In a week filled full of news as NASCAR took the circus to the ‘Big Apple,’ perhaps the most unusual piece of PR to come out of the New York awards bash was that video game giant Nintendo had included NASCAR driver Morgan Shepherd among 100 honorees for their ageless endeavors.

Shepherd, 65, was among those selected to receive the 2006 Nintendo Ageless American Award. As part of the honor, Shepherd was presented with a Nintendo DS player and Brain Age software to help allow him to "keep his mental muscle flexed."

To his credit, Shepherd has managed to stay in racing over the last decade qualifying for Cup events with short fields or by manipulating the provisional rules. Shepherd is a field filler in the truest sense, even a start and park at some events. He has long ago retired as a threat to win.

I bring this up not to demean Shepherd in any way. Shepherd more than anybody knows these things as fact. Heck, the guy got out and changed his own tires, had a soft drink, and then got back in for some more laps at a Truck Series race a couple of years ago.

Shepherd’s having fun and working the NASCAR system for a living on the side. Nothing wrong with that as long as he is technically sound and Shepherd is. Like every other driver, he has to pass a physical. It’s mandatory by NASCAR. He can be slow, race a little, make a pretty good living. Sounds a lot better than being a greeter at WalMart.

The fact is Shepherd wasn’t always a field-filler. The guy was a great driver at one time and is really under appreciated by many – especially new fans that don’t remember or weren’t here in the 1970s and 1980s.

Shepherd made his NASCAR Cup (then Grand National) at Hickory Speedway in 1970 qualifying 10 the finishing 19th dropping out of the race with rear end failure after 62 laps. Since then, Shepherd has taken the green flag in Cup races a total of 513 times including 19 times just two seasons ago at age 63.

His career records include four Cup wins – the first coming driving for Cliff Stewart at Martinsville in the 1981 Virginia 500 – and his last at Atlanta in a Wood Brothers Ford in 1993.

Shepherd went on to notched 63 Top-5 and 168 Top-10 efforts driving for car owner greats like Stewart, Helen Rae Smith, Hal Needham, RahMoc, Richard Jackson, Bud Moore and, of course, the Wood Brothers.

That's Shepherd at right in Kenny Bernstein's No. 26 racing Alan Kulwicki in his No. 35 "Old Sirloin" at Bristol in this vintage Close Finishes photo.

As good as Shepherd was in a Cup car, his record in the early years of the Busch Series was even more impressive. Shepherd won four of 14 Busch Series starts in 1986 when this reporter first saw him race – a total ass kicking on the asphalt in the spring race at Bristol in the Budweiser 200.

From the inception of the Busch Series in 1982 through 1988, Shepherd won a total of 15 times in just 101 starts. He was as good as it gets in those cars, especially on the short tracks.

Shepherd’s final full year in Cup came in 1996 when he logged 31 starts in Bob Rahilly’s No. 75 Pontiac. The team posted just one Top-5 and a 21st-place finishing average to come home 19th in the points.

The following season – 1997 - Shepherd began his second career as a part-time racer scoring one Top-5 and three Top-10 finishes that year. Since then, Shepherd has totaled 68 Cup starts over the past decade with no Top-5 or Top 10 finishes.

Shepherd also has 27 Busch Series starts – including six this season – and 51 Truck Series starts from 1997-2003. In case you’re counting, that’s 146 Cup, Busch and Truck starts since Shepherd turned 55. A lot of younger drivers would kill for those kind of career stats.

As much as you can hope the new Nintendo will sharpen Shepherd’s skills enough for him to make the Daytona 500 next February, don’t count on it. Shepherd and his No.89 Racing With Jesus Dodge Charger (right) will be terminally slow against the big money teams and is the longest of longshots to make the “Great American Race.”

Look for Shepherd to celebrate his 40th year in racing when he sneaks into the field at some other Cup race in 2007.

Another NASCAR legend took a well-deserved bow this week in New York when 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Benny Parsons was presented the National Motorsports Press Association's Myers Brothers Award.

The 47th-annual presentation of the award, named in honor of former NASCAR competitors Billy and Bobby Myers, was presented Thursday at a NMPA luncheon. The Myers Brothers Award recognizes individuals and/or groups who have provided outstanding contributions to the sport of stock car racing

While Parsons' driving record - 21 Cup wins in 526 starts between 1964 and 1988 – stands on its own merit, it’s his all-around good guy nature that makes Parsons a standout in the garage area.

A noted NASCAR broadcaster in addition to his driving accomplishments, it was Parsons (right) who first lent a hand to this writer allowing me to stay at his house as a guest for six weeks while my family moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina in the spring of 1994.

For that type of kindness, there are no awards. Just unending admiration and thanks to one of the best people ever to grace our ranks.

Congrats on the Myers Brothers Award, Benny.

Happy Holidays to all.