DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Morgan Shepherd has transcended multiple decades of NASCAR racing and still manages -- through self-reinvention and a unique presence in the garage -- to remain somewhat relevant.

Where does the 67-year-old North Carolina native whose racing career began with the disco days get his staying power?

"Roller skating I reckon," said Shepherd, who finished 31st Friday night in his 250th Nationwide Series start in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway. He has 15 career wins, 44 top-five finishes and 67 top-10s.

A self-described born-again Christian who serves as a lay minister to the racing community, Shepherd made a decision to change his lifestyle in 1975. He traded his nightlife full of bar hopping and carousing for a much more sanitary existence inside roller skating rinks throughout the South and in his hometown of Conover, N.C.

“

This is where all my friends are. Who wants to stay home and have no friends at home?

”

-- MORGAN SHEPHERD

Although growing up in the mountains and the son of a moonshiner, Shepherd had little to no exposure to the sport whose popularity peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Nevertheless, Shepherd became a self-taught skater and still takes his skates everywhere he goes. At Richmond International Raceway last week, fans were delighted to see the driver rolling down pit road on eight wheels as opposed to four.

Today's culture has traded traditional roller skates for roller blades and inline skates that go much faster.

"I tried roller blades," Shepherd said. "They are good for speed and jumps but they took my rhythm away. I couldn't do the same spins and moves that I learned on my roller skates."

Shepherd started skating at the peak of the disco era and learned to dance rather well on his skates. In fact, he never learned to dance until he put on a pair of roller skates and he's still not much of a dancer without his wheels.

The driver will have you believe it's the skating that has kept him racing in NASCAR after all these years, but really racing is something Shepherd will do until he is physically incapable.

Despite struggling with his underfunded team and lack of personnel, Shepherd makes the best of his time on the track relishing every moment, every lap. It's the place this old-school racer wants to be, not home rocking in a chair on a porch sipping lemonade.

"This is where all my friends are," he said. "Who wants to stay home and have no friends at home? Of course I love the sport and I still feel the same way today as I did the day I started racing. I love automobiles and I love going fast."

The sport of NASCAR is the one and only outlet for his deepest passion.

"Obviously you're not supposed to go fast on the highway so NASCAR provides a good place to go fast," he laughed.

Shepherd is the oldest full-time competitor in NASCAR and is the second-oldest driver to ever have won a Cup Series race behind Harry Gant in 1993 when Shepherd won the spring race at Atlanta when he was 51.

The Atlanta victory was the most memorable moment of his NASCAR career which began in 1970 and produced four Cup and 15 Nationwide victories.

"I thought I was on my way out of racing," he said. "We went to Atlanta and qualified third and had the car to beat. If I remember, the last three laps I could barely see where I was going because of the tears coming in my eyes. I couldn't believe I was going to be able to win the Atlanta 500 at that age."

His spirit and faith appears to be as strong today as it was 16 years ago in Atlanta making Shepherd a unique and one-of-a-kind figure in the sport.