DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A veteran driver credits teamwork for scoring his first dual NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championships.
Gord Shepherd, 34, of Hawkestone, Ontario, won the 2013 provincial championship and Barrie (Ontario) Speedway's NASCAR Limited Late Model track championship. He previously won the track title in 2009.
"I owe these championships to my team," Shepherd said. "The biggest thing was working hard so the car was better prepared. We had a good car. We had the fastest car most of the season. The simple fact is that all my guys and I have fulltime jobs but they were dedicated to winning these championships. They're a great bunch of guys."
Barrie Speedway's schedule keeps teams busy. Limited Late Models run double features every week. Shepherd's 2013 racing record shows he competed in 32 feature races that produced nine wins, 29 top-fives and 32 top-10s.
"We don't qualify. Line-ups come from a three week point average so the top cars start in the back," Shepherd said.
"Barrie had 18-20 cars a week in 2013 and this year there should be even more," Shepherd said. "The track is making a big turn-around."
He won Barrie's championship by 45 points and the province title by 57, both over 2011 track and province champion Ron Quesnelle.
Shepherd drove the same Port City chassis he won his first Barrie championship in back in 2009.
"A lot of people have more funding than us," Shepherd said. "We built our car and we maintain it."
Shepherd attended his first races at Barrie as a toddler. His uncle Terry Barr raced there as did his dad, Ray, who raced Thunder Cars and Super Stocks.
Before he began his own driving career 17 years ago, Shepherd was a Barrie track official who produced race line-ups. He started his racing career in Pure Stocks and won a division championship. He moved up to Thunder Cars and won the title in his third season, then moved to Late Models.
"When I was starting out me and a buddy used to clean the track and then they'd let us practice at night," Shepherd said. "There wasn't any machinery. We swept the whole track with brooms."
Peter Shelswell is Shepherd's car owner and Marcus Keeler the crew chief. Team members include Jeff Cuculick, Jamie Soule, Aldo Granata, and wife Dayna Shepherd. Progressive Waste Solutions is the primary sponsor.
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