Being a part of the racing world automatically entitles a person to a hectic lifestyle, and Bob Dillner is no exception. As a TV Commentator for Speed Channel, owner of BDI Racing and Speed51.com, a husband, and a father of three, two of which are racecar drivers, “hectic” does not even begin to cover his lifestyle.

Auto racing was introduced to Dillner as an infant. His father, Bob, Sr., having been a figure-8 driver was enough reason to make continuous visits to the track. Even after Dillner Sr. had to quit racing when the money got tight, the trips to the tracks throughout the Northeast never ended. That was their family entertainment. Dillner's mom, dad, and little brother all had a passion for the sport that never wavered.

As a teenager, Dillner began to write stories on the races he traveled to see. His parents were the ones that convinced him that they were good enough to send into a few racing publications and go from there. That was all it took to snag his first job as a journalist with Area Auto Racing News, the leading short-track racing publication in the Northeast. This followed through college and he eventually landed a job at local news station in his hometown on Long Island , New York . The job developed into his own TV Show, “Trackside Long Island,” which first aired on his wedding day in 1992.

 


From then on his job path took many twists and turns, ending up in Concord, North Carolina with a job as TV Commentator at SPEED. He created Speed51.com with two of his friends and it soon became the leading asphalt short track racing news website in America. Having exposed his family to auto racing throughout his career, his oldest daughter, Meghan, convinced him to let her test a Bandolero car. Once she began racing regularly, the racing bug officially hit Dillner as a team owner – thus the beginning of BDI Racing.

BDI Racing's shop now homes a Late Model, three Pro Challenge cars, two Legends cars, three Bandoleros, and one quarter midget, which is driven by his six year old son, Blaise. Although his middle daughter, Kaitlyn doesn't race a car, she and his wife, Meredith, still come to the track to bring support, and they turn the business into the family environment that Dillner had as a kid. And even though it can be chaotic at times, Dillner still manages to combine his work, his passion, and his family into one big aspect… his life.