Barry Sheppard began hauling new cars in 1978. Credit: Autostock

Hauler driver Sheppard is No. 07's real Jack man

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Barry Sheppard fidgets in the cab of his 2001 Kenworth, eager to begin the annual Parade of Haulers from the Bristol Mall to the epitome of short-track racing on the Nextel Cup circuit, Bristol Motor Speedway. Darkness marks the time for the engines to fire to life, not unlike the pre-race command about 48 hours on the horizon, and Sheppard is biding his time until the big wheels roll.

Instamatic cameras are a dime a dozen and families roam from hauler to hauler getting up close and personal. And fans know the drill: Look but don't touch. But there is nothing against asking for an 8x10 -- and Sheppard has plenty Clint Bowyer photos at hand.

"Can't give the kids anything with Jack Daniel's on it," notes Sheppard, "but I have postcards with just Clint on it."

Sheppard drives the No. 07 hauler, and at Bristol he's the envy of those standing along the roadway [and probably more than a few of his fellow haulers]. It's Aug. 24 and not quite football time in Tennessee, so everyone's attention is focused on racing -- and Sheppard's shiny black big rig.

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A native of Stuart, Va., Sheppard has hauled Cup cars for the past 12 years for the likes of the Wood Brothers, Robert Yates and now Richard Childress. "I started out with the Wood Brothers and Michael Waltrip, and then Elliott Sadler for four years, a couple three years with Ricky Rudd, Robbie Gordon, Dave Blaney and now with Clint," says Sheppard.

And he's quick to offer that the best-looking car he's ever hauled is "sitting right here -- this one for Bristol. The boys really did a heck of a paint scheme on this one." It was a birthday tribute to Jack Daniel and was a sight to see -- until Lap 234, when Bowyer's right-front wheel went thataway while the car went another way.

The Parade of Haulers at Bristol is one of two on the Cup circuit; Darlington also pays tribute to the guys who git-r-done. "It brings out a lot of people," says Sheppard. "We get in line with the champion from last year, then line up by points.

"When I first started doing this, it was a big turnout for just the trucks -- but now it's thousands of people, just standing to watch us go by."

But before the hauler can wow the passersby it must be washed. "If I wash it by myself at the shop in Welcome, it takes about five, six hours to wash it top to bottom," says Sheppard.

On this day, however, Sheppard was running behind (the team tested at Nashville on Wednesday before the parade) and hired a crew to help bathe his black beauty. "It's a job, I can tell you that," he says. "I don't mind it, though, washing it myself. You catch a day at the shop when it's nice outside ... I like for [the hauler] to look nice."

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Sheppard, who has been driving rigs since 1978, when he began hauling new cars out of Walkertown, N.C., has won the Cup haulers' driving competition three times. Says Sheppard: "You go out there to beat 'em; makes no difference who you have to kill, run over. ... $50,000 -- you don't make that money every day."

Consider it a payoff for the long hauls that mark the beginning of the season, or those mired in the dog days of summer.

"I'm not too fond of the west coast tracks -- been out there, done that," says Sheppard. "Sonoma ... man, hell you don't think you're ever gonna get there -- and then when you get there, you don't think you're ever gonna get back.

"Fontana is a 2,500-mile trip and then there's another 400 miles to Sonoma," he says, adding quickly that "out there in California, they don't let you get by with too much speeding." Plus federal guidelines govern how long a driver can be behind the wheel, so it's a two-person haul for left-coast runs.

"The [season-opening] Daytona-Fontana-Las Vegas run ... you don't want my real opinion on that," says Sheppard, his eyes closing to little more than slits, from either the sun shining down or a painful memory. "It's hard on us, especially if you've got a family.

"You're in Daytona for 14 days, but RC flies the boys home for a couple days to get a break," says Sheppard. "If not for that, it would be terrible ... But when you get back home on Monday [after Daytona], turn right around and load the truck and you just have your wife bring your suitcase to the shop.

"You're worn out before the season really gets started -- and then you get into the summer months, when it's hot and you're in Daytona, Chicago ... then you really get stuck dragging."

Sheppard says his rig has all the amenities of home, except one. "I've got a shower, bathroom, microwave, refrigerator ... all I have to do is stop and get fuel. ... Just don't have my wife."

Sheppard clearly misses his wife, Kimberley Jane, and grandson, but before he can become too morose a fan saunters up the steps and peers inside the driver's side window.

"Why don't you run straight stacks?" he asks, adding that he, too, used to drive for Jack Daniel's, but as a contract hauler on the whiskey-making side of the business.

Sheppard's answer is one that any long hauler can appreciate: "I don't like those noisy-ass things. They make too damn much racket."

A few moments of idle chit-chat conclude with the fan asking for a souvenir, which Sheppard gladly provides before turning his attention to the No. 12 hauler, which is beginning to get in line. Sheppard will pull in behind that rig and moments later the parade is in full throttle down State Street, which separates Tennessee and Virginia.

As the rig lurches forward Sheppard unbuckles his belt and fashions a pull handle for the air horn, looping the belt from the top of the cab so that it dangles close to the gear shift within fingers-reach. "Beats reaching up for it," he says.

Using the vernacular that only the haulers are keen to "Hillbilly," as Childress dubbed Sheppard, begins calling out to other drivers, including "Bandit," "Rabbit" and "Squirrel," who as hauler of the No. 5 car gets a windshield full of one-finger salutes and is mocked by his fellow drivers.

The drivers also keep tabs on the crowd and law enforcement -- "Evel Knievel" is a policeman on a motorcycle -- as the trucks snake their way down the four-lane highway. Using each other as spotters, the drivers watch as some fans step from the side of the road to touch the trailer as it passes.

As the convoy makes its way down Hwy. 11E Sheppard predicts this year's crowd is a record number (though no one keeps an official count), with fans standing eight- or nine-deep at some points along the highway. Many hold their hands over their ears as the haulers' horns work in unison with the fireworks exploding overhead. Other fans revel in the noise, hands raised with a thumbs-up -- or even prancing along in a gorilla costume or dressed as Hawaiian hula dancers.

The crowd is even thicker as the haulers begin the climb toward the speedway and on the left is the crown jewel of Thunder Valley -- and the final destination for the weekend -- where Sheppard & Co. will weave their way into parking spots in the infield and await the end of Saturday night's race.

"It's really neat ... just the way the fans act, especially since Jack Daniel's has come on board," says Sheppard. "I guess everybody likes drinking it because there's a heck of a lot of fans that like to give you high-fives."