OSWEGO, N.Y. — If you walk into the Walmart across the street from Oswego Speedway, you might notice they’re sold out of one thing — brooms.
They all went to the No. 9 of Matt Sheppard.
Sheppard became the first driver to sweep the 358 and Big Block portions of Super Dirt Week twice, and also became the fifth driver to win the event three or more times. However, it was not without some adversity.
Sheppard looked unbeatable when the cars rolled on track for the first time of the week on Wednesday, timing fastest in one of the two practice sessions.
He then followed that up on Thursday with a pole time and would start the 200-lap race from the point.
Then on Saturday evening, he looked to be the car to beat once again when he jetted out to the lead in the first of three 25-lap qualifiers, and won it handily.
When the race started on Sunday afternoon, it looked to be a repeat of the last time Sheppard sat on the pole at Oswego in 2017. On that afternoon the track took rubber for the first 50-60 laps of the event. Teams then pitted for a harder tire, which peeled the rubber back off the track. The same happened in the 50th edition of the event.
When Billy Decker broke a drive shaft on lap 32, the race changed. A host of teams came down to pit which put Peter Britten on the point in the ensuing restart.
What once was a one-lane track was now two lanes wide with passes galore.
Once the lap 100 break came Sheppard was third, and as he rolled down pit road he only had one thing in mind.
“I just wanted to get my car better.” Sheppard said. “I just need to be able to steer better or I’m not gonna be able to win this race. We really didn’t even know what to do with it, we made a few small changes and I don’t even know if it made the car better.”
However the changes to the car were not really the key when it came to the lap 100 pit stop. With a changing track, the strategy changed as well.
“The one big key was the track rubbered early,” Sheppard said. “It became a track position game but then it went away and we didn’t change fronts. So we thought let’s change front tires. I was still tighter than what I wanted to be but could still be good enough.”
After the lap 100 break Sheppard came out in 11th and had some work to do. Marc Johnson took the lead on lap 124 from Max McLaughlin in lap traffic, and set sail for open space.
It was on lap 158 on a restart that Sheppard could keep with the No. 9J car, and motored around him for the lead just two laps later on lap 160.
Despite having a big lead, he was not out of the water as on lap 193 he got under the lap car of Adam Pierson and they made contact exiting turn two.
Going down the backstretch he hopped Pierson’s front wheel.
“I was so scared for him and for me,” Sheppard said. “I went to hit the gas out of turn two and the car just took off across the track. I was waiting for a flat or what. We talk about luck and it was dumb luck. I looked at the car after and it looked like I didn’t even hit him.”
There was one more restart for Sheppard with the two-time and defending race winner Mat Willamson, however Sheppard pulled away to win his third Super Dirt Week. It wasn’t without its moments though.
“Some weird turning points in the race,” He said. “At one point I was trying to get around Marc and hit the front stretch wall pretty hard. I must have hit square and right on the nerf bar. It’s just lucky stuff like that. It has to be going your way and when it is, it’s going your way. Stewie had that on the mile and I have that here.”
The win in the 200-lap main event marks Sheppards 39th win of the season. These types of years are only seen by the greats of the sport such as Brett Hearn, “Barefoot” Bob McCreadie and Jack Johnson.
“I know it’s crazy,” Sheppard said. “It’s the quality of wins we have had this year. $25,000, $50,000, $53,000. It’s been a crazy ride, it’s almost surreal. We keep going business as usual, we win a race, go home, go back to work. It’s getting surreal.”
With this being Sheppard’s third Super Dirt Week championship, he now sits in a list that includes Gary Balough, Brett Hearn, Stewart Friesen and Billy Decker as drivers to win more than twice. However, it seems Oswego has treated Sheppard better than the Syracuse Mile.
“I don’t know (where I rank among them),” Matt said. “I feel like I should have had more at the Mile. I had a few robbed away from me. Last year at the mile I felt like we had them covered and then had an electrical issue. I was on a damn Sunday cruise. Drove for Randy Ross and the year (Tim) Fuller won and I had a flat right rear.
“That’s just how Syracuse was, it didn’t owe anybody anything. At Oswego it’s a little different track, I feel like the two we won, we won. The last lap pass of Peter (Britten) in ‘17 and having to pass Marc (Johnson) and drive through the field a few times tonight.”
With the Super Dirt Week win, it seems as if Sheppard will have locked up his ninth Super DIRTcar Series title which will put him on the mountain top in terms of number of championships. He will Pass Brett Hearn come World Finals time.
“I think we just have to show up and attempt all three nights,” Sheppard said about the World Finals. “It’s crazy to think about nine Super DIRTcar championships. I mean Utica-Rome this year. I had a kick-ass season in Orange County this year. I can’t believe I am gonna have nine of them though.”
With the win Sheppard has now won three out of the four 200-lap events, and two out of three $50,000-plus to win events in 2022. He doesn’t feel pressure to sweep them though. Sheppard is focused on the ride he and the team are on.
“I do not feel pressure to win them,” Sheppard said. “It’s more pressure for the streak we are on. It’s now 11 of the last 12 and I know it has to come to an end. I keep thinking it is going to and it doesn’t. It’s like riding a roller coaster that doesn’t ever drop and we are sure enjoying it.”