ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Dec. 7) — Between his driving skills, how he markets himself, and the throng of fans that passionately support him only a few hours from his native New Berlin, Ill., every component of the Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals is tailored to Brandon Sheppard.

After the 31-year-old superstar powered his way Saturday to a second straight Gateway Arch trophy and $30,000 payday inside The Dome at America’s Center, all in his return to the Rocket Chassis stable no less, the back-to-back event winner made sure to find event promoter and founder Cody Sommer to share just what the indoor spectacle means to him.

“I was talking to Cody Sommer here, this is one of those deals, the fans you have here compared to other places, they see it,” Sheppard began. “These fans, after seeing a short track race like this, they want to go to Farmer City (Raceway in Illinois). They wanna see what this kind of racing is about, you know? Anybody that says the racing is not good at the Dome … I agree with Cody 100 percent, they’re crazy.

“Don't get me wrong, there’s a lot of great racing all across the country and I'm not talking bad about anybody’s racetrack because I just (freaking) love this sport. There's so many highs and lows some days you just wanna (freaking) never do it again. But then the next day, something like this Dome comes along, and we do it and it’s just phenomenal.

“It's just one of them deals that you can hear (the fans) screaming when you do something cool. … This race has just done so much to help my career and build my brand.”

Just like last year when Sheppard took the Longhorn Factory Team to Dome victory lane in his team debut, he too delivered a resounding victory for Rocket Chassis in his return to the Shinnston, W.Va.-based chassis stable that’s built his career into what it is today.

Piloting the very race car he wheeled to victory in the 2022 Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway — a 2022 Rocket XR-1 chassis owned by house car team owner Mark Richardson adorned with Sheppard’s personal No. B5 number — Sheppard hardly missed a beat all weekend. Sheppard can even go as far to say that he’s virtually picked up where he left off with Rocket when he departed the Rocket1 house car program October 2022, lauding Richards’s efforts that “every single piece he put together for me on this car is like spot on.”

“Mark set up all my Fox shocks and everything, and I literally didn’t change anything all weekend. Like, I tightened up a little bit,” Sheppard added. “But overall, normally when I come here, I’m working on everything under the sun, trying to get tight, trying to get to run the cushion better. It was like I never missed a beat and there it was. Super thankful and looking to get this year rolling already.”

Of course, cutting his teeth on Illinois bullrings and wholeheartedly embracing cushion-pounding, tight-cornered racing is the driving factor behind Sheppard’s success at The Dome. Counting prelims, he’s now the only driver to qualify for all 16 features at the Gateway Dirt Nationals since its inception in 2016. His resume at The Dome includes four podium finishes in eight finales.

“A lot of people say this is the great equalizer. The short track guys come in here and put on a good show. A lot of the traveling guys struggle a little bit just because they’re not used to these kinds of bullrings, this type of racing. It definitely makes it difficult for them,” Sheppard said. “It makes it where, on paper, it looks like there’s 10 good cars each night. But realistically, there’s 25 cars that could win the race and I wouldn’t be surprised. Definitely love seeing a bunch of cars here. Love seeing the fans here. For me, that’s what this race is about. It’s about the fans. It’s about putting on a show for them, giving them entertainment in the middle of December.”

Sheppard’s also been able to feature several corporate     sponsors, including Valvoline, Realtree Camo and Budweiser last year on top of Black Rifle Coffee and Dude Wipes last year, and show off special graphic schemes with those sponsors at The Dome.

“All these great partners on my car, to be able to put on a show and to do it and the way that we're doing it, coming back home where I need to be in a Rocket Chassis, doing what we want to do, making s--- happen,” Sheppard said. “The car looks phenomenal, feels phenomenal. I couldn't ask for anything more, honestly.”

This kind of brand support, Sheppard’s noticed, has turned casual supporters of his into more passionate fans and it’s brought faithful supports great joy to see their favorite driver inching toward returning atop his game.

“None of us would be here without the fans,” said Sheppard, who added that his growing fanbase “makes you feel good, you know? It makes you feel like what you're doing means something.”

A phrase that Sheppard used is that he’s indeed returned home. It’s no secret that Sheppard wasn’t his best in Longhorn equipment, mustering only six victories in 97 starts with the Longhorn Factory Team in 2024. But as Sheppard surmised about his return to Rocket, “at the end of the day, nobody did anything wrong, it’s that sometimes things don’t work out” and “I’m just comfortable in these cars.”

“They have a good deal with Longhorn and that deal. I’m happy for them. Hopefully they’re happy for us. If not, then whatever. But I don’t think there’s any hard feelings. That’s the way I wanted to end it.”

