Brandon Sheppard (1) and Jimmy Owens(20) used momentum gained in Volusia to go on to big seasons.
In each of the past two racing seasons, a driver who started off his season on somewhat of a cool note suddenly got red hot during the Late Model portion of the DIRTcar Nationals then went on to have a stellar year. In 2019 it was Brandon Sheppard who experienced a boost coming out of Volusia Speedway Park while Jimmy Owens was the beneficiary of a surge gained from winning multiple ‘Gators’ in 2020.
Being that there are no scheduling conflicts, drivers from both the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be on hand for this week’s action at Volusia. These races attract what are essentially crown jewel quality fields which, of course, means the competition level will be extremely high. It also means that the confidence level of any driver or team who can get on a roll and end SpeedWeeks on a good note can carry that momentum into the remainder of the season.
Sheppard and his Rocket Chassis house car team had not gotten off to a particularly inspiring start to the 2019 campaign as the No. 1 machine did not win a feature in its first eight outings. But in the final four races held on the Barberville, FL clay oval, the familiar blue Late Model knew nothing but victory.
Those four consecutive triumphs then propelled Sheppard and his team to one of the most memorable seasons in the history of Dirt Late Model racing. The New Berlin, IL driver not only went on to win the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series title but he would eventually grab a total of 24 checkered flags, including three separate wins that each paid $100,000 or more to the victor.
Sheppard won 18 of the 41 WoO Late Models features contested that season.
In 2020, it was Owens who used the momentum gained from a strong finish to SpeedWeeks to go on to an outstanding season. After failing to visit victory lane in their first eleven events, the Ramirez Motorsports Rocket team got on a roll at Volusia.
The Newport, TN driver, who had not experienced overwhelming success previously in his Late Model career on the track located near Daytona Beach, achieved three consecutive victories in World of Outlaws Late Model Series-sanctioned competition. Owens would go on to capture the Lucas Oil Series championship along with 20 overall feature wins in the pandemic-impacted season.
The No. 20 team eventually won 11 LOLMDS races in 2020, including the $40,000 Topless 100 at Batesville(AR) Motor Speedway.
Ironically, those same two drivers find themselves in similar situations and will pull into Volusia Speedway Park this week looking for the same type of boost from the DIRTcar Nationals. To date, neither has captured a winner’s trophy so far in Florida SpeedWeeks. At the same time, stars such as Jonathan Davenport, Scott Bloomquist, Darrell Lanigan, Tim McCreadie, Bobby Pierce, and Dennis Erb, Jr. are among those who will be seeking their first wins of Florida SpeedWeeks.
Getting on a roll this week is not a must, but going into the “grind” of the regular season will be made much easier for teams returning to their home shops to recover from their time in the deep south and to prepare for whatever comes next.
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