teenaged driver taking 411 by storm

There’s a new star emerging on the fast track at 411 Motor Speedway this summer.

15-year old Truck Series driver Tiffany Sheehan is forcing all the rough and rugged track veterans to take notice after winning four of the last five races in the always hotly-competitive truck series.

The old guard at the legendary Seymour track has been forced to take a backseat to the talkative, bright teenaged racing prodigy even though she’s technically not even old enough to get her Tennessee State Drivers License yet.

Sheehan, who got her start at Dumplin Valley racing go-carts at age seven, is a track veteran of sorts despite her youth. Although she is quick to say she respects most of her truck series rivals at 411 Motor Speedway, she says it hasn’t always been easy. Sheehan said she’s been playing the underdog role as a female driver from day-one but it’s something she’s grown used to over the years.

“The first time I won, it was like ‘Oh, it was just pure luck,’” Sheehan explained regarding the response she received from some of her competitors at 411 when she began her recent four-race win streak. “Then the second week I won they said it wasn’t that much of a challenge because one of them wrecked and another said his truck wasn’t handling right. Then the third week it was like, oh they must be letting her win. And then (after her fourth straight win) they said it was because I have a bigger engine.

“Every week it’s something different,” Sheehan added prior to last Saturday’s race. “But eventually I guess they’ll have to learn to accept it or I’ll have to learn to accept it.”

Not everybody at the track is wary of its newest hotshot driver though. Tiffany’s mom, Sandy, says her daughter has gotten a very warm response from local racing fans at the track.

“The people in the grandstand are rooting for her, absolutely,” said Sandy Sheehan. “She’s definitely becoming a favorite in the grandstands.”

Sheehan’s racing career has been progressed rapidly from the get-go..

A former Brownie and ballet student, it didn’t take Sheehan long to realize that racing was going to be her thing. She said from the first time her dad put her in a go-cart eight years ago at the Dumplin Valley track, she’s been driving hard toward the checkered flag ever since.

“My dad wanted a family activity that we all could be involved in,” said Sheehan, a home-school student whose family resides in Blount County. “I had no idea what a go-cart was at first but once I got in it they couldn’t get me out of it.

“And I guess it just went from there. The first week I raced a go-cart I finished third. The second week I finished second and the third week I won. And after that I just kept winning.”

Sheehan’s father, Buddy, is her one-man pit crew and mechanic. Her mom, Sandy, assists with the race-night agenda at 411 Motor Speedway and serves as her daughter’s personal public relations contact.

The Sheehans agree that Tiffany’s successful start to her racing career is made that much more special because it is something the whole family can be involved in.

Following her early success at go-cart racing, Sheehan explained that the track owner at Dumplin Valley approached her after she had strung together a few wins and suggested she move up to race Champ Cars.

“The track owner came to us and said that I’m not going to get any better if I stay in the same class so they moved me up,” she said. “And then I got a Champ Car, which is like a car but it’s small like a go-cart and it has row cages around it. I drove Champ Cars for four years.”

After earning her chops traveling with her family around the Southeast racing her Champ Car, she moved up to race Bandoleros Cars, which are miniature race cars similar to Legend Cars that are raced at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Sheehan said after running her Bandolero Car for a few months her dad purchased two Allison Legacy Cars, which are three-quarter scale cup cars. She raced her Allison Legacy Car for two years competing in the touring series in states such as Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.

Almost two years ago the Sheehan family invested in a hotrod truck for their teenaged daughter to drive. Equipped with a 602 Chevy Crate Motor with a two-barrel, Tiffany has since become smitten with the fast, shiny pick-up truck, as teenaged girls sometimes tend to do.

“I just like trucks,” she said. “Everybody has cars. Trucks are unique. Trucks are different and I wanted something to stand out. I would love to race in the Craftsman Truck Series someday. You have to be 18-years old so I’ve still got a little ways to go.”

Sheehan experienced her first taste of defeat as a 411 Motor Speedway driver—she had previously won all four of her starts at the track in the truck series—when she came in third place behind first-place finisher Steve Hillard and second-place finisher Robert Martin Saturday night. It’s not a feeling she cares to get used to.

“I’m not at all happy about it,” said Sheehan. “I go out to win every week and losing just doesn’t feel right. I’m happy for the 51-truck that did win but I wish it would have been me. I’ll just go out and try to start a new winning streak next week.”