Shane McDowell
What off season?
As far as Shane McDowell is concerned, there is hardly such a thing as time off in racing. The highly regarded crew chief spends his time during the winter readying race cars for some of the best known names in dirt racing, or any form of racing for that matter.
The Team Dillon Racing shop located on the campus of Richard Childress Racing houses cars set to be driven by Shane’s brother, Dale McDowell, along with NASCAR stars Austin and Ty Dillon. Dirt Modified cars, Super Late Models and more are prepared in the Welcome, NC facility. The younger of the McDowell brothers oversees the preparation of all those machines.
“It’s busier than the racing season,” McDowell said of the work he does at TDR during the winter months. “You’re trying to rebuild your cars and get all your equipment turned around. It’s not much of an off season by the time you get through the holidays. It’s short, but it’s good to have a little break. About this time of year I’m ready to go back racing.”
Unlike many crew chiefs in dirt racing who only have one type of car to care for, McDowell is charged with preparing everything from Super Late Models to Dirt Modified machines. But the challenge is something he relishes.
“That’s the deal,” McDowell declared in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “It definitely keeps it a challenge, for sure. But at the same time, it makes it fun for me. I’ve done this for a long time. I do some other stuff at RCR, but all the dirt stuff is still what I mainly do. It’s tough and it’s hard to be competitive in that Modified deal here as we’re trying to gear up for that.”
McDowell is charged with preparing both Modifieds and Super Late Models for Ty Dillon
The fact that two of his drivers are NASCAR stars who have other requirements adds to the challenge of preparing those cars. Still, providing the racing brothers with an opportunity to enjoy themselves on dirt before tackling the rigors of the Sprint Cup and Xfinity schedules is the main purpose of TDR’s early season efforts. And when that mission is completed, Dale’s No. 17m Super Late Model machine will hit the track.
“Austin is probably not going to run every night because he’s got some schedule conflicts,” the 42-year-old crew chief explained. “But that’s our main focus right now, to get ready for the Modified deal at Volusia. Once we get through that, we’ll see what we can do down there Late Model racing. It can be hard on our staff and equipment to do both types of racing down there, but it’s what we do.”
Further, McDowell serves as a guide for young RCR development driver Ahnna Parkhurst as she races her Crate Late Model on tracks throughout the South.
Austin Dillon set a new track record in qualifying at Boyd’s Speedway last year in a car prepared by McDowell
All of these preparations combine to make this the most hectic part of McDowell’s year.
“This is the busiest we’ll be all season,” he pointed out. “And we’ve also done Ahnna Parkhurst a couple of cars over the winter trying to get her ready. Bad Boy Off Road is a big supporter of ours and she’s going to run a few more races through Team Dillon Racing so we’ve done her a couple of cars and built her up some spare parts and pieces getting her set for the season.”
Add to all of this another recent development for TDR. In an effort to stay at the leading edge of technological development in the sport and have another car to compare themselves against, the team is in the process of adding a Sweet-Bloomquist Race Car to its fleet.
Dale McDowell’s No. 17m will soon undergo some changes
“There were times where we were on a little bit of an island by ourselves with the Warrior so we just wanted to try something else and see how we do,” McDowell explained. “It’s funny in a way because we’ve been rivals with Scott(Bloomquist) for a long time, but there’s a mutual respect there between us even with the rivalry.”
Look for Dale McDowell to drive the new car in Super Late Model competition at some point in the future. More work will be done on its preparation after this busy time has passed.
As challenging as the off season may be at Team Dillon Racing, McDowell is excited for the chance to begin again in 2016.
“It’s been a busy off season, but it’s time to go now.”
