Six wins in three different series set Tim Shaffer apart from the competition, but it was the weight of those wins that made fans stand up and notice. 

Shaffer won the BeFour the Crowns Showdown at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and night one of the Knoxville (Iowa) 360 Nationals racing with the American Sprint Car Series to show versatility and an ability to rise to the occasion among America’s top drivers.

While he is part of the famed Pennsylvania Posse, Shaffer also regularly races across the country. Another of his major wins last year came when the Outlaws visited Ransomville (NY) Speedway for the Big R Outlaw Showdown after running well enough in preliminaries to start on the outside of the front row.

Most of Shaffer’s success in 2017 came with the All Star Circuit of Champions, which allowed the Aliquippa, PA, driver to race close to home. His other three wins for the season came in his home state and Ohio while racing with this series.

It comes as little surprise that most of his 25 top fives and 39 top 10s in 58 races came in those two states, but as already seen with Freddie Rahmer, Jr., who landed 47th on the list, the competition in this region is strong enough and broad enough to earn a lot of percentage points — especially in Crown Jewel events.

Drivers are not perfect. And when Shaffer missed the top 10 it was often by a wide margin. He finished outside the top 20 on 11 occasions during the season and failed to make the A-Main at least four times in major races. One of these was the final night of the Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

In shows of that magnitude, however, even making the B-Main often means beating nearly half of the field. Shaffer earned fewer than 50 percentage points only six times during the season compared to banking 90 or more on 25 occasions, and that is a big part of the reason he lands 35th on the list of the 50 Greatest Dirt Track Drivers of 2017.

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*Percentage points utilize the baseline belief that a win is a win in the major series covered. One hundred points is awarded to first and the points decrement below that as a percentage of the field. For example, in a 25-car field, each position behind the winner is worth four fewer points. In races with incredibly large fields, the points decrement to a less extreme degree. A 50-car field decrements two points per position, and drivers earn points even if they fail to make the A-main.

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