Kevin Kovac's Take Five
Take Five: Sheppard adds to Rocket1's legacy
In a new feature appearing regularly on DirtonDirt, senior writer Kevin Kovac will offer readers five things worth mentioning from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (index to previous Take Fives):
No. 1: Brandon Sheppard’s third victory of Georgia-Florida Speedweeks 2026 in Wednesday's 30-lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctiond Wieland Winternationals feature at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway continued adding to a quarter-century of extreme success over the annual early-season stretch of races for Mark Richards’s Rocket Chassis house car team. It was the 56th overall Speedweeks win for the iconic Rocket1 operation dating back to 2001 when Davey Johnson of Greensburg, Pa., earned the team’s first checkered flags at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., and Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. When I texted Richards this morning to double-check on a few years and let him know his formidable total, he asked, “How many did Moyer have?” Hall of Fame Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., of course, is the all-time winningest Speedweeks racer with 62 triumphs from 1985-2015, giving Richards a number that would seem within reach for his team to beat by next year (unless Sheppard were to win the remaining seven races of this year’s Speedweeks).
No. 2: The Rocket Chassis house car team’s Speedweeks victories have come with six drivers: New Berlin, Ill.’s Sheppard (23), Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (21), Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind. (eight), Johnson (two), Bart Hartman of Zanesville, Ohio (one) and Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky. (one). Volusia has been the team’s most prolific track with 24 victories, followed by East Bay (17), Ocala (seven), Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga. (four), All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla. (two) and Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga. (Two). Rocket1’s single-Speedweeks win high is seven in 2016 with Josh Richards, and the team has won at least one Speedweeks feature every year since 2001 except ’02, ’05, ’06, ’11, ’21 and ’25.
No. 3: FloRacing announcers James Essex and Dustin Jarrett were left momentarily speechless during a caution flag in Wednesday’s feature at Ocala when pit reporter Ben Shelton threw the broadcast back to them following an infield interview with Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., whose broken rear end on lap seven knocked him from the lead. Bronson mourned the black cloud of bad luck hovering over him with a, well, rather colorful comment: “It could be raining vaginas and I’d get smacked in the head with a wiener.” It took Essex and Jarrett a moment to reset themselves before continuing on with their call of the race.
No. 4: Not surprisingly, it took less than 24 hours for Bronson to make available for purchase a T-shirt loosely themed to his attention-grabbing quote. Race Ranch was up Thursday afternoon with “Bronson’s Hot Dog Shack” apparel featuring a cartoon hot dog and the tag line “Raining wieners year-round at a track near you!”
No. 5: This anecdote comes courtesy of DirtonDirt’s Kyle McFadden, who witnessed an interesting interaction Jonathan Davenport had with a fan in Ocala’s pit area on Wednesday. Spectating for the evening while awaiting Thursday’s program to make his 2026 Speedweeks debut, Davenport was approached by a fan who said, “I’ve been waiting to give this to you.” He handed J.D. one of those plastic table-tent cards you get when you order something at Culver’s; it had Davenport’s number 49 on it. Davenport quipped, “What are you trying to do, get me thrown in jail? Now I have a piece of stolen property in my hands.” The fan responded, “I thought you’d like it.” Davenport just laughed it off and didn’t really know what to do with it.
