27-year-old Zeke Shell has finished second in the championship point standings at Kingsport Speedway for two consecutive seasons. He’s hoping that 2015 will be the year he finally captures the championship that seems to keep eluding him.
Shell, who lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, has many reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming season, which starts on Saturday afternoon. He will hit the track in Saturday’s season opener at Kingsport with a new car and a new outlook on life.
“We’ve got a brand new car and yesterday was the first time it touched the ground,” Shell said. “We’ll see if we can get ironed out before it gets too late,” Shell said. “The first race usually sets the speed for the year. As a driver, I want to say yes, it’s my year.”
Shell is now happily married to his longtime girlfriend Amber and has a kid on the way. Shell is happier than he’s ever been and he thinks his happiness will translate to on-track success.
“People get married for reasons,” Shell remarked. “I’ve had my share of relationships and most of them, I had the choice where they say racing or them and I’ve always chosen racing. They’d yell at me if I stayed at the race shop too long. Now, my wife, I get yelled at if I’m not at the race shop long enough getting the car right. I mean, she’d probably divorce me if I quit racing. Family life is great. It’s been so good, I’ve got one coming on the way. We’re going to have a baby.”
Shell began racing when he was seven years old. He raced in go-karts before moving up. In 2005, he began racing Late Model Stock Cars, winning Rookie of the Year at Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, Virginia. Shell has been racing in Late Models ever since and he has no plans to slow down or stop racing soon.
“I’m still breathing,” Shell said when asked if having a family would slow him down. “When I stop breathing and the fun dries up is when I’ll stop. The year that Kingsport opened, I didn’t have a car, sponsor or a dime to my name. I was living in my garage. John King dropped a Late Model off at my doorstep and said ‘here you go’ but, before that happened, I was still at the track every weekend helping drivers out. I’ll always be involved.”
The last two seasons, Shell has come close to the championship. He feels that, with a new car and a little luck, he should be able to finally capture a track championship.
“It boils down to, basically, mechanical failures,” Shell explained. “In my opinion, that’s the only thing that kept us from a championship last year. We had two races we were in the lead and had alternator problems. If I can get everything ironed out, I won’t have issues and this new car is better equipment so I’m very optimistic about it. That’s not taking anything away from anyone out there. Chad Finchum’s as talented as anyone can get and Kres VanDyke’s very strong but I feel like it’s my turn. The whole crew deserves it.”
Shell has had an on-track rivalry with Chad Finchum but he said respects the Knoxville, Tennessee driver and hopes Finchum moves up the NASCAR ranks.
“I think what’s Chad Finchum’s doing is the correct thing to do, move up. He’s insanely marketable and, in today’s age, that’s what gets you into racing with the big guys. He’s marketable, talented and got the financial backing and support to do it. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would pass that up. I hope the best for him in his ventures. He’s got a lot of respect from me. We’ve had our issues but he’s a talented driver.”
Throughout the past few seasons, Shell has earned a reputation of being one of the nice guys and is an embodiment of what fans love about short track racing – someone who loves to race and loves being a part of the sport on the grassroots level.
