Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"The Ballad of Morgan Shepherd"

Posted by nascarman on October 12, 2017

Viewed 3766 times Tweet It's a shame that Morgan Shepherd's life story isn't featured weekly on NASCAR telecasts.



You may find that a very odd statement to make about a driver with an average finish of 37th, a driver who turned 76 on Thursday, and someone who hasn't scored a top-10 finish since 1999. Today he is an unassuming, grandfatherly man whose friendly smile and jovial roller-skating lights up the Xfinity Series garage.



But his life story is the stuff of cinema and music. It is a full life that mimicks the grit of country music, the vices of hard rock, and the salvation of gospel. In his younger years, Morgan was an outlaw who broke federal laws making moonshine whiskey. He was a hard living drinker who ran around behind the backs of some of his six wives. After finding religion, he became a better person and more successful on the race track. Today he lives a life of redemption and races for the joy of it.





Shepherd, 1980 (ISC Archives / GettyImages)



Morgan Shepherd was born in Conover, North Carolina on Sunday October 12, 1941. It was a completely different world when Morgan was little, a violent one with Adolf Hitler destroying Europe. Three days before Morgan's birth, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress asking for a reconsideration of the Neutrality Act, preparing for entry into World War II.



"War has spread from continent to continent," Roosevelt proclaimed. "Very many nations have been conquered and enslaved; great cities have been laid in ruins; millions of human beings have been killed, soldiers and sailors and civilians alike. Never before has such widespread devastation been visited upon God's Earth and God's children. The pattern of the future, the future as Hitler seeks to shape it, is now as clear and as ominous as the headlines of today's newspapers."



Less than two months after Shepherd's birth, Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States entered nearly four years of World War II. Millions of lives were lost, the D-Day invasion took place, and nuclear bombs were dropped while Morgan grew up in North Carolina.



The formation NASCAR in the late 1940s was framed by moonshiners, and Morgan's life story is no different. His father, Jesse Shepherd, was a moonshiner who ran a liquor still in the family's basement. Eventually, police discovered the operation and sent Jesse to prison, where he died in September 1954. Around that time, young Morgan battled a mild form of polio, underwent spinal taps, and began drinking alcohol at age 16. At age 17, he lost his driver's license after several police chases and by 19, Morgan started making and selling his own bootleg alcohol.



In the mid-1960s, as American society changed with the Kennedy assassination and the period of Civil Rights legislation that followed, Morgan was a moonshiner making whiskey in the North Carolina woods. But he soon learned the dangers associated with the lifestyle weren't worth the money. By the end of the decade, he quit the illegal business after a close call with the authorities. One night, Morgan and a friend were expected to pick up a load of moonshine. When it wasn't ready in time, they drove drove off empty handed, except for a soda bottle full of liquor. Police officers recognized the car and began pursuit of the pair. As his buddy drove, Morgan opened the passenger door and dumped the entire bottle of booze, eliminating any incriminating evidence. The close call scared him into a life of speed on race tracks, away from illegal businesses.



Morgan's very first NASCAR race came at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1967. Driving a 1951 Chevy Coupe, Shepherd only completed one lap before blowing a transmission. He won his first race at Ashville in 1968 and the following year became one of the strongest racers on short tracks. But beyond the success at the wheel of a race car, Morgan's life was a tragedy.



By the mid-seventies, Shepherd was an alcoholic who had three failed marriages. He cheated on his wives and always feared finding an angry husband wanting revenge for the wife Morgan stole from him. Shepherd's third wife left him when he traveled to Daytona for Speedweeks in 1975. When he returned to an empty house after the race, he responded by flying up a woman he met in Daytona. After a week of partying, Morgan changed his life.



On Sunday, February 23, 1975, Morgan's life turned around. Wracked with despair, Morgan prayed to God for help restoring his life. "When I got done praying, I'm not kidding you, I felt like I could jump straight through the roof,'' Shepherd told Dustin Long in a 2005 interview. "It was like a load was taken off of me and life has not been the same since."



By that point, the 33 year-old racer had competed in three Cup events. After finding religion, his fortunes improved in life and racing. Perhaps a clearer mind helped him win the 1980 Sportsman championship. He continued to rise up the ranks in racing and went full-time in the Cup Series in 1981. In his first Cup start in three years, Morgan won the pole at Richmond and finished fourth. He would score his first victory at Martinsville after seven races. But despite his victory, Morgan lost his ride in the middle of the season.





Shepherd at Atlanta victory lane, 1986 (Racing Photo Archives / GettyImages)



The next few years in racing were very hard for Shepherd. Between mid-1981 and 1986, Morgan drove for 14 different owners. In a recent interview with KeepIt35, he admitted his career could've been easier had he accepted sponsorship from Coors Brewing Company around 1982. But with his past struggles with alcohol, Morgan couldn't bring himself to advertise his biggest vice. The sponsor dollars later went to Bill Elliott who would lead a charmed life. That sponsor decision had to be hard on Morgan because by the end of 1985, Elliott had won a Daytona 500 and the Winston Million while Shepherd's career neared its end.



1986 began like the years before. Morgan was hired by Jack Beebe to drive a part-time schedule for a team that hadn't won since 1981. Almost miraculously, in his third race of the year, Shepherd held off Dale Earnhardt to win a close race at Atlanta. He has since described that win as the biggest of his career, one that confirmed him as a top driver and prolonged his time in racing.





Shepherd's Wood Brothers car (ISC Archives / GettyImages)



After a few more years of substitute driving for other teams, Morgan found his biggest success in the early 1990s, over twenty years after he began racing. His fifth-place finish in 1990 as a 48 year-old was the highest points finish of his career. He married his sixth wife, Cindy, in 1994 and the two have been married the past 23 years. While his personal life has been solid and satisfying, over the past twenty years, Morgan has had to work with less and less money. He races today with very little.



Perhaps Morgan's struggle to achieve success has shaped way he still competes. He entered the Cup series as a 39 year-old rookie. His final win came at age 51. Success never came quickly or easily, perhaps he values the privilege to compete as a success in itself. Morgan's life has been full of ups and downs, legal and illegal businesses, sin and salvation. He has sold most of his belongings to continue racing. While most drivers would live off their retirement savings at age 76, Morgan chooses to live at 180 miles per hour. With a small team and a simple lifestyle, Morgan shows up at every Xfinity race and runs as long as his tires will allow. With not enough money to buy many sets of tires or employ a pit crew, Morgan competes against cars with six million dollar sponsorships. A six thousand dollar, one race sponsorship is probably closer to what Morgan is used to. His website sells t-shirts and takes donations to help fund his racing. With a small budget and at 76 years-old, this endearing man races on.





(Jeff Robinson / GettyImages)



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