MATT SHEPPARD SUPER SEASON 2022

driveway. He had an open trailer and I’d climb in and pretend I was racing,” Sheppard said. “That’s like my earliest memories I have of racing.”

When it was finally Matt’s turn, he got behind the wheel of a kart starting in 1990 and would head out to Paradise Speedway in Geneva, New York. Fridays were spent supporting dad at the track, Saturday afternoons belonged to Matt and his kart.

Eventually he graduated to four-cylinder cars at age 15, racing mostly at Black Rock Speedway, now Outlaw Speedway, in Dundee, New York. Four-cylinders gave way to eight very quickly as he was into a sportsman modified at age 16.

Matt benefited from the help of another modified driver and champion, Steve Paine, to get his shot at a sportsman ride.

“I learned so much from Steve and his dad,” Sheppard said. “It was years of knowledge and experience that has been really valuable for my entire career.”

The rookie season in the sportsman mod division was 1999 and Sheppard notched six wins. A year later, Paine gave Sheppard a new ride, a Teo Pro car, and it was off to the races – literally. Sheppard claimed twenty-two victories in 2000 and won the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Championship. He completed his breakout season if fine fashion, going into Super DIRT Week at the New York

State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York to compete on the Moody Mile. There he took home the trophy for first place in the sportsman race.

Having climbed the sportsman mountain to its pinnacle, Sheppard gazed off at other peaks to scale. The next year the team kept the Teo Pro but swapped in a 358ci engine to move up a class in DIRTcar. He raced at Fulton Speedway in 2001 and ended in victory lane six times on the season. This was enough to crown Sheppard as track champion in the 358 mod class for the year.

In 2003 Sheppard moved up to the bigblocks and landed his first victory in the class at Canandaigua Speedway, going full circle from watching his dad race to having his dad watch him race and win at the track he grew up at.

In 2004 Sheppard signed on to race for car owner Randy Ross who had a nose for good racers, including Billy Decker. The move made Sheppard a full-time race car driver, something he’d dreamed about from way back when he was pretending to drive his dad’s car on the back of that hauler in the driveway.

“I grew up with racing and realized at a young age that racing is what I wanted to do,” Sheppard said. In 2004 he got the chance and he never looked back.

In 2009 Sheppard won his first Billy Whittaker Cars 200, besting Tim McCreadie and Tim Fuller. He came close again in 2012 and 2014, taking second place in each of those races. In 2016 Sheppard took more control over his racing career, launching his own team after parting ways with Heinke Baldwin Racing after the 2015 season. He moved back into a Bicknell chassis to launch his racer-owned team, stating at the time, “I’ve always had a close relationship with them. It’s not that I don’t like the Troyer cars and we’ve had a lot of success in them. I didn’t feel as connected with them. Randy (Williamson), (Bob) Slack, Pete (Bicknell) and all the guys at Bicknell. I’ve had a great relationship with them throughout the years and they are willing to step up and help me out a little bit to get me back into this deal. I look forward to working with them again.”

It wasn’t long after this move that he was able to repeat his trip to victory lane in the Super DIRT Week finale, finishing in first place in 2017, beating out Peter Britten and Larry Wight. In 2021, Sheppard got a podium finish at the big race, finishing third behind Mat Williamson and Billy Decker.

As if he needed any help, the stats from the 2022 season lend credence to his use of the Superman moniker. In the big block category, as of press date, Sheppard started 87 races. Of those he was in the top ten a whopping 76 times! Top five finishes totaled 67 for the year. As for victories, Sheppard has amassed 40 wins so far this year.

Throughout 2022 Sheppard was found at weekly races across upstate New York. He competed at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Land of Legends Raceway (formerly Canandaigua Speedway), Orange County Fair Speedway, Outlaw Speedway and Utica-Rome Speedway. He finished 2022 as track champion at Utica-Rome and OCFS. Besides competing in the Super DIRTcar Series in 2022, Sheppard also ran in the Bob Hilbert Short Track Super Series powered by Sunoco Race Fuels. Sheppard was the STSS champion in 2021 and repeated in 2022 in both the Elite Series and North Region points races. In the Super DIRTcar Series, Sheppard went into the race at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with a 164 point lead.

Sheppard got out the broom for Super DIRTweek, completing a sweep for the week. He qualified on the pole on Thursday, won his heat Friday and finished the trifecta Sunday with a victory that netted him a $50,000 payday in the big block competition. Sheppard also scored the victory Saturday night, winning the 2022 Salute to the Troops 150 in the 358 modified class. Not bad for a week of racing.

In the big 50th annual Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Oswego Speedway, the big finale to Super DIRTweek, Sheppard needed an early pit and a little luck to get to victory lane.

“The key to the race was the pit stop on the 97th lap,” Sheppard said, after the race. “I had a left front tire going down and that caution period allowed me to take on tires and fuel and when I came out, we really started to roll.”

From that lap 97 pit stop, it took Sheppard 76 laps to regain the lead.

Sheppard finished the season with a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to compete in the World of Outlaws World Finals. The multi-night race ws the conclusion to what could be considered Matt Sheppard’s greatest season yet. As the 2022 closes Sheppard can look back on the road he has traveled and revel in the many milestones of success he has passed along the way. By the time this issue hits the rack it will already be known whether he was able to keep the sizeable lead alive through the feature races in Charlotte and if that brought a ninth Super DIRTcar Series championship home.

What will the 2023 season bring for Superman Matt Sheppard? We can’t wait to find out!

Super DIRTweek is always entertaining, even in the pits. Above, Brett Hearn with his fighter jet pit sign. Stewart Friesen with his Stewie Griffin pit sign. We have to admit, we thought photographer Quentin Young was pulling a fast one on us with a little Photoshop magic. Nope Quentin just knows how to capture magic when he sees it.