Smoky Mountain Speedway
Career twilight still bright for in-sync McDowells
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
Dale and Shane McDowell last season. (joshjamesartwork.com)
MARYVILLE, Tenn. (March 14) — After more than 30 years of competing on dirt as a driver-crew chief brother combo, Dale McDowell and Shane McDowell are both quick to mention communication as a prime factor to their Dirt Late Model success.
In sync on the team's scheduling strategy? Check. Discussing subtle ways of improving the car's speed? Check. A sixth sense of knowing what the other brother is thinking on suspension setups? Check.
There is, however, one element of communication that might need a little sharpening, says Shane, who operates Shane McDowell Racing with wife Sara and doesn't see his older brother often "except at the racetrack. I mean, really, very rarely does he even ride in the hauler or like he just meets me at the track.
“There's been times last year, he started working (and) doing some construction stuff, and every time it's 5 o'clock and I'll be like, 'Sara, call Dale, make sure he's coming.’ I mean, actually we made (practice) laps yesterday at I-75. I hadn't talked to him since last week, so I called him. I was like, ‘Hey, you do remember we're going to make some laps tonight, right?’ ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.’ ”
Not to worry, McDowell fans. Dale indeed showed up for Thursday's practice as well as Friday's World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Smoky Mountain Speedway, where the team did what they've been doing since the 1990s: contended for a victory in a national touring event.
With flag-to-flag winner Bobby Pierce capturing the $12,000 Tennessee Tipoff opener (Saturday's event was rained out), the 58-year-old McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., posted a solid fourth-place finish in the team's 2025 debut.
Dale's critique of his first outing was that he wasn't aggressive enough from his heat race pole position in settling for second in the prelim, but that he rebounded in the feature in part because of a hard-compound tire choice and improving car throughout the nonstop 35-lapper.
"You know, it's hard to line up against these guys that have already run twentysomething races, so that makes it a little tough. But Shane does a good job and (crew member) Landon (Hayes) in getting everything ready," McDowell said. “We started fifth and run fourth and was definitely in contention, so that's all we can ask for. If we can keep it in that realm of area, a top-five, then we're happy.”
A successful performance is nothing new for McDowell, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer whose career includes the 1999 Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series title and career-making victories in Eldora Speedway's World 100 and Dream along with numerous other crown jewels.
But for Shane McDowell Racing, it is something of a new era after losing its 10-year sponsorship of Augusta, Ga.-based E-Z-Go golf carts, which put the aging team's future somewhat in doubt. Last winter, Dale mused about giving up the seat for a younger driver. Shane, 51, made plans to forge ahead while also fielding many phone calls from race teams interested in his crew chief or consulting services. A limited race schedule was a definite possibility.
Put those doubts on hold.
The team recently announced primary sponsorship from Reece Monument Company and Mike Reece, a longtime sponsor for Tennessee drivers Jimmy Owens and the late Scott Bloomquist, along with adding new sponsorships from Ohio-based Bath Masters, Be Cool Radiators and Mt. Airy Polaris to join a solid list of returnees that includes Klotz Synthetic Lubricants and Cometic Gasket.
It's all systems go for Shane, who understands Father Time catches up with the best of us, but wants to see Shane McDowell Racing go out on its own terms.
"I told Dale, I said, ‘We've still got a lot of good partners,' but I said, 'I don't know what we're gonna do. I don't know how we're gonna be able to justify the expense,’ ” Shane said. “Then fortunately — fortunately — Mike Reese contacted me through a mutual friend, and he gave a guy a number and said, ‘Have Shane call me.’ And I called him and he come on board with the program. It's still gonna be tough trying to put everything together, but we just have to pick and choose our battles a little bit and be careful. But without him, we would have been definitely, definitely on a limited schedule. If everything goes fairly well, I feel like we'll still be able to run a 40-race schedule.”
Maintaining such a schedule is perfect for Dale, who last season scored seven special-event victories, including a $50,000 triumph at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. While the silver-haired driver doesn't bring the vim and vigor he had bursting upon the touring scene with a 1994 Southern All Star Late Model Series title at 28, McDowell nearly outdueled Pierce in the final laps of last September's World 100, notching a runner-up finish at Eldora in a race that would've made him the oldest major-race winner at the Rossburg, Ohio, track.
“We’re very blessed because we didn’t know what was gonna happen after E-Z-Go was gone," Dale said. "And we've had some people to step up and some existing companies that's helped us to step up and help a little bit more. Reese coming on board, you know, and with all the sponsors that we've had, so I mean it's a credit to all those guys. I mean I feel honored to be associated with all (of it). Truthfully it’s kept us going.
