Mike Bilacic
Mike Bilacic, known to his competitors a (Bilastic), started out his racing career in 1972 at age 14 racing snowmobiles for the local snowmobile dealer. He raced grass drags and was state champ in tow classes. In 1973 he raced dune buggies and decided he’d like to try racing cars at the local track, Whittemore Speedway.
In 1974 he had the car-racing bug and went full time getting his first track championship at Whittemore Speedway. While racing his Sportsman car he was approached by Super late Model car owner, Jim O’Connor, to pilot his car, the O’Connor’s Garage #7 car. This teamed Mike up with long time friend and crew chief Dan Gordon. For the next 23 years Mike raced in the O’Connor’s Garage #7 Car, winning over 150 features.
He also broke over 30 track records, running on dirt and asphalt tracks in and out of the state. He has seven track championships to his title, two at Merritt, two at Whittemore, and One at M113, Mt Pleasant, and Standish Speedways. Mike also ran The Michigan Speedway Promoters Association tour where he finished in the top 10 in the point standings, seven times out of 10 years. He also got the Auto Racing Fan Club Award Twice. He ran in the NDRA dirt Nationals in Kingsport, Tennessee where he qualified 27th out of 190 competing cars.
In 1988, Mike focused his efforts on half-mile asphalt tracks running at Tri City, Auto City, and Owosso Speedways.
One of Mike’s most memorable races was in1989, his 2nd feature win of three in a row at auto city speedway where he broke Ed Howe’s 30-lap elapsed time for the fastest SLM
feature race. 7:43:05 (7 minutes, 43 seconds, 05 hundreds by 1:02.79 (Old record of 8:45:84).
feature race. 7:43:05 (7 minutes, 43 seconds, 05 hundreds by 1:02.79 (Old record of 8:45:84).
When car owner Jim O’Connor passed in1993, car racing took a back seat for Mike, but never losing his drive for the sport. He got back into car racing in 2000 building a car for his son Brad, and himself. He’s married with two children residing in Twining. His shop is always open for anyone that needs a hand. He especially likes helping new young drivers setting up their cars and giving advice. You will still find him at a track and he’s still setting records. He’s gave a lot to the sport of Oval Track Racing and still is today.