RACING ‘ROUND THE VALLEY

Shepherd makes transition from driver to promoter

By Dan Fleisher
VSP Racing Columnist

Can a Championship-caliber driver succeed in becoming a Championship-caliber promoter? You betcha! Kenny Shepherd is living proof.

I visited Madera Speedway on Saturday (4/10) for three reasons, to catch the USAC open wheel show, visit with the old gang from my Western Racing Association (vintage cars) days, and to interview former driver turned promoter, Kenny Shepherd. Turns out I was in for a bigger treat than anticipated as the racing was terrific and the atmosphere and surroundings overwhelming.

I signed in at the pit gate and walked through the pit area in amazement. Much to my surprise, there were six, repeat six, classes of cars on-hand. Everywhere you looked, up, down, left, right, I saw a beehive of cars and crews including 410 and 360 Sprints, Midgets, Modifieds and Super Modifieds, Legend cars and the aforementioned WRA.

I asked myself : “How the (expletive), I’ll use heck, are they going to handle upwards of 100 cars during the evening? I was about to find out. Working like a precision Grandfather’s clock, Shepherd’s crew, in concert with officials from the various sanctioning groups, clicked off the warm-ups, qualifying and heat races before the clock’s chimes reached 7 pm. I was impressed and I hadn’t even met the man yet.

Attending and working mostly at dirt tracks, I’m accustomed to seeing the promoter wearing his jeans, boots and baseball cap, about to jump on a tractor to groom the track; obviously that’s not the case at a pavement facility.

However, I was greeted by a nattily dressed man in casual slacks, sporting a stylish white high-collared, long-sleeved shirt. The 45 year old, handsome looking Shepherd reminded me of NASCAR’s poster boy Jeff Gordon, in image, not resemblance. Coincidently, in 1994, he drove one of Gordon’s former #24 DuPont Chevrolets at Sears Point in a Save Mart event, finishing fourth. He received national recognition as the race was televised on ESPN.

Born (1964) and raised in nearby Atwater, he was drawn to both Merced and Madera Speedways, building his first Street Stock in 1982. A short two years later, he won this third race ever in the second Street Stock he built himself.

In 1985, he switched to what he calls, real cars, meaning the powerful, exciting Super Late Models. He became an instant success, winning in only his third start driving for Dallas Henkle. During the period of 1985-1991, he raced dirt Late Models all over the West Coast, including California tracks Hanford, Merced, Santa Maria, Antioch and Baylands, winning many races each year. The following year, he made the switch to pavement, making the conversion easily.

When 1993 arrived, his talents carried him to wins in one-half of all the Main events he entered at Madera, while at the same time, making limited starts in NASCAR’s Featherlite South West Tour series.

The following year, he became a full-time contender in the above series, gaining “Rookie of the Year” honors. From ’95 through 2006, he competed in NASCAR tours including the FSWT to the Camping Series, driving for such companies as America Online, Kleenex, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, DuPont, Valvoline and Save Mart.

One of the highlights of his career came in 1999 when he finished second to Kurt Busch in the Featherlite Southwest Tour series by a mere point.

All the while, he caught the eye of many car owners and started testing cars and equipment along side the likes of Cup starts Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Kyle Busch, David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil.

For you racing fans who are also romantics at heart, hark’n back to ’84. Shepherd was preparing for an event at Merced when he spotted a young lady who would be serving as the evening’s Trophy Girl. Being instantly smitten by the good-looking gal, Shepherd made up his mind that he was going to win the event and therefore meet her; he did! The man was driven. Twenty years later, he and Tammy are still married and the proud parents of two daughters, Brittany, soon to be 16, and Kiley, who just turned six. The family still resides in Atwater.

Shepherd was raised in the world of “grass-roots” racing and although he never envisioned being a promoter, he took the opportunity to grab the reins at Tracy’s Altamont Raceway in 2006 when the track was floundering, facing prospects of shuttering. Further, he envisioned a second career in which he could give back to the community. Gaining invaluable experience while “righting the ship” at Altamont, he saw great possibilities in his new field of endeavor.

The very next year, another dying racetrack beckoned. Madera Speedway was not only floundering, the vultures (developers) were circling above, about to close down the historic Fairgrounds facility. A huge shopping center was about to engulf the1/3-mile track but Shepherd, President of a group called Short Track Management LLC, made a presentation to the Fairgrounds’ Board of Directors, showing not only how the track could survive, but prosper in concert with the developers.

The plan was well received and he was awarded a seven year contract. He knew the group’s work would be cut out for them because the grandstands were hosting an anemic average of 100 fans per evening, not exactly what one would call a large turnout (sic).

Shepherd knows what attracts fans and that’s exactly what he presents. It’s a rotation of open-wheel racing, NASCAR type cars, and his “grassroots” racing machines, i.e. Street and Hobby Stocks. Within each of the three groups, he invites a number of different related divisions each night, similar to what was on tap this evening.

For the fans, he spruced up the entire facility and expanded and refined the food concession booths. For the drivers, he increased the purses which in-turn increased the car counts and afforded them plenty of track time. One thing led to another and today, the track is averaging twenty-five to three thousand fans a night, an increase that is astonishing by any standard.

No matter how successful they were the last two years, Shepherd’s group saw no reason to sit back on their laurels. So what did they do? They acquired near-by Chowchilla Speedway, signing a 10-year contract and they’ve already poured in over $35,000 in track and concession improvements. Additional funds will be applied in the immediate future with the goal of making the small-community facility, a big-time community facility. Back to this venue in a minute.

Madera will host the Western Allstars Late Models (a division of the World of Outlaws) on April 18. For this National event, temporary seating is on the drawing board, calling for bleachers along the backstretch to accommodate upwards of 2,000 fans.

With his current connections with WOO, Shepherd hopes to host a WOO Sprint Car event at Chowchilla in the very near future but will only say, “Talks have taken place.”

The two tracks will not compete against each other, but rather enhance each other, sometimes running on consecutive evenings, with special pricing packages available. In addition to five full-time employees, Shepherd has 100 part-time employees to handle both facilities.

If you think two tracks will be a handful, Short Track Management LLC envisions having five to 10 tracks in the future. Shepherd’s aim is to harvest young drivers to fill the ranks of NASCAR’s future, similar to the days when the Cup stars mentioned previously were in the lower divisions. Having multiple facilities is one way to accomplish the harvesting.

Investing in the youth of tomorrow begins with investing your own money today. In November, Madera will spend upwards of $650,000 repaving the track along with new and improved safety features, etc. “We’re not afraid to spend the money,” Shepherd said, “Many in the community, especially restaurants and hotels, are calling to come on-board.” He further explained that retailers want to be affiliated because they too envision a community that will attract and accommodate fans from far away while also servicing the locals. “It’s an ambitious program but I love challenges,” he stated. This guy is a Promoter!

Wearing a constant smile on his face, Kenny speaks with such exuberance and enthusiasm that it becomes infectious, as I can attest to. As the interview drew to a close some 45 minutes later, he looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes and said, “Although I’m retired from driving, this is the next chapter in my life Dan.”

This writer can be reached at: danfleisher1@yahoo.com

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