One can imagine that 50 years from today Carson Dillion will close his eyes and fondly remember what he accomplished on a June night during the 2024 racing season. You see, by his own admission Dillion can easily recall every detail of the biggest moment in his racing career to date.
It was so rewarding he is preparing to do it all over again.
When he says he was tooling around his yard in the quarter midget not long after he was able to walk it is unsurprising. His father Gregg Dillion was no stranger to the speed game. In a time when the color green was still anathema to some in the racing community Gregg was piloting a distinctive green and blue Brit Aero sponsored sprint car as a teammate to Eric Burns. The vast majority of participants in the Riverway Plumbing and Mechanical Huntley’s Hoosier Wing Sprint Car series were not roaming the earth when Dillion was piloting a 410. However, some did go wheel to wheel with him in micros and most suggest that he was almost unstoppable.
Therefore, when Carson showed interest in following in his father’s footsteps he encountered no serious resistance. He started practicing at Terre Haute before he could officially start racing at the age of 5. He stuck with it until 2021 and was extraordinarily successful. “We travelled to Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Las Vegas, and California,” he recalls, “I won the 2015 dirt grands at Terre Haute and in 2019 I won the Heavy Honda Dirt National championship with USAC. We were using a car that AFCO built, and we are still the only AFCO car to win a National Championship on dirt.”
In 2021 he split his time between the quarter midgets and 305 sprint cars. His first appearance in a sprint car came at Bloomington Speedway. “In my first race I finished 4th in the first heat race and started mid-pack in the feature,” he says, “I don’t remember where I finished but I know I fell back because the track slicked off and I didn’t know what to do.”
Like all young drivers, learning to read and adjust to the track is a key ingredient to performance. It is also important to be able to communicate effectively with those in your corner. Gregg Dillion has plenty of experience, and his primary job as a welding instructor at Terre Haute South Vigo High School also speaks to his mechanical proficiency. His job at the racetrack is to keep a close eye on his son and do what he can to help him feel more comfortable in the car.
“I have struggled with what the car is feeling or doing,” Carson says, “I feel like I get out there and I am so zoned in on the racing that it has taken me a little bit to try to think about how the car can be better. What my dad is really good at, and this goes back to quarter midgets was just being able to watch me and he knows what I need to make the car better. I need to know more about what the car is doing so it isn’t so much a guessing game for dad. I feel like I come off the track and dad asks me questions and sometimes I am just throwing stuff out there.”
That may be. But the record shows in 2024 he scored 3 wins and was in the top three in the majority of his races. He just knows he can take another step forward. Yet, more than anything he will remember the night he came out on top at the Kevin Huntley Memorial. “I remember that whole day start to finish,” he says, “I remember in the heat race I passed Jordan Welch on the bottom to win. Then we had a dash, and I started second to Ashton Thompson and led up to one lap to go then Ethan Barrow circled me right through the middle. I started outside on the front row for the feature and Ethan led the first ten laps, but I slowly worked back to him. Then we got into lapped traffic, and I passed him, and we stayed green for the next 10 to 15 laps and I was 5 or six car lengths ahead. Then the caution came out and it all went crazy. Jeff Wimmenauer, Andy Bradley and Ethan were there and suddenly we were three wide and side by side. It was closer than I wanted but in the end it made it even better. As soon as I came off of four to take the checkered I had my hand flying outside the car going crazy. Then your adrenaline sets in, and I was shaking like crazy. I pulled in to go to the scales and I missed them at first.”
Going into the Huntley Carson had scored a win at Jacksonville, and later he was the best at Florence, Kentucky -- but this was special. “It was my first win with the Indiana group, and it may have been my only podium at Bloomington at that point. I used to hate that place because I sucked there.”
With one bucket list item checked off it is time to think about the 2025 edition.
He may be just 19 years old, but with high school behind him he realized that he needed to begin thinking about a career. It turns out he had already developed some skills that with a bit of nurturing could blossom into something meaningful. “All through high school my grandpa did a lot of side work wiring houses, and I would help him,” he says, “then that became a fulltime thing for him, so my first year out of high school I kept working with him. So, four or five months ago I joined the Electricians Union so I am a full time electrician now.”
Earlier this year he was working in Illinois where the distance and a different time zone made it tough to get to Bloomington Speedway on Friday night. Of late he is working south of Terre Haute, thus reducing his logistical challenges. When he was in a real time pinch it turns out he had a backup plan. “My sister Callista is crazy about racing,” he says, “she also raced quarter midgets, so sometimes she is in my car during engine heat, and when they had to iron in the track because of the rain before the IRA sprint car race she was the one that was out there making laps.” She is a remarkable story as well. At the age of five she was diagnosed with Scleroderma, a rare autoimmune disease. She received treatment at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis and is officially in remission. As a Riley kid she served as an honorary pit crew chief with Ed Carpenter Racing during the Indianapolis 500.
Carson is enjoying his time in the winged 305 cars and has scaled back once lofty racing goals. “A few years ago, I thought I would want to do it fulltime,” he says, “and then I travelled with some people, and I got worn out. Before it was always a fun thing for me and when I started doing it more like a job I got a little burned out. I want to keep it where it is fun, do the 305 thing, and maybe run a 410 for other people. I definitely want to keep the electrician stuff going which makes it easier to pay for racing. I would be fine racing the 305s for ten years. It is competitive and I race with some cool guys.”
There are close bonds in this group, in part because many have known each other for years. “Me and Blayne Ridgley have raced together since about 2011,” he says, “We traveled together, and we always parked by each other. It has been like that since we met. Then Dillan Baldwin and Tyson Lady started racing with us. I also raced with Kayla Martin a few times although she mainly ran pavement and I mainly raced on dirt.”
Right now, he’s got a big race to prepare for. He is buoyed by the sense that some early motor issues have been rectified, and a strong 3rd place run at Bloomington on July 11 really bolstered his confidence. Despite having his eye on a major prize, a relationship with a peer trumps every other concern. He knows that Blayne Ridgley is desperate to get his primary car back after it was mangled at Bloomington and he is prepared to roll up his sleeves and get to work alongside his friend. “When Blayne gets that car back I am going down and help them,” he notes, “because they plan on racing that car in the Huntley. They have done a lot for us, so it is only right that I go down there and help them get back going.”
Dillion takes pride in his operation. Sundays are devoted to cleaning, and he admits that he is a bit fussy about the appearance of his racecar. Details matter. Once the cleaning is done his father joins him in the final preparation and discusses the set up for the next race. Right now, he is running well and is anxious to put a few more wins on the resume. He wants to put the Pup Cup on his mantle and also get a win the next night at Paragon Speedway. “I really like Paragon,” he says, “The last four races there I have finished second in all of them and led about 60 laps.” Then there is the rest of the story. “I got passed with four laps to go twice by Ethan,” then he pauses and adds, “he makes everyone better.”
Records don’t lie and given what Carson Dillion has done over the past two seasons he must be installed as one of the pre-race favorites to be $10,000 richer as a Kevin Huntley Memorial winner.
B. Raines Photography and Video photos
Tommy Kelly Photos
- administrator on Jul 16, 2025
- Article Date: 7/16/2025 by Patrick Sullivan