Lee Shepherd tribute car 

The Midwest Nostalgia Pro Stock Association display at the 2019 Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis featured the 1982 second-generation Reher-Morrison-Shepherd Chevrolet Camaro tribute car owned by Mark Pappas, a fitting memorial to the great fallen champion, Lee Shepherd.  

As he drove for car owners David Reher and Buddy Morrison, Lee Shepherd set the standard for Pro Stock racing drivers in the early nineteen eighties.  From 1980 to 1984, Shepherd appeared in the final elimination round at 44 of 56 NHRA national events and won 26 of them; that's over a 75% winning percentage in the final round.  

During that time, Shepherd re-set National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock national elapsed time and speed records a total of 14 times.

A soft-spoken Texan, Shepherd and the Reher & Morrison Racing Engines team won the NHRA Pro Stock championship four consecutive times from 1981-1984. 

In his too-brief career, Lee won every race on the NHRA tour at least once, with a 173-47 round record in NHRA competition. Shepherd was named the Pro Stock Driver of the Year for the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team four consecutive seasons.

Shepherd compiled a 48-6 round record in the NHRA rival International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) “mountain motor” Pro Stock competition in 1983-1984. In just three IHRA seasons, Shepherd scored nine victories in thirteen final round appearances in the team’s Camaro equipped with the team’s 615-cubic inch and 632-cubic inch engines.  

In 1983 Shepherd became the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships in the same year, a feat he repeated in 1984.

Lee Shepherd, a skilled cylinder head fabricator in addition to being a great driver, died tragically in a testing accident in Ardmore Oklahoma on March 11, 1985.  In 2000, a panel of experts selected Lee Shepherd as one of the NHRA’s all-time Top 50 racers.  Shepherd is a member of the NHRA Division 4 (South Central United States) Hall of Fame and Don Garlits' International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.   

Check out the Midwest Nostalgia Pro Stock  Association’s website at http://www.mwnpsa.com/

Tony Stewart’s 1995 Silver Crown championship winner

As part of the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum presented the “Hoosier Thunder: Indiana’s Short Track Heritage” exhibit which featured Tony Stewart's 1995 United States Auto Club (USAC) championship winning Silver Crown championship dirt car.

In 1995, Tony Stewart became the first driver to win the USAC “Triple Crown”- as won championships in the National Sprint Car, National Midget and the Silver Crown series - all in the same season. 

Tony drove this USAC Silver Crown championship dirt car owned by Edinburgh Indiana engine builder Glen Neibel  powered by one of Neibel’s potent V-6 engines with sponsorship from the Willie Boles Chevrolet dealership in Pendleton Indiana. As they were competing against cars equipped with 358-cubic-inch V-8 engines, the V-6 powered car was given a weight break.

Stewart never won a USAC Silver Crown race during the 1995 season but strung together a consistent series of finishes. In a ten-race season, Tony scored five top-5 finishes and three top-ten finishes. 

As he entered the final race of the season at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento California, Tony was in third place in the points. As the race progressed the two drivers ahead of him in points, Dave Darland and Jack Hewitt experienced troubles during the 100-mile race,  Stewart scored his second consecutive and third overall runner-up finish and won the 1995 USAC Silver Crown title by just two points.   

Stewart moved into the NASCAR "cup" series and won three driver championships (2002, 2005 and 2011) to go along with his four USAC driver championships. With his 1997 IRL championship, Tony is the only man to win both an IndyCar and NASCAR  championship. Stewart was elected into the USAC Hall of Fame in 2016 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019. 

All photos by the author