	CLT 33	CAL 6	CAR 23	HOM 21				15th	3008
1998				DAY 24	CAR 8	LVS 7	NSV 42	DAR 6	BRI 31	TEX 14	HCY 4	TAL 17	NHA 19	NZH 15	CLT 21	DOV 15	RCH 37	PPR 24	GLN 5	MLW 16	MYB 20	CAL 10	SBO 16	IRP 14	MCH 13	BRI 40	DAR 40	RCH 26	DOV 19	CLT 18	GTY 32	CAR 7	ATL 33	HOM 24			12th	3250
1999	ST Motorsports	59	Chevy	DAY 18	CAR 19	LVS DNQ	ATL 13	DAR 34	TEX 28	NSV 18	BRI 32	TAL 26	CAL 13	NHA 32	RCH 13	NZH 21	CLT DNQ	DOV 16	SBO 27	GLN 7	MLW 35	MYB 30	PPR 27	GTY 31	IRP 23	MCH 19	BRI 23	DAR 31	RCH 27	DOV 13	CLT 12	CAR 33	MEM 18	PHO 37	HOM 27		16th	2795
2000	Richard Childress Racing	21	Chevy	DAY 9	CAR 17	LVS 22	ATL 19	DAR 13	BRI 37	TEX 38	NSV 37	TAL 34	CAL 28	RCH 19	NHA 36	CLT 18	DOV 32	SBO 20	MYB 37	GLN 19	MLW 25	NZH 37	PPR 20	GTY 32	IRP 12	MCH 22	BRI 32	DAR 21	RCH 17	DOV 8	CLT 20	CAR 36	MEM 27	PHO 31	HOM DNQ		23rd	2743
2001				DAY 29	CAR 19	LVS 18	ATL 20	DAR 28	BRI 37	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	KEN	MLW	GLN	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	PHO	CAR	HOM	56th	525

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	NCWTC	Pts
1997	Richard Childress Racing	33	Chevy	WDW	TUS	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	NHA	TEX	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	CNS	HPT	IRP	FLM	NSV	GLN	RCH	MAR	SON	MMR	CAL	PHO 16	LVS	114th	85
1999		8		HOM	PHO	EVG	MMR	MAR	MEM	PPR	I70	BRI	TEX	PIR	GLN 30	MLW 32	NSV	NZH	MCH	NHA	IRP	GTY	HPT	RCH	LVS	LVL	TEX	CAL		79th	140

External links

• Mike Dillon driver statistics at Racing-Reference