Three-time Lawrenceburg Speedway track champion Nick Bilbee had just completed his night’s work behind the wheel when he heard some interesting news.
It was announced that a $10,000 bonus was available to any driver who could defeat the USAC regulars during the upcoming Fall Nationals at his home track.
Nearly simultaneously, Bilbee received a text from promoter Dave Rudisell confirming this exciting opportunity. He assured Rudisell he would be there and added, “If you give me a good bottom and middle groove to race on, I think I have a chance.”
Bilbee and his father, Dallas, have worked hard to develop a team that can compete in Indiana and away from home. Sure, they lack the resources of a top USAC team, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t proud of what they have accomplished.
Sprint car racing is a part of the family DNA. Nick’s great uncle Dick Newkirk fielded a potent sprint car in the 1990s most notably driven by the late Tony Elliot. Dallas Bilbee served as the crew chief on the Newkirk car, and some of his son’s earliest memories centered on trips in a motorhome on the way to USAC dates.
Nick Bilbee was in love with the sport as a youngster but did not race until he climbed in a 600 mini-sprint at the age of 16. In 2008, he competed in a sprint car for the first time and has been a steady presence since. His story is one that is replicated across the nation.
The plan his family had charted for his career was sound, but then the motorsports world changed.
“When I started racing with my parents, the idea was to run at the local level and maybe open some eyes and to try to earn a ride with someone and that just doesn’t happen anymore,” he said. “Now it is about money and sponsors and it isn’t always about talent. So I started looking around to see where I could run and make the most money in our equipment.”
The track he settled on more than others was Lawrenceburg. Bilbee had raced and won in mini sprints well before the facility underwent a significant facelift. When he returned with a sprint car the track was bigger and faster, but his feeling about the place remained the same.
“I just liked everyone there,” he said. “The staff are great and the safety crew are good down to earth people. The track also had an end-of-the year point fund and that was important, too.”
Every decision he made had to match his racing budget. As he launched his sprint car career the rules were clear.
“If I tore stuff up out of pure stupidity it was up to me to pay for it,” he said. “But if it was just a racing incident my parents would help me.”
It was going to be tight to try to compete on a consistent basis but luckily Bilbee showed a penchant to race up front.
“We had success and I felt I could go there and make a little money,” Bilbee said. “It was simple. If I made money I could go back, but if I broke or tore stuff up, I had to sit out until we had some money again.”
While he may not have realized his dream of racing for another team, he did well enough to get some needed support from outside the family.
This put his program on a stronger footing and wins at places such as Terre Haute and at Eldora Speedway this June underscored that Nick and Dallas were more than a competent duo.
Lawrenceburg is not a track for the meek and Bilbee has heard the suggestion that returning to a quarter-mile configuration would increase the weekly car count. He likes the track the way it is.
“I like that it is bigger,” he said. “Because you can understand speed and closing rates and it makes it easier to pass. Take Bloomington. If you qualify bad there you start in the back and it is easy to get stuck there because it is so hard to pass.”
For blue-collar teams, there are clear downsides to competing at places like Eldora, Terre Haute and Lawrenceburg. Bilbee said track conditions become even more critical when USAC comes to town.
“I would like to think I have a good chance to win every time I go out but when it gets really slick and the groove gets up close to the wall those USAC guys just excel,” he said. “It is just a different mindset. I will be the first to tell anybody it is a scary fast place. It still scares me to this day.”
To win the Fall Nationals would be a tall task but in Bilbee’s mind there is reason for optimism.
“They really have worked hard to give us more track to work with and that makes me more competitive,” he noted. “It is already tough to race with those guys, so you don’t want to be worrying about the racetrack and tearing stuff up. I can’t afford to crash. At the end of the day, me and my parent’s foot the bill and that impacts my decisions about how to race.
“I’m also 33 years old now and crashes hurt a lot more as I get older.”
This has been an unusual year that produced some soul-searching moments.
Justin Owen, the 2022 Lawrenceburg Speedway champion, was killed while qualifying during a USAC sprint car race in April. Understandably, this blow knocked many at Lawrenceburg off their moorings and it came at a particularly poignant time in Bilbee’s life.
“I didn’t think about it a lot at first,” Bilbee recalled. “But then I started getting texts from people reminding me that I had been successful and didn’t have anything else left to prove. There were just so many people who reached out. That’s the great thing about racing. There are sponsors, officials and fans who truly care about you.
“The funny thing is I had already contemplated retiring or stepping back because it had gotten so expensive and then this happened.”
There was also one other important matter.
“I had also gotten married, so now you have people you are responsible for,” he said. “You think differently about life. You know this can happen anywhere and at any time. Then your wife hugs you and that really gets to you.”
Thinking about his long tenure in sprint car racing, Bilbee said, “This is a sport that can really humble you.”
It can. He knows that his win total pales in comparison to the marquee names in the sport.
That doesn’t really matter. When he thinks about capturing three track championships and three Dick Gaines Memorial races, he knows what was required to earn that level of success. He recalls retired racer Kevin Briscoe sharing that while others might forget what you accomplished your family will always remember.
As Bilbee grew older, he gained an appreciation of the sacrifices his parents made to allow him to race. He also thinks of his grandparents who kept statistics on every single race he participated in. More than anything he contemplates one simple fact.
“I have raced with a lot of good guys and some of them have never won a race in their entire life,” Bilbee said.
At the recent 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway Bilbee was joking with a group of USAC officials when he said, “If I win this race tonight, I just might retire.”
It didn’t happen. Could all of this come together at the Fall Nationals at Lawrenceburg Speedway?
Few know this track better than Bilbee, so it is certainly possible for him to score the upset.
As for retirement, Bilbee recently purchased a camper and understands there may be other ways to spend a summer weekend. Do we expect Bilbee to walk away? Not really.
Nonetheless, should he do so, he and his family can hold their heads high.