For the third consecutive week, Mount Olive, Va.-based Thunder Coal Company will partner with Circle Sport as the primary sponsor of the #33 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry as driver Morgan Shepherd will rewrite the NASCAR record book at the start of Sunday’s Camping World 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Shepherd, who has four Sprint Cup Series and 15 Nationwide Series victories to his credit, will break his record as the oldest competitor in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at 72 years, 9 months and 1 day. Shepherd made his first career Sprint Cup Series start in 1970 at the age of 28 and became a full-time competitor in NASCAR’s top series in 1981 at the age of 39, the same year he captured his fist career NASCAR victory at Martinsville Speedway.
‘Morgan wanted another opportunity to run in the Cup Series and we had the availability to make it happen at New Hampshire,’ said team owner Joe Falk. ‘Morgan has always been a great ambassador of the sport of NASCAR and brought along the funding to make it possible to put him back in a competitive car on the Sprint Cup circuit. It’s a reunion of sorts as Morgan drove for me in few races in the late 90s, and I’m glad we were able to get Thunder Coal back on the car as Morgan extends his NASCAR record this weekend in our Circle Sport entry.’
Besides being a driver-owner in the Cup Series throughout his career, Shepherd has driven for a who’s who of NASCAR, including the likes of Bud Moore, the Wood Brothers, Kenny Bernstein, Butch Mock, Richard Childress and Felix Sabates, just to name a few. This also won’t be the first time Shepherd has piloted the #33 in Sprint Cup competition, as he drove the famed Skoal Bandit for owner Hal Needham for five races in 1988. ‘It’s rewarding to know that someone has the belief in me to still be able to compete against the best race car drivers in the world with a properly funded race car,’ said Shepherd. ‘These new cars are easier to drive than the ones when I started in the sport – even though they’re faster and have more horsepower – and I’m just looking forward to going out and competing on Sunday.’(Circle Sport), see images of the car on the #33 Team Scheme page.(7-11-2014)
