Not many years ago, it was pretty obvious even to a casual observer that even when he was at work in the Sprint Cup garage, Richard Childress was grandfather to Austin and Ty Dillon first and team owner second.
Once at Talladega Superspeedway, as Childress’ drivers were returning to the garage after incidents on the track with tempers flaring all around, Childress patiently waited for young Austin and Ty to safely climb down from atop the team hauler before going to check on his cars and drivers.
Now as Childress returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Oral B 500, he still has the same priorities, although the grandsons — the sons of Childress’ daughter Tina and her husband Mike Dillon — are now racing some of Childress’ cars in NASCAR’s elite circuits.
Austin, the oldest at age 24, is a Sprint Cup rookie driving the Chevrolet that carries the iconic No. 3 first used by Childress himself but made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt. Ty, 22 , is a Nationwide Series regular is his own No. 3, but he’s set to make his Sprint Cup debut in a No. 33 Chevrolet fielded by Circle Sport with support from Richard Childress Racing.
Even though he’s now their car owner, the boys still call their grandfather “Pop Pop,” and the family ties are just as strong.
Eddie Wood, who like Childress is part of a three-generation racing family and who recently hired another three-generation racer Ryan Blaney to drive his family’s No. 21 Ford, said he’s impressed by how grounded the Dillon boys are despite their position in the sport.
“Between Richard and Mike and their mama they’ve done a really good job raising those boys,” Wood said. “They have a lot of respect for what Richard has done, and they’re appreciative of the opportunities they’ve gotten. And they’re close to him. You can see that. There’s a really good family bond there.”
Austin Dillon said that bond has helped him deal with the pressure that comes from taking over one of the iconic cars in NASCAR.
“Learning from my grandfather has helped a lot,” he said. “It’s a great relationship between all of us because we are able to talk to each other and understand that we’re all putting in a hard effort.”
Still, it’s much more of a business relationship today, and Pop Pop has helped the boys there, too.
“Being around him, he shown us that the biggest thing is knowing how important it is to be good on and off the track and to represent your people well,” Austin Dillon said.
Although it would have been natural for his grandsons to pursue racing careers from the start, family members, including their grandfather, pushed the Dillons to try other sports first.
“I really appreciate that because we got to experience a lot of different things growing up,” Austin said. “The passion for racing is really strong because of that.”
Ty Dillon’s win earlier this year in a Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis showed just how close the family is as TV cameras caught the reactions of family members like Austin, who was shown leaping for joy as his brother crossed the finish line for his first win in that series.
He said his grandfather stood solidly behind him not just in Victory Lane at Indy but also as he struggled early in the season.
“He’s let me know all year that he believes in me and that we’re capable of winning races and the championship,” he said. “Now we’re really taking off as team.”
And like his brother, Ty knows that win or lose, it’s still family that matters most to the car owner.
“He’s our grandfather first, and then he’s the boss,” Ty said. “It’s pretty cool to have that. Even with our passion for the sport, it’s always family first.
“That’s something that he’s taught us from a young age, and he’s led by example.”
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