BARBERVILLE, Fla. — There’s one prize that every driver in every division at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals has their eye on – the Big Gator trophy.
The golden reptile signifies more than a flawless week of racing at Volusia Speedway Park. It also means that the driver holding it is going to be one to beat throughout the season ahead.
Next week’s stretch of six-straight nights of racing (Feb. 9-14) is set to draw the best field of super late models found anywhere so far in 2026 in terms of both quantity and quality.
The last driver standing on Saturday night will be someone who can beat anyone at any time, and history suggests that the Big Gator will likely be their first of several major scores to come this season.
Here’s a look at every Late Model Big Gator champion, and what they went on to accomplish that season:
Dennis Erb Jr. (2012): The Carpentersville, Ill., native strung together a win and three top fives in six starts to claim the inaugural award 14 years ago. That Volusia score was his first of two World of Outlaws wins on the season, with the second coming at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park in September. Additional victories came at East Bay Raceway Park during the Winternationals and on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals trail at Clarksville Speedway, and Erb also finished top five in that year’s Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway.
Josh Richards (2013): With two World of Outlaws wins at Screven Motor Speedway and Ocala Speedway already under his belt prior to DIRTcar Nationals, Richards kept the good times rolling at Volusia with two wins, four top fives and a Big Gator at the end. The Rocket1 Racing team maintained that pace all season long, collecting 10 series wins in total on the way to Richards’ third World of Outlaws championship.
Scott Bloomquist (2014): “Black Sunshine” stayed up front all week long at Volusia with one win and no finishes worse than sixth in five starts. It marked the start of another signature season by Bloomquist, highlighted by his fourth World 100 victory as well as major wins in the Silver Dollar Nationals, Dirt Track World Championship and the Jackson 100.
Shane Clanton (2015): The “Georgia Bulldog” picked up his first Big Gator in dominant fashion with four wins in five starts. Clanton knew then that he was in for a special year, and nine months later, he was standing on the stage at World of Outlaws World Finals hoisting his first championship trophy following a 10-win season.
Josh Richards (2016): The Shinniston, W. Va., driver became the first two-time Big Gator champion by winning half of the six nights contested at Volusia, setting the stage for one of his best years behind the wheel. Richards’ 18 World of Outlaws wins that year not only earned him a landslide championship, it also tied him with his successor in the Rocket house car, Brandon Sheppard, for the most wins in a single season in series history. Between the Prairie Dirt Classic, USA Nationals, Gopher 50, Pittsburgher 100 and many more, no trophy was safe from the wrath of the Richards camp in 2016.
Shane Clanton (2017): After handing the Big Gator over to Richards in 2016, Clanton grabbed it right back in 2017 with a win and three top fives in four races. He secured the third spot in the Series standings thanks to his five wins at a wide array of tracks, ranging from Cherokee Speedway and Tazewell Speedway in the southeast to River Cities Speedway in North Dakota.
Chris Madden (2018): “Smokey” became the first driver to win the Big Gator without winning a race at DIRTcar Nationals, although he did finish second three times in five nights. He got the monkey off his back on home turf at Cherokee with the Southern All Stars a few weeks later, and went on to win eight times in World of Outlaws competition – including his first Firecracker 100 victory at Lernerville Speedway – and finished third in the final points tally.
Brandon Sheppard (2019): Following an 11th-place run on night one, “B-Shepp” was on rails the rest of the week with four-straight trips to victory lane en route to the Big Gator. The week stood as a microcosm of the year ahead, as Sheppard won his second World of Outlaws championship by more than 300 points and picked off wins in the Dirt Late Model Dream, Prairie Dirt Classic, Dirt Track World Championship and the Dirt Million.
Brandon Sheppard (2020): The New Berlin, Ill., native became the first back-to-back Big Gator champion in 2020 with two wins and five top fives over the course of the week. Sheppard went on to win 14 of the 40 World of Outlaws races held in the pandemic-constrained season on the way to another title, plus two crown-jewel wins at the Silver Dollar Nationals and Dirt Track World Championship. Sheppard even wheeled a Modified to a pair of wins at RPM Speedway with the United States Modified Touring Series (USMTS).
Devin Moran (2021): Despite recording a DNF on one of the four nights completed, a win and two podiums on the other three nights were enough to secure the weeklong championship. The 2021 season turned into a breakout campaign for the “Mailman,” as he took down the World of Outlaws three more times in 2021 at Bristol Motor Speedway and twice at Davenport Speedway, plus two Summer Nationals wins among several more regional scores.
Devin Moran (2022): The momentum from a strong 2021 season carried over to February of 2022, as a string of four top fives in a row to open DIRTcar Nationals put Moran out of reach for the rest of the field. The Dresden, Ohio, driver did plenty of winning in his native “Buckeye State” that season, going to victory lane at Hilltop Speedway, Atomic Speedway, Oakshade Raceway, Sharon Speedway and his home track at Muskingum County Speedway.
Tim McCreadie (2023): “T-Mac” laid down one of the best DIRTcar Nationals performances in the event’s history in 2023 with two wins and a worst run of fourth. McCreadie’s week at Volusia turned out to include 40% of his wins that season, as he only won three more times after leaving Florida. Despite not winning as often as he would like, McCreadie still ran up front all year, finishing top five in several big events including the Show-Me 100, Topless 100, Pittsburgher 100 and the Dirt Track World Championship.
Brandon Sheppard (2024): Sheppard’s record-setting third Big Gator also made him the first to win the title with two different teams, as his most recent one came with the Longhorn Factory Team at Sheppard Riggs Racing. His three World of Outlaws wins on the year may be dwarfed by the totals from his previous championship seasons, but he remained consistent enough all year to claim title number five just the same.
Ricky Thornton Jr. (2025): Two wins and four podiums in six races made the Chandler, AZ native the ninth different Big Gator champion in the late model ranks. Seven months later at Eldora, Thornton joined Bloomquist as the second driver to win a DIRTcar Nationals championship and the World 100 in the same year.
Thornton’s first victory in the sport’s biggest race was joined on his win list last year by the likes of the Hillbilly Hundred, Jackson 100, the Modified crown at the Gateway Dirt Nationals and more.
