Surf Cat

Whether it was his grandfather, Sid Dillon, or his father, Sid Dillon Jr., Chase Dillon said practically everyone in his family is a car person.

Although he’s more interested in the driving side than the mechanical, Dillon said he’s still found enjoyment since joining his family’s dealership.

“It’s exciting for me when we get something new and different, and you’re seeing different stuff every day, so it’s cool for me,” he said. “But cars are really a small part of it, it’s kind of the means to how we run our business, as the people are what really make it fun.”

Dillon has been with Sid Dillon since 2014, now employed as executive manager. He lives in Fremont his wife of two years, Sammy, and their 10-month-old son, Kai.

Born and raised in Fremont, Dillon attended Fremont High School, where he was involved in music activities like band and choir and sports like tennis, golf and swim, which he said was his most involved activity.

“Back then, we had two-a-day practices almost every day, so you’re spending all of your time with these people before school and after school and stuff,” he said. “So it was a lot of fun, and I felt like I was a good swimmer, so that makes it even more fun when you’re excelling.”

After his graduation in 2009, Dillon said he went to a couple of different colleges before finding his footing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

As well as colleges, Dillon said he also struggled to find a major before realizing his passion lay with advertising and marketing.

“I was kind of thinking that business was what I would study in school, and I liked business, but math and economics and all that was not real enjoyable for me,” he said. “Advertising is similar, I think, in a lot of ways, as it’s just more creative, as opposed to all the numbers.”

Although he was involved in a few organizations on campus, including giving tours of UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, Dillon said the one that made the most impact was his involvement with Young Life, a youth ministry program with college and high school students.

“It’s supposed to be less intimidating than showing up to a church, and it’s more like you’re just hanging out with your friends,” he said. “You kind of earn somebody’s trust that way, and if you can have a conversation about Christianity and Jesus, that’s icing on the cake.”

Dillon said the organization gave him long-lasting relationships to this day with the other members. The organization also allowed him to attend summer camps and work at them as well, teaching ski and wakeboarding and doing maintenance in Colorado and Canada.

“That was a lot of fun working there, and different groups of high school kids would come every week,” Dillon said. “So that was a big part of my college career, was being involved in Young Life.”

During his high school and college career, Dillon also worked part time at Sid Dillon, where he would wash cars, drive a parts delivery truck and do other odd jobs.

But after his graduation from UNL with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations in 2014, Dillon came back to the family business and started a full-time position as a service adviser.

Sid Dillon founded the dealership in 1973, which has since expanded to two locations in Fremont, as well as locations in Lincoln, Wahoo, Blair, Crete, Elkhorn and Ceresco.

As a service adviser, Dillon said he was essentially the “middleman,” as he brought the needs of customers to the mechanics.

“You’re kind of the people-facing side of the job, you kind of work between the mechanics and the customer and just figure out how to help the customer out with their car service,” he said. “If the car’s broken down, you’re the guy that gets the frustration taken out on them, or you just answer the phone, schedule service appointments, that kind of thing.”

After about a year-and-a-half in this position, Dillon started work with the company’s marketing and IT department in Omaha, which handled all of Sid Dillon’s computer-related matters.

“There’s a lot of different things that go on behind the scenes on how you take a picture of a car and then it ends up on our website and you price it,” he said. “And in doing marketing stuff related to that, we worked on where we’re going to place ads and kind of what’s working, what’s not, how we’re getting leads on car sales, that kind of thing.”

Dillon spent another year-and-a-half in this role before returning to Fremont, where he worked as a car salesman for another two years. But in 2019, one of the company’s managers stepped into a retirement role, while another had to step down due to illness.

“So there was kind of the need for somebody to step into a management role, and I kind of moved into that sales manager, general manager kind of role,” Dillon said. “And it’s kind of evolved from there into what I’m doing currently, which is managing all of our stuff that goes on in Fremont.”

In his current role, Dillon said he mainly works with employees on matters like employment and customers with the service department or sales floor in order to make sure the company runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

“I just kind of have my finger on kind of a lot of different things that go on with the business, just making sure we’re getting things done the way they need to be done and that we’re not dropping the ball on anything,” he said. “And also that we’re doing everything we can to help the business grow and help our employees be the best that they can be.”

Some of the employees at Sid Dillon have been with the company longer than Dillon has been alive, something he said that’s amazed him.

“A lot of guys have spent their careers here, working for one car dealership, which is pretty cool,” he said. “You look at something like that and you think if somebody’s willing to stay here for a 35-year career, or a 20-year career, then it must be a good place to work.”

Dillon said he’s also noticed and is looking forward to a recent shift at Sid Dillon in the age of the employees.

“We’re kind of at the point right now where a lot of the guys who have worked here for a while are nearing retirement age or have already retired, and we’re getting some younger people involved and hiring some younger people in all kinds of different roles, so that’s been fun,” he said. “I guess I still consider myself a young guy, so it’s good to work with a bunch of young people in an increasing amount.”

But no matter who works at Sid Dillon, Dillon said he and the others always try to have fun and brighten each other’s days.

“The people you work with, I’m with them probably more than I’m with my family, so it’s important that you get along, you treat each other well and make sure that everybody’s getting taken care of at work,” he said. “Because you’re with them so much, you might as well enjoy the time you spend together.”

Dillon said he’s come a long way since joining Sid Dillon, including his marriage and son’s birth. But he said he’s also come far as a person, as he didn’t initially believe he’d be working for the dealership.

“It was always kind of a backup plan, that I could always work for the family business,” he said. “But kind of how it turned out, I started working in the service department, and as I’ve worked through the years, I’ve kind of realized that there’s a lot of things that maybe I’ve picked up on just being around this business for most of my life that have kind of helped me out along the way.”

Rich Eyler, general manger at Sid Dillon, said he’s known Dillon for 15 years, long before working side-by-side at the company.

“He has a lot of the attributes that makes this company successful,” he said. “He’s learned from his family and just does a really nice job of continuing the family philosophy.”

Eyler said Dillon was a perfect fit for the company, as he is hardworking, compassionate, motivated and self-driven.

“He’s done a great job of learning from his family, his father, his grandfather, and learning how to run a business as they have,” he said. “And he’s done a great job of soaking that in and looking for improvements daily.”

Most importantly, Dillon said his time at Sid Dillon has made him feel more confident in his abilities, including being able to solve problems that come up at the business.

“It feels good when you know what you’re doing,” he said. “And not to say I really know what I’m doing. Sometimes, I’m making it up as I go along, but I’ve been around long enough that I feel like I can handle any situation that’s thrown at me.”

With his time in the Fremont community, Dillon said the area is the perfect place to run a business. He also said he was excited to see growth and changes coming to the city in the future.

“I’ve been here for a long time, long enough that I feel like I really know the town, but I’m still learning and I’m still meeting people,” he said. “It’s still changing and growing, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity in Fremont, no matter what you do. It’s just a good place to live.”

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