Four-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Brandon Sheppard has been at every running of the Gateway Dirt Nationals since the inaugural event in 2016, but has yet to taste victory at The Dome at America’s Center.
It typically goes one of two ways: Either he finishes in the top four, or he gets a flat tire.
Last year, Sheppard was scored 16th (DNF) after being caught in a three-car crash. Prior to that, he has finished third, 18th, 19th, second and fourth.
“I’ve had really good luck and I’ve had bad luck,” Sheppard said, cracking a smile. “I told Kevin Rumley the other day after the test was over, I said, ‘Well, I feel pretty good about the car, so I’d say we’re either gonna run top four or we’re gonna have a flat tire.”
Having a flat tire at the Dome, located in St. Louis, is a twofold problem.
First, the most obvious issue — it’s a flat tire. Second, teams are not allowed to change a tire during the 40-lap race as there is no work area, which makes it next-to-impossible for a driver to bounce back from a tire issue.
Could this be his year? Sheppard hopes so.
While he would love nothing more than to take home the $30,000 winner’s check during Saturday night’s finale, Sheppard also recognizes that the Gateway Dirt Nationals are about more than that.
“The Dome is more for the fans and for the show, and it’s really cool. Obviously, we don’t have anything else going on, so we might as well go,” Sheppard said. “I’ve had a lot of fun supporting the event.”
The Dome is approximately an hour-and-a-half from Sheppard’s home base in Springfield, Ill., making it somewhat of a hometown race. But regardless of Sheppard’s surface-level indifference to winning the “show” at the Dome, he is a racer at heart — and every racer shows up to win.
His intent on reaching victory lane this year was evident when he hauled his No. B5 dirt late model to Millbridge (N.C.) Speedway — a one-sixth-mile dirt track that routinely hosts 600cc micro sprints — to do some pre-race testing.
“It was the only place we had access to that was anywhere close to similar in size to the Dome and tight corners and all that,” Sheppard explained.
The Dome is a semi-banked, one-fifth-mile track.
“Obviously the surface is a lot different, but we got to shake the car down and try a few things just for short tracks, that way we could go to the Dome with somewhat of an idea of where we needed to be,” Sheppard said.
He noted his dirt late model took on a bit of minor body damage during the test, due to the narrow constraints of the track.
“We haven’t run that car in a long time, and there’s no practice or anything — we just kind of roll out there and go,” Sheppard said. “So it was good to get the cobwebs shook off of it.”
Prior to the Gateway Dirt Nationals, the Sheppard Riggs Racing team was originally planning to run a dirt late model race at All-Tech Raceway in Florida to help dial in the car setup. However, the event was rained out, leaving Millbridge as the only option for testing.
Sheppard will put his No. B5 entry to the test on Friday night, during his preliminary performance at the Dome, as he chases his first Gateway Dirt Nationals win.
He won his prelim night in 2018, but has yet to join the list of Saturday winners, which includes the likes of Scott Bloomquist, Bobby Pierce, Tyler Carpenter and Tyler Erb.