Lee Shepherd

Lee Alan Shepherd (August 30, 1944 – March 11, 1985) was an American drag racing driver from Arlington, Texas.

In 1972, Shepherd drove a lime green Chevy Nova station wagon to the Modified finals at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) , also claiming Modified Eliminator (making the Nova the quickest car at the event). Later in 1972, he teamed with and .^[1] The three Texans pooled their limited resources and forged a longstanding partnership^[2] after Bobby Cross left the team to pursue his own business ventures. The Reher-Morrison-Shepherd team won NHRA's Division 4 championship in 1973,^[3] and took a class win at the 1974 Winternationals in a pumpkin orange Chevrolet-powered F/Gas^{[citation needed]} Ford Maverick.^[4] Shepherd ran back-to-back 10.67s to defeat John Smith’s M/Gas Volkswagen and defending event champion Bob Riffle’s C/Gas Dodge Colt. In the quarterfinal, he bested Carl Frizzell’s E/MP Camaro with a 10.66 and former Winternationals winner Fred Teixeira’s B/Gas Corvette with a 10.49. In the final, Shepherd unleashed a pass of 10.39 seconds at 130.62 mph (210.21 km/h), defeating Jim Marshall’s A/MP Dart and good enough to set an F/Gas national record.^[5]

In 1975, the Texans borrowed a Chevrolet Corvette body, transplanted the Maverick's powertrain, and recorded another Modified victory at the 1975 Springnationals, as well as taking Modified Eliminator, making the Reher-Morrison Corvette the quickest Modified of the event.

The team campaigned a Chevrolet Camaro to win four consecutive NHRA national championships from 1981 to 1984.^[6]

Shepherd would return to win the Winternationals twice in Pro Stock, in 1980 and 1984, while the team won 26 of 56 national events and four championships in that period.^[7]

In 1983 Shepherd became the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships in the same year, a feat that had never before been achieved; he did it again in 1984.^[8]

In March 1985, on his way to a fifth straight Pro Stock championship,^[9] Shepherd was killed while testing his car in Ardmore, Oklahoma.^[10] Sources cited attribute his death to the failure of his seat belt/racing harness. At the Gatornationals, the next event on the NHRA calendar, the qualifiers in Pro Stock lined up on the track before the start of eliminations in a missing man formation with the pole position being left open for Lee Shepherd.^[11] In 2001, a panel ranked Shepherd twelfth in the National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers, 1951–2000.^[12]

Over his career, Shepherd won at every NHRA national event, recording a record of 173 wins to 47 losses, including reaching the final round in 44 national events, winning 26 times.^[13] He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas.

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