California Trip a Homecoming For Some

February 25, 2008

By Ron Felix

One of the things I like most when coming to California to cover the NASCAR races is the opportunity to spend some time with family. I grew up in Riverside, California -- just a stones throw from the speedway. My wife also grew in near by Banning, California. So it's a homecoming twice a year for us.

Many of the NASCAR drivers are from California, and they too get to spend some time with their families.

Jeff Gordon, who is nearly almost always listed as hailing from Indiana -- was born and raised in California. His folks moved to Indiana when he was thirteen because it was a state that allowed a thirteen year-old to drive an 800 horsepower dirt monster winged sprint car.

David Gilliland

Casey Mears, son of Roger Mears, is from this area as is David Gilliland, A.J. Allmendinger, Robby Gordon, and Burney Lamar. Jimmie Johnson is from the San Diego area, Kevin Harvick from Bakersfield while Jason Leffler is from the Long Beach part of Los Angeles. Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday Jr. are from the northern part of the state.

Since David Gilliland is from Riverside and I'm from Riverside, it was especially fun to talk with David and get a thumbnail sketch of how he got his start in racing.

I had raced several tracks in southern California, the old San Gabriel Valley Speedway in Irwindale. that was closed in 1977, the old Corona Raceway, a dirt track -- but my main track was the Orange Show Speedway. A tight little quarter-mile in San Bernardino, California.

Gilliland never raced at the Orange Show Speedway, where I got my start in NASCAR in 1970.

"I did some testing there," said Gilliland. "But my dad raced out there when I was a kid."

Gilliland talked about how he got started in racing and it was a bit unusual. He was the crew chief for his father when they won the Winston West title.

"I grew up around racing, said Gilliland. "My dad started when I was too young to remember but he got hurt at Ascot (Speedway) and he took about six years off. When he got back into it, I think about 1984, we started going again. I was about eight years old and I remember going up in the stands at Ascot and I was just loving it. He raced around the area at some dirt tracks and did some late model stuff. From there he went to the Winston West Series and raced that for probably eight or nine years.

"So I just kind of grew up around it and you know I was the kid that went with them. If he left four hours before the grandstands opened I went with them. I stayed in the car until it opened -- I just loved to be around it. From the first minute that I went to the race track I knew it was the only thing I wanted to do, so I'm very fortunate to have grown up around it. I had that opportunity to get it in my blood."

His father, Butch Gilliland, did it the hard way. He worked hard for everything that he got. It was not an easy life for the elder Gilliland.

"As far as the way I started, my dad never had anybody say "Here's a race car, go race it." He always had to build his own race cars," Gilliland said. "You know after working a ten-hour day at his business and then to get the race car ready. That's kind of the path he chose for me too. I didn't get started racing at five years old, driving, I would work on my dad's race cars and would build his race cars."

All the time spent working on his father's cars, he was chomping at the bit to drive himself.

"At the time I was growing up I was thinking, "Man, I wish I could race," at seven or eight years old but it really got me going," Gilliland continued. "I built a dirt car in '97, the year my dad won the Winston West championship and I was his crew chief at the time and I felt I had a good understanding of the cars and we had some success together. I finally started building my own race car, a dirt car and raced it out at Paris Auto Speedway. I just kind of cut my teeth there and moved up from there. From there I went to Late Models to the NASCAR Touring Division, to the Winston West Series to the Busch Series and it took off from there."

"I got married in 1997 and lived in Chino, California for two years and then we moved to Riverside," said Gilliland. "It was the Rubidoux area of Riverside. I bought a house in Riverside with a shop on the back -- probably twice as big as the house. That way I was able to work on my race car at home, be with my family."

"I raced out of my back yard until I got to the Winston West Series, later the Grand National West Series and then we moved the shop to Corona, California. I raced out of that shop but still lived in Riverside and I then got the opportunity with Clay Andrews Racing and won a Busch Series race (At Kentucky Speedway)."

Robert Yates Racing hired him to replace Elliott Sadler in the No. 38 M&M's Nextel Cup Car in August 2006 and it's been a rollercoaster from that moment. He finished out the season, the final 15 races. On October 7, of that year, he qualified on the pole for the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first pole of his career. He won his second career pole at the Daytona 500 in 2007, his first points-paying race at the track, and finished twenty-eighth in Nextel Cup points.