‘Good season’ defined differently
PLYMOUTH – Brandon Sheppard is enjoying one of those once-in-a-lifetime sorts of seasons, if you put aside the fact he had one almost as good the year before last.
The son of a racer and racetrack owner, Sheppard came to the Plymouth Dirt Track on Monday with 14 wins in 25 World of Outlaws Late Models features, ahead of the torrid pace he set en route to the 2017 title.
“Makes it easier to travel up and down the road,” said the 26-year-old from New Berlin, Illinois.
“We’re always excited to go to the next track because it seems like no matter where we go, we’re fast right out of the gate. It makes it fun, for sure.”
And that’s a key for the 10 drivers who have competed full-time with the Outlaws, getting up and down the road more than 40 times from February to November.
Nick Anvelink is having a good season, too.
The 40-year-old from Navarino, west of Green Bay, has won nine times in 20 or 25 tries at Shawano Speedway, his local track, in trips to Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond and on the regional Dirt Kings Late Model Tour.
Overall, Sheppard and Anvelink operate in different spheres in racing, Sheppard on a national level with a premier team, and Anvelink with more modest means, a job outside racing and a lot less travel.
But on this night they’re separated by all of one row and a half-dozen cars in the clay-and-grass Plymouth pits.
“We’ve been running real good at local stuff,” said Anvelink, who has raced for 22 years. “We’re getting there with these guys a little bit. We’ve got a couple of top-10s (with the Outlaws), which ain’t too bad.”
Anvelink, who builds fire trucks at Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, appreciates the success he has had. He also marvels at Sheppard’s.
“That’s pretty hard to relate to,” Anvelink said. “I guess those guys are spending more money than we are at the same time, so it’s going up and down. But for him to be able to win 14 World of Outlaws races, that’d probably be like me winning 30 local races. I mean, that’s not an easy task. It’s impressive.”
So, how does someone get on a run like the one Sheppard’s had? It starts with equipment, and driving for Rocket chassis builder Mark Richards, he has the best of the best. Then it’s up to Sheppard and his team to maximize what they have.
“Our car’s really good and everybody’s really focused and making the right decisions,” Sheppard said. “I feel like I’m making the right decisions in the seat, not doing anything too stupid to get myself any DNFs or knock the spoiler off too early in the race or knock the nose off in a race or whatever the case might be.
“And my guys are on point like they are every night. And the setup choices are really good on the car right now and the tire choices have been smooth. When everything’s clicking, it’s clicking.”
As it did in 2017, when Sheppard won 18 of 43 features.
Now he’s ahead of that pace and came into the night with one more victory than he had in all of 2018. He came into the night with earnings of more than $288,000 – triple second-place Ricky Weiss, a rookie – which also makes getting up and down the road easier.
“As good as the year’s been going, if we run fourth or fifth, we’re disappointed and want to do better,” Sheppard said.
“That’s our goal, to win every night. We know we’re not going to win them all, but there’s always something we can do better. Even if we win a race, there’s always places where you can be better and things you can do better throughout the night. We strive to do better and to improve and get better every night, and we’re not afraid to learn anything.”
Monday started a three-race Wisconsin stretch for the Outlaws that also features Tuesday night at Shawano and Thursday to Saturday at Cedar Lake Speedway, capped by a 100-lap, $50,000-to-win USA Nationals.
Coming off a $30,000 win Saturday night in Illinois, Sheppard is aiming for another big paycheck. Anvelink has more modest aspirations.
“We want to make it into that show and run halfway decent hopefully,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes. They’re tough, a tough crew for sure.”