Sheppard sure looked like he his elite self from the Rocket1 glory days. While Gordy Gundaker led the opening 10 laps, and Ricky Thornton Jr. and Bobby Pierce gave chase down the stretch, Sheppard was convincing from start to finish. Thornton and Pierce had the speed to keep pace with Sheppard, but what separated the eventual winner was his smoothness. Thornton and Pierce faltered a handful times along the cushion, and Pierce even broke a driveshaft coming on the last lap while manhandling his car.

But Sheppard’s car was too smooth and, quite frankly, too good for him to worry about issues potentially costing him.

“At the end of the day, what it boils down to is, Bobby had best car all year. So, to be able to beat him tonight, this makes me be able to think, OK, here we go, we're gonna start the year off good,” Sheppard said. “I'm feeling really good about everything. 

At The Dome, he and Richards assembled a package that worked seamless for him like the good ol' days.

“Mark put me together a shock package, I put my best seat in, I put the motor that I felt like I had the best chance of making it happening, and what we've won the most races in the past with, and I came here and everything worked out,” Sheppard said. “Couldn’t ask for a better weekend.

“I really, really like the way the car feels,” Sheppard added. “I mean, I should. It’s built around everything I’ve worked on for the past 10 years. I should feel good in it. It does feel good. It does feel like I’m back home and where I need to be. The car feels good. The weekend just couldn’t have went any better.”

Sheppard, who a few weeks ago tested Richards’s brand-new XR1.2 at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga., said that the XR1 he employed at The Dome “is as close as we can make an XR1 into the new car” and, for a shameless plug, said that “anybody that’s gonna read this that has an XR1 and can’t afford to get the new one, update your XR1 because this is better for sure.”

Sheppard now has a good problem on his hands after another emphatic Gateway triumph: What does he do with the 2022 XR1 that Richards once owned? He’s thinking about selling the car and even said “I should have said that out there” in victory lane, but then he started hedging on that thought.

“It’s a pretty bad unit. I may get my dad (Steve) to buy this one,” Sheppard said. “This car is fast, obviously. We’ve got two new cars at home we’re going to take to Vado" Raceway Park in New Mexico for January's Wild West Shootout

“Honestly, if this son of a (gun) is going to be this good all year, I don’t which one I’m going to drive,” Sheppard said. “As long as I’m up front, it really doesn’t matter.”

Sheppard’s announced his intentions to follow the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with the Rocket1 house car team. Apart from that, he guesstimates he’ll race 20-30 times in his own No. B5 equipment. Sheppard’s also hoping that his father, Steve Sheppard Jr., who finished 10th in Saturday’s finale, can race 20-30 times himself next year for his revamped family operation.

“I was almost in tears up there watching my dad in that qualifier because he was he just did a phenomenal job and he told me that he feels really good in the car,” Sheppard said. “So that means, like I said, it's just one of them deals everything's falling together just like it's supposed to.

“Mark's gonna let me race it on our off weekends, so thankful for him,” Sheppard continued. “Like I said. Overall, Shepard Racing is gonna run probably 50-60 nights total between me and my dad and whoever else we can get to drive our cars.”

Sheppard would not comment on speculation that former Rocket Chassis house car driver Josh Richards, Mark’s son, could fall into the category of “whoever else we get to drive our cars” because “that’s not my business.” But Sheppard's open to guest drivers with his family's operation.

Being able to return to the team he racked up 100-plus victories and four World of Outlaws Late Model Series championships in a six-year timespan from 2017-22 while also being able to field his own cars on the side is a reality that brings Sheppard great joy.

“I’m in such a good spot in my career and in my life right now,” Sheppard said. “My attitude is better this year than it was last year (or) a month ago, you know?

“I’m just really overwhelmed and thankful in so many different ways that (Mark Richards) allowed me to come back after I quit driving for him and left his chassis company. I probably didn’t deserve to come back, but we all learned a lot from my experience, especially me and my family. We’re thankful to be where we’re at. We’re going to represent Mark and his people as well as humanly possible.”

Not every part of Saturday night was exactly hunky dory for Sheppard, whose animated, roof-pounding celebrating in victory lane has him slightly concerned about one thing heading into the Christmas break.

“I think I might have broke my thumb smacking the roof,” Sheppard said with only a tinge of concern because he views his passionate celebration entirely worth it. “I think it's probably fine, but it's a little puffed up right now because I was smashing the s--- out of that roof. But no, I was pumped up. That's all I can say about it. Like I said, I'm happy.”