Dillon McCowan

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FEATURE

MODIFIED

DILLON MCCOWAN

Words and Pictures by Greg Stanek

IT WAS A LONG CAMPAIGN and it came down to the very last few races of the USRA season to determine whether Dillon McCowan would achieve his ultimate goal – USRA champion. Regardless of that outcome, McCowan had a truly breakout season in which the youngster from tiny Urbana, Missouri, (pop: 414) was a dominant force in the USRA A-mod division this year and reached double digit wins during a season-long battle with Minnesota’s Dustin Sorenson.

Dillon is your typical kid growing up in the Midwest. He loves to hunt, fish and ride four wheelers on the family cattle farm. During the week he attends school and works the farm. From feeding to baling hay, he stays very busy. Mom and dad may provide the ride, but he works very hard to earn that right to have and drive a race car.

Week nights, after school and work on the farm is done, he works in the shop on his race cars along with his dad, and little brother Devin who is known as “The crew chief” and family friend Ryan Lewis.

Dillon gets his interest and love of racing from his grandpa, who owned several cars during his lifetime. “His grandpa got this whole mess started,” Charlie McCowan said. “Mom and I were like No....No....but we just took up with the deal and rolled with it.”

On weekends you will find Dillon at one of several local dirt tracks running door handle to door handle with some of the best modified drivers in the country. At just 17 years old, this young man has put together quite a resume in a very short period of time.

Racing against some of the best drivers in the nation like Kris Jackson, J.C. Morton, Andy Bryant, Ryan Gillmore, Dillon has earned the respect of veteran drivers across the country. “Dillon comes from a good family and is extremely well mannered and that follows him out on the race track,” said two-time USRA B-Mod National Champion Kris Jackson. “ He is easy to race with. He doesn’t come out here to beat your sides off, he just wants to go fast and race.... he is just a really good kid and I am glad to race with him every week.” Some of that “well mannered” racing

style can be credited to Charlie. When Dillon first got into a big car at 12 years old, his dad had him start in the back of the pack so he could learn how to pass clean and how to hold his line. “He has always been good at holding his line which I think goes back to his kart racing days and he is very good at looking down the track. That is something I beat into his head from early on.” said Charlie. “He has always drove clean and anytime he would get into someone I made him go apologize for getting into them but I believe his best attribute as a driver is his ability to hold his line and always be looking down the track. It is just a good opportunity for him to race in this class and be able to learn from some of the best drivers in the country.”

Dillon started racing at the age of six in 2009 running KTM dirt bikes before he moved on to karts at Lebanon Midway Speedway, where he won the track championship in his division in 2011 and again in 2012. After the 2012 season, Lebanon dropped the karts and Dillon found himself with no place to race.

He sat out for a couple of years before he started racing an S-10 mini-stock in 2016 at the age of 12. He stayed in that class until he moved up to the Midwest Mod class for the last two months of the season. He spent the entire 2017 season in a Midwest Mod and had eight top-

five finishes and become the youngest feature winner in the series history at that time, when he took the checkers at Springfield Raceway.

He started the 2018 season in a Midwest Mod but made the transition over to a B-mod halfway through the season. It was in that division where things started to come together for the young driver. “I knew the competition would be a lot stronger in the B-mod class, but I also knew it would make me a better driver in the long run.” Although he did not pick up a feature win in 2018, Dillon still had a very successful first season running with the USRA B-Mods. He had seven top fives and 25 top tens in 50 starts as well as finishing sixth in points at Lebanon Midway Speedway and 19th in points at Lucas Oil Speedway. However, the real highlight of his 2018 season provided a glimpse into what the future may hold for this young driver came at I-35 Speedway in Winston Missouri at the USRA Nationals. “I feel going to the USRA Nationals taught me a lot that year. It was a big accomplishment to have two top fives and a top ten finish and two heat race wins. I started making my own calls on the car set up late in the year and have really learned how the car works,” The next year saw more success for young McCowan, picking up where he left off. On a Friday Night at Lebanon Midway Speedway, he got his first feature win with defending USRA National Champion Kris Jackson in hot pursuit. “Kris is hard to beat there; I didn’t think I would be able to win there because he is so good, but we finally got it pulled off. It’s been a long time coming.... we have been needing it, the whole team has. It was just a lot of fun.” He got two more wins and the track title in the USRA B-Mod’s at Lebanon Midway Speedway. When the 2020 season finally got rolling after the whole COVID-19 shutdown, he came out of the gate on fire. He finished the year with 17 USRA B-Mod Feature wins along with an IMCA A-mod win. He picked up up his second track championship at Lebanon Midway Speedway as well as being the USRA B-Mod Central Region Champion and finished fourth overall in the USRA B-Mod National points.

Starting out the 2021 season, Dillon was driving the USRA B-mod and also had purchased a USRA A-mod with plans of running both cars all year. A month into the season, he decided it would be best to concentrate on one car and decided to go A-mod racing full time and sell the B-mod. He immediately got right into the season-long point chase.

Being a young driver, most would think he shows up to the track and drives the

Dillon hitches a ride with his father Charlie through a busy pit area.

car and is done with it until the next race. That is not the case at all. Dillon is very hands on and very involved in the day to day operations of the team.

His father told him “if we are going to do this racing deal, he was not going to be one of those drivers who just shows up at the track with his helmet and drives, he was going to learn how to work on the car and do everything that needs to be done on it.”

Dillon has done just that. He has gone from helping Charlie and the crew work on the car to being the only person sometimes working on the car. When we caught up with Dillon for this story he was in the shop, by himself, putting a new motor in his A-mod that had just arrived.

Dillon has also started making his own bodies for the race car as well as making bodies for a few other local racers “He knows every nut and bolt on that car. Ryan and I are there to help but he does all of his own maintenance on the car himself. He needs to learn what that car does and if he doesn’t, he is not going to make a good driver.” said Charlie. “We spend a lot of time together in the shop or at the races and Devin is a big part of this team and helps out whenever we need it but at the end of the day Dillon is the one who does most of the work on his car.”

Dillon is a very humble young man and takes nothing he has for granted. “I feel very honored to be able to race with some of the best drivers in the nation. Jackson, Gillmore, Bryant and Morton just to name a few. Some of them have given me great advice and helped me throughout my career... I look up to all of these guys. They have raced me hard and not cut me any slack and that has made me a better driver.” Dillon said. “I just go out and try to be consistent and win some races and have fun. I could not do this without my mom, dad and my little brother, grandpa and Ryan Lewis. I really appreciate everything they do.”

When prodded on what he would change looking back over the last several years of racing, Charlie McGowan had this to say, “I’m thankful we did it. It’s taught him a lot. He has way more mechanical ability at his age than I do at mine. He gets to race and learn from some of the best driver’s in the nation on a weekly basis. I’m proud of him.... very proud of him. It’s a very humbling deal, which anyone who races knows. It’s got highs and lows but it’s been great. Mom is even 100% behind it now. It’s nerve racking when you send your kid out there at 12 when he first started or anytime.... but I have learned to enjoy it more. I can breathe a little more now watching him than when he started. It’s been fun.” We never know what the future holds but it is safe to say that Dillon McCowan’s is primed for success. He is a great young man with a supportive family and a ton of talent behind the wheel of a race car. Stay tuned. This kid is going to be one to watch.