Glen Shepard Most Improved Driver
Written by Bill Johnson
The Glen Shepard Most Improved Driver award is given by the region’s race group to the road racing driver, typically a newer driver, that shows the most improvement in driving over the course of a year.
Glen was born in Aserdeen, South Dakota in 1938 and was educated in a one room school house for 8 years. In August of 1956 he joined the Navy and was stationed at bases in Point Mugu, CA, Midway Island, and Olathe, KA. He was discharged from the Navy in 1961 and moved to KC. While working as a doorman in 1962 at The Old Heidelberg bar in KC he met Barbara Boylan, a TWA “hostess,” who was there drinking with her hostess friends. He ended up giving her a ride home in his Porsche 356B. They were married in 1963.
Glen attended his first SCCA race in 1961 at Lake Garnett and was not satisfied being just a spectator. He got his SCCA competition license in 1964 in Inid, Oklahoma and his first race was at Greenwood Roadway in his 1962 Austin Healey Sprite. A year later, days after I was born, he won his first race at Greenwood in his H Mod Jabro. This same year, 1965, Glen finished 2nd in the Midwest Div in H Mod and went to the ARRC at Daytona, where he finished 6th. In 1971 he bought an E Production Alfa Romeo and took that to the Road Atlanta Runoffs in November, where he finished in 16th place. His last race car was an Elden CSR with a 1300cc Fiat engine. He won several races with this car at Lake Afton, Hutchinson and Hallett….hung up the driver’s suit in 1979.
Glen owned Midwest Trophy King for over 20 years and was the supplier of all awards for the KC Region and all over the KC metro area. Thru that period trophies were big and beautiful and worth proudly displaying. Glen graciously donated trophies for the region’s annual awards banquet and of course donated the traveling trophy given in his name.
After selling his business he became a school bus driver for the Shawnee Mission School district in 2000 and is still driving today. Going from race cars to a school bus might seem odd to some but according to his son Kyle, “he wasn’t doing much after he sold his business and was wanting some additional income so he thought about what he was good at: driving. He started the job and immediately liked it. The schedule got him out of the house early with a big break in the middle of the day before the afternoon route. He loves driving the sports teams because he likes to watch the games and track meets. And the athletes and coaches like him because they say he’s the only driver who leaves the bus to watch them. It has also helped him stay pretty sharp, I think. My mom has enjoyed having him out of the house during the day.”
He got into sailing and bicycle riding in the 1980s. Glen is a two-time finisher of the Paris Brest Paris 1200 kilometer bike race, one of the oldest bike races in the world. He also finished the Team Race Across America Bike Race in 1996.