Without a doubt, the biggest and most surprising news to come out of the most recent Dirt Late Model racing off-season was the departure of Josh Richards from his father’s Rocket Chassis house car to take up residence in the Best Performance Motorsports ride. And soon after the younger Richards left the Shinnston, WV shop that builds the famous chassis, Brandon Sheppard was named as the replacement for the reigning World of Outlaws Late Models champion.
Josh Richards won his first race with his new team on Saturday at Golden Isles
Sheppard, who drove for Best last season, will compete for the WoO Late Models title in 2017 while Richards hopes to earn a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship in the coming campaign. Both teams will employ the Rocket XR1 chassis.
While it is still very early into the 2017 season, it can already be said that the exchange of drivers by the two organizations has been a win-win situation…literally.
On Saturday night at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, GA, the 28-year-old Richards earned his first win for his new team in a $12,000 LOLMDS event on the opening weekend of Georgia/Florida SpeedWeeks by outrunning the likes of Scott Bloomquist, Brandon Overton, Brian Shirley and Jonathan Davenport.
Brandon Sheppard won on Monday night at East Bay
Sheppard, who has driven the Rocket house car in Richards’ absence on previous occasions, came back to match the feat of Richards on Monday night in a non-points Lucas Oil feature at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa. The Illinois driver earned $5,000 by beating out Earl Pearson, Jr., Devin Moran, Kyle Bronson and Brian Shirley.
Granted, there is much more racing to do in 2017, but almost certainly, both of these drivers and teams will contend for the championships in their respective series. And just as certainly, there will be more feature wins in the futures of both drivers.
