Brandon Sheppard isn’t a Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals folk hero like Tyler Carpenter. He’s not a love ‘em or hate ‘em figure like Bobby Pierce. He’s not brash like Tyler Erb.

The 30-year-old superstar from New Berlin, Ill., is just, well, Sheppy, a likable, hard-nosed racer who seemingly has all the thousands of fans at The Dome at America’s Center on his side.

Sheppard’s every-man persona and admiration from the racing crowd was readily apparent when he pulled into victory lane Saturday night after capturing the 40-lap Gateway Dirt Nationals finale for the first time in his career. The largest crowd in the event’s seven-year history exploded in approval of his $30,000 triumph, roaring their support to a decibel level that few Dirt Late Model drivers will ever experience.

“You know, that crowd this weekend was just unbelievable,” Sheppard said, shaking his head when asked about the resounding ovation he received. “Honestly, I never thought 10 years ago I’d be racing inside of the Dome, and let alone have that big of a crowd (cheering). It's surreal, really.

“So this one definitely ranks up there,” he continued. “You know, the crowd always gets wild for me and it means a lot to me to hear them and to, you know, be a part of a great event and just know that I got a lot of great fans out there.”

Sheppard’s father, Steve Sheppard Jr., was amazed by the outpouring of love that fans directed toward his son.

“It’s pretty exciting to see everybody go wild,” said the elder Sheppard, a 48-year-old whose attempt at the Gateway Dirt Nationals resulted in a DNQ after a cut tire knocked him from the lead in a Friday heat. “He’s very popular. People were screaming! It’s pretty special, man.”

A large portion of B-Shepp’s Dome adulation derives, of course, from his status as a virtual hometown boy. Racing in St. Louis — less than two hours from his hometown and in the heart of the Midwest Dirt Late Model world where he cut his teeth — affords Sheppard a built-in fan base and brings an army of his family and friends to the event. It’s his low-key, friendly and uncontroversial manner, though, that makes him just so darn difficult to dislike.

“Obviously, he’s pretty special to everybody,” Steve Sheppard Jr. said while standing amid the postrace revelry at the Sheppard Riggs Racing trailer in the pit area. “He always takes time for people, and I feel like I helped instill that in him too — stay humble, be a good person, and everything will come to you and life will be good.

“I just kind of guided him in the direction that I probably should’ve went in my life and I didn’t quite go in that direction. He’s a very good kid and I’m proud as I could ever be.”

Highlights: 2023 Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals Super Late Model A-Main

Sheppard has provided his legion of faithful followers with plenty of excitement during the Gateway Dirt Nationals since its launch in 2016. Victory, however, has proven to be elusive for the decorated driver whose resume boasts four World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series championships and an ever-increasing list of crown jewel triumphs, including a recording-tying five wins in the Dirt Track World Championship. He had been boom-or-bust in the Saturday headliner, accenting his finishes of second (2019), third (’16) and fourth (’21) with dismal placings of 18th (’17), 19th (’18) and 16th (’22).

“I’ve either finished top-four here or got a flat tire,” said Sheppard, whose lone previous victory at the Dome came in a 2018 preliminary feature. “I’ve been here a lot of times and tore up a lot of stuff and had some really good runs.”

The seventh time running the temporary fifth-mile oval was certainly the charm for Sheppard. Running a car from his Sheppard Riggs Racing stable that was freshened and reskinned with a Black Rifle Coffee Company wrap in recent weeks at the Longhorn Chassis shop in China Grove, N.C., he enjoyed a weekend that couldn’t have gone any smoother.

“This is the least we had to change on the race car at the Dome since I’ve been coming here,” said Sheppard, who locked into Saturday’s finale with a hard-earned third-place finish in Thursday’s 25-lap semifeature. “We had a good program right from the start. We had a gameplan coming into it and stuck with it and it paid off.”

Sheppard started outside the front row in the 40-lapper and led the all the way, but it was anything but a waltz to the checkered flag. Nothing ever comes easy on the Dome’s bullring.

“It’s just kind of all gloves are off and you're just giving it all she’s got every lap,” Sheppard said. “So it’s just, you know, I was lucky enough to draw (a front-row starting spot) and be able to set my own pace and control the race. You see a guy or feel a guy out there or see him on the (video) screen, you can kind of adjust accordingly.

“I was able to find a pretty smooth line that kept me out front most of the race. And then there at the end I knew somebody was going to eventually start a Hail Mary (attempt), and then I wasn’t going as hard as I could either.”

Sheppard’s flag-to-flag march became nerve-racking in the final circuits as Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., made a last-ditch bid for one more victory to cap his Driver of the Year campaign. Gunning his car around the top of the track with extra English, the 33-year-old Thornton closed within striking distance of Sheppard.

“With three to go there, I was like, ‘Oh, Lord, here we go,’ ” Sheppard’s crew chief, Randall Edwards, said. “Like they said, ‘Ricky’s gonna do Ricky things I guess.’ ”

Edwards couldn’t relay signals to his driver, but Sheppard knew Thornton was there.

“About five or six laps before (the finish) I seen a blue car on the screen and I thought, Man, I seen Ricky!” Sheppard said. “And then, like, the last lap there, I seen Ricky underneath me (in turns one and tow) and I was like, ‘Boy, I better get up on the wheel here.’ So luckily we didn't bounce too much in three and four that last lap and we were able to hold him off.”

Thornton actually lost significant ground when he hit the brakes to avoid sliding into Sheppard and his car slapped the outside wall between turns one and two, ripping up the right-rear bodywork on his SSI Motorsports machine. Sheppard didn’t realize that, however; he didn’t glance up at the screen between turns three and four because he was too busy “trying to keep an eye on the wall” and “keep it out of the holes.”

Sheppard beat Thornton to the finish line by 1.942 seconds, finally giving him a Gateway Arch trophy for his already ample collection of hardware. It also marked the second straight Gateway Dirt Nationals victory for Edwards, who wrenched Tyler Erb to the 30-grand score last year.

What’s Edwards’s secret to success at the Dome?

“Make sure s--- don’t break,” Edwards said with a laugh. “That’s exactly what I did to this (car).”

Edwards reunited with Sheppard just two months ago, accepting an offer to become Sheppard’s crew chief seven years after he spent the 2016 season working with Sheppard on the Best Performance Motorsports team. The Dome was already the pair’s second win together, following up Sheppard’s $100,000 triumph in Oct. 22’s DTWC at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

“It’s an honor to have Randall back really,” Sheppard said. “We always worked good together, we trust each other — that’s a big thing, finding a crew you can trust. My other two crew guys, Justin (Steel) and Cory (Lash), they’re like family to me … Cory is family, he’s my cousin, and I’ve known Justin for a long time. We all just kind of fit well together and have trust in each other. I can watch the track and see what I have to do and I can trust these guys to get everything done right.”

Sheppard and Edwards believe Saturday’s victory can be viewed as another preview of great things to come in 2024 as they dive into fielding the Longhorn Chassis house car program. They plan to test before and after Christmas, then probably hit the concluding three-race weekend of January’s Wild West Shootout at Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park before heading to Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., for WoO action to begin Georgia-Florida Speedweeks.

“We got a great deal going here,” said Sheppard, who noted that his team likely won’t make a decision on which national tour he will run — WoO for the second straight year or the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series — until after Speedweeks. “I got a great team behind me. Cars, motors, shocks, sponsors, social media and marketing team. I got a lot of great things going for me right now and it’s starting to pay off.”