“With everybody's involvement that Sara mentioned (in a press release) this past week with all the sponsors and all of our partners, it's actually got it to where we can run about the same schedule we did last year I think. So I'm just lucky. I feel like a blessed guy to still do it as long as we can. I’ll be 59 in May. I'm gonna keep plugging as long as I can.”
The team isn't interested in scheduling a career-ending farewell tour. Victories are the primary goal. Shane is still intent on providing his older brother a winning Team Zero Race Car powered by a Clements Racing Engine.
"I told Mike Reese when he come and talked to me ... I told him I was losing these (sponsors), He said 'What are you gonna do?’ And I said, 'Well, I really feel like that Dale's got a couple more years left at the top level.’ I said I'm 51 now and so I don't know how much longer I can do it and keep doing it, and it's just me and one guy, but I told him, I said, 'I wanna do it with Dale,’ ” Shane said. “So I just told him, I said, ‘We've done it this long. If we only do it a couple more years, I'd like to do it the same way if I can.’ So that's what we’re targeting for. It's what we're trying to gear up to do. I’ve been working on some stuff. I've had so many unknowns and now some of the things are starting to fall in line here, so maybe we can get (going).”
Few teams race smarter than Shane McDowell Racing, which operates within its means with mostly self-owned equipment and without paychecks covered by a non-racing business. With the exception of an annual trip to the Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark. — a nod of support to Dale's longtime backers Larry Shaw and Kenny Hendrix at a track where Dale shines — the team stays within seven hours of the shop and competes at tracks where the No. 17m has run best. That means no Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. No off-the-cuff races on a whim. Nothing that's not well-planned and executed, even if that means actually waiting until near-spring before opening the season and wrapping up well before Thanksgiving.
"I'm just blessed, I guess. Just really, really fortunate," Shane said. "But Dale does a good job, you know, he obviously does a good job driving, and so I kind of I feel like we kind of gotta pick our places. There’s some places that that we don't run as good at (where) we've got behind a little bit, but I don't have it in the budget to go test.
“It’s so expensive anymore that to get better at some of them places we would have to go test and test, and that just costs so much money. So really I don't have it in the budget to just run 40 or 50 races anyways. And that varies if we crash cars or break motors or have bad luck. So it's tough. It's just a juggling act trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We’re just fortunate that we can still be able to do it at our age, and where we are, Dale's the oldest guy out there.
"Really, I mean, we've seen a lot of the greats over the years, but being competitive at 58 — Dale’ll be 59 in May — and really seeing a lot of the greats over the years (who) weren't able to make it that long and be competitive.”
The team still operates adjacent to the shop of the late Bloomquist in Mooresburg, Tenn., and maintains a good relationship with Bloomquist's parents, Ron and Georgie, along with his daughter Ariel. Shane would like his team's twilight years to be under the Team Zero banner. He'd also like to continue the McDowell legacy of a brotherly team that's competed with, and now outlasted, other top brother combinations on the national touring scene including Steve and Chris Francis and Jimmy and Chris Mars.
“I’m very fortunate. I've had tons of top teams call and ask me what I was wanting to do or if I'd go to work (for them) or whatever," "Shane said. "But I've done it this long ... I told (Reese that) it's just, it's cool to be able to do it with your brother and not many people have been able to do that. There's only been a handful of us between Steve and Chris and Jimmy Mars and his brother Chris, but there's really been very, very few of us as brothers that have been able to do it.”
It all comes back to that brotherly communication.
“Actually, I think he does better, he's actually run really better the last three, four or five years, and I think it's because me and him can communicate really well," Shane said. "And he's not out there working on the car, so he don't have that in his mind. You know, he comes in with a clear head and then he has enough faith in me. And we just communicate well. So I feel like we could usually make gains on it through the weekend at an event, just because of communication."
Dale always credits his younger brother with preparing a winning car.
"He works hard and studies it and he's younger and still got that fire," Dale said. "I'm not at the shop very much. Our communication is good. I’m open-minded when he tells me maybe I need to do something different in the seat, and then I try to do it, relay the message of what I feel back to him. And we've raced together for so long that you know that's a credit to him and his program and the way he puts everything together, he and Landon. And it's just them two there, and Sara's there keeping them in check. So he does an awesome job.
“I feel like hopefully we'll have a strong year. Like I said, those (sponsors) coming on board has definitely enabled us to get out there and race a little bit and so I'm looking forward to this year.”
