May 4, 2008
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, Tony Stewart is a nice guy. Oh sure, he can be a bit on the rough side on the track, and he leaves no doubt as to exactly what is on his mind. But the working Tony is different than the helping Tony, and that was proven yet again this weekend in Richmond.
We have to go back to last week at Talladega to begin this story.
Tony Stewart wins a crash-filled race at Talladega, and as he is being interviewed in Victory Lane, he looks at the finishing order and sees that Morgan Shepherd had finished 13th, on the lead lap for the first time since 1999. “I think that’s bigger that me winning this week…it’s bigger than me winning this race and this is a huge win for me -- Morgan is such a good guy and he pours his heart and soul into this series.”
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Morgan Shepherd * Photo Kim Roberson
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For Shepherd's part, he was thrilled with his finish. “It felt good, and it showed people that I still know how to drive a race car.”
Shepherd visited Stewart in Victory Lane on Saturday after the race, and then called into Stewart’s weekly Sirius radio show, “Tony Stewart Live” Monday night.
“You had an awesome run this weekend," Stewart said to Shepherd during the conversation. "I looked up the mirror and asked where Morgan was running and they said you were in ninth. I didn't know you got up to as high as eighth."
Shepherd chuckled and said "I know you looked in the mirror and saw that big ol' yellow Jesus logo and said 'Jesus is after me!” to which Smoke replied “I did say, ‘You know there is good possibility that before this is over with we are going to have to deal with him. I know how crafty you are at being able to stay in the lead group like that. That was all you needed to do to really to have a shot at it.”
Stewart and co-host Matt Yocum commented that they know how hard it has been for the 66-year old driver to run his team virtually sponsor-less and on a shoe-string budget. (Shepherd has made just under $180,000 this year while Kyle Busch has already made over half a million dollars.) Shepherd works on his cars himself in a barn on his property. “Without a sponsor, it is hard for us to run these races when you have to keep putting on tires, and that costs $1800” he said last week. While most Nationwide teams go through four sets of tires on a race weekend, Shepherd only bought two sets for his team.
“You say you need some tires for (Richmond),” Yocum said during Monday nights show. “How about if Smoke and I each buy you a set of tires.”
“I know how much you put into it personally and I can appreciate it,” Stewart added. “We’ll make sure you have plenty of tires for this weekend.”
Friday afternoon, Smoke stood surrounded by reporters who wanted to talk contracts, but smiled slightly when asked about his offer to help Shepherd out.
CIA Stock Photo
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Harvick Crew Helps Pit Shepherd
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“I just felt like doing it.” he explained when asked why he decided to help buy the tires for the 89 Friday night. “Everyone loves Morgan to death….a lot of people up in the stands don’t really know who Morgan Shepherd really is -- they think he is just some guy that drives a green race car that has “Racing for Jesus” every weekend, and they don’t understand that years ago he used to be one of the top guys in the series and that he lost everything. He's rebuilding everything now and it just shows there are a lot of people who care about him as a person and they respect him as a race car driver. When you can do something like that to help someone out it’s worthwhile.”
When asked if he did it because Morgan was an old school racer, and Tony seemed to enjoy helping the old school guys out, Smoke said “I have always thought I was old school, I’ve always felt like I was born 20 years too late. I respect people like Morgan who work out of their own garage and still do the work themselves and come out here and race against the Childress’ and the Gibbs’ and the Roush’s every week and still go out there with the attitude that they are going to be the best they can be. He knows he’s not going to beat these guys, but he’s not quitting on what he’s doing and he doesn’t say “I can’t do this, I can’t do it”…and I think what I respect is that he still has that desire and passion to come and do this and pour his heart and soul into it every week like guys used to do 20, 30 years ago before all these rich kids came in and got the best equipment all the time without even having to work on their own cars…they don’t even know how to work on their own cars…so it makes you appreciate a guy like Morgan that much more.”
And while Morgan didn’t score another top 15 in Richmond Friday night, he did finish the race in 28th, still running. He might not contend for the win, but his strong faith and perseverance in a sport where those who are small and week usually vanish, and a little help from his friends, he left this weekend with a little more money in his pocket, and thus a chance to come back and race again another day.
EDITOR'S NOTE..Morgan Shepherd had a few more friends that helped out on Friday night in the Nationwide race. Kevin Harvick sent some of his crew men over to Shepherd's pit to help service his car during the pit stops.
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