Dirt Track Digest

Sheppard Takes Center Stage at DIRTcar Racing ‘Night of Champions’ in New York

Matt Sheppard and his father Stu Sheppard were all smiles posing with the hardware won on the weekend

VERNON, N.Y. – Nov. 21, 2011 – More than $250,000 in point fund money and related awards were distributed on Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino during the DIRTcar Racing “Night of Champions” celebration, an annual event honoring DIRTcar competitors and teams in the Northeast Region.
After winning his second consecutive Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified championship in his Jeff Brownell-owned Bicknell, Matt Sheppard was also rewarded for winning the Safety-Kleen Mr. DIRTcar Big-Block Modified weekly crown. In all, Sheppard, of Waterloo, N.Y., pocketed more than $50,000 in cash and awards from the year-end DIRTcar Racing Northeast Region point fund for becoming only the sixth driver in history to win back-to-back Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified titles.
“I’ll tell you what, I was watching the video behind the screen and it showed the guys who had won it before and that old footage and it really gives you the chills,” Sheppard said, referencing a highlight video that preceded him being called to the stage that showed past consecutive Big-Block champions Will Cagle, Brett Hearn, Alan Johnson, Jack Johnson and Bob McCreadie. “Those are the guys who are the heroes of the sport. They’ve won countless races, countless championships. To be part of that crowd really makes you take a step back. It’s really special. It says a lot about the Super DIRTcar Series in general. It has such a great history with so many great drivers. There are so few drivers who have won it two years in a row it just shows how steep the competition is.”