YesterYear Announces '34 Legends Support Series For Tour Mods

YesterYear '34 Legends Series Branding

Today, Torrance Childs, Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing™ League, announced the creation of a new 10-race support series featuring the '34 Ford Legends car. "We felt like adding a supporting series to our flagship Tour Modified series made a lot of sense. We tested the '34 Legends car out at WinterFest in January and it was a blast to drive. Couple that with the look of the car, and it was a natural fit for our League," Childs said.

The YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series enters its third season in 2026. After basing the Series on 1966 NASCAR modified races in 2025, this year the Series takes a more modern turn basing the 15-race schedule on races run in the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and the 2009 Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART) Tour.

The YesterYear '34 Legends Series will have a 10-minute practice session, followed by a 5-minute single car, 2-lap qualifying session, and a 20-minute timed race. "Because our League likes to get as close to a real-world touring experience as possible, the '34 Legends Series will use the real-world INEX U.S. Legends point system, as well as timed races. Most of the INEX U.S. Legends races are timed events which worked perfectly with how we wanted to structure the support series schedule," Childs said. In addition, the Series will use actual weather as of the day and location of the race. We asked about rain, Childs chuckled and said, "Well, Legends cars do not race in the rain and since this is a simulated racing series, we can control that if it occurs."

The launch of the '34 Legends Series marks the third series created and sanctioned by the YesterYear Racing™ League, all of which span a full calendar year. Allen Wannamaker, Founder and Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing™ League said, "When Torrance agreed to be Co-Owner of the League, I knew we had the bandwidth to do something else. Torrance will have the role of Race Director for the '34 Legends Series, while I will maintain that role for the YesterYear Tour Mods and the YesterYear IROC Series. I expect 2026 will be the best yet for our League."

The '34 Legends Series kicks off at 6:55pm ET on March 24, 2026 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Legends Oval, followed by the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series 150-lap opener at Concord Speedway.

Shepherd Captures Round One YesterYear IROC Win at Daytona

J.R. Shepherd's Orangello Cadillac CTS-V

Bootleg Racing League's J.R. Shepherd, the driver known simply as "The Institution," picked up where he left off in 2025 by capturing the opening round of the 2026 YesterYear Racing™ League's IROC Series. The Series takes champion drivers from seven of the best iRacing leagues on the platform and pits them against one another in a 5-race series that takes place over a calendar year. Shepherd, who drove the Orangello Cadillac CTS-V, led all but one lap of the 35-lap event which was the American Road Course discipline in the Series and was held at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. Shepherd, who is also the defending champion of the Series, said the car was a "handful" to drive on the Florida road course. When asked about Round 2 of the Series which will be held at Iowa Speedway in May, Shepherd said he looked forward to the Iowa race, but expected the car to be a challenge to drive there as well, stating that the Cadillac CTS-V seems to always have a "slight push" no matter what track it is driven on. He also signaled that he thought the Iowa race, which will be the short track oval discipline in the Series, would be a much closer and tighter race than what we saw here at Daytona. Red Light Racing League driver Chris Hammett surprised viewers by finishing strong in second place, just over 9 seconds behind Shepherd. Hubble, the YesterYear Racing™ League's in-house AI Bot, did not have Hammett on the radar even as a "Dark Horse" driver. Instead, Hubble predicted OBRL's Josh Robinson for the win, Shepherd for second place, and OBRL's Andrew Kotska for third. Kotska got together with Robinson on lap one damaging his car to the point of not being a factor in the race. Chris Hammett could not be reached for a post race interview after the event. Rounding out the podium was Robinson who finished as the runner-up in the 2025 YesterYear IROC series. Robinson was able to strategically save fuel and stay out for one lap after Shepherd pitted for fuel thus securing himself a very valuable 3 bonus points for leading the second most laps of the race. In his post race interview Robinson seemed to be happy with his 3rd place run but stated he looked forward to the upcoming Iowa race in May and echoed Shepherd's sentiment that he thought Round 2 would be a much more closely fought affair. The remainder of the field battled it out to try and salvage as many points as possible before heading to Iowa in May. When asked about the event, YesterYear Founder and League Co-Owner Allen Wannamaker said, "I thought it was a solid race that played out pretty much how I expected. I thought Hammett ran a very solid race which told me two things. First, he is a great driver, and second, he definitely put in the practice time. To be that close to J.R. after 35 laps at the Daytona Road Course was impressive."

Torrance Childs, who is Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing™ League with Wannamaker and who was the lead Racing Steward for the event, added, "I thought the racing was great overall. There were a couple of incidents on the track that we will review, but overall the race craft was quality which is what you would expect from the caliber of champions that are racing this Series.

Shepherd will take an 8 point lead in the standings over Chris Hammett and Josh Robinson when the Series heads to Iowa Speedway in May for Round 2 of the Series.

YesterYear Racing™ League Releases 2026 Schedules

Today the YesterYear Racing™ League released the 2026 schedule for their Tour Modified stock car Series, and their International Race of Champions (IROC) Series.

The Tour Modified Series will re-run 15 races from the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified Series, and the NASCAR Whelen Southern Tour Modified Series. As usual, rules, point system, distance, and weather will all be actual to history. Drivers will tackle some "old favorites," such as Thompson Speedway, Stafford Motor Speedway, and Martinsville Speedway, as well as visit four tracks they have never driven including Irwindale Speedway, Concord Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Lanier National Speedway. When asked about running a more modern schedule in 2026 after the previous two seasons included re-running races from 1990 and 1966 respectively, League Founder Allen Wannamaker said, "I thought a change was needed this year to a more modern schedule simply because I did not want YesterYear to get categorized as the League that runs old-school rules. Our League will always run the rules of the season we are emulating. If those rules consist of double-file re-starts, Lucky Dogs, Waive Arounds, and Green-White Checkered Flags, so be it. And those rules are what was present in the 2009 Whelen Tour Modified Season."

The YesterYear IROC Series will also undergo some slight changes this year as well. The Series will run five races in 2026 as opposed to four, and they are breaking from history meaning none of the five races actually happened in history. When asked why, Wannamaker said he wanted to created an IROC schedule that would have a diverse schedule and cover multiple asphalt racing disciplines. The disciplines in 2026 will include a short track oval, a 1.5-Mile oval, a superspeedway oval, and two road course events. The Series will not totally break from history as the rules and point system will be based on what was used in the "glory days" of the actual IROC Series that Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps created back in the 1970s.

Both the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified schedule and IROC schedule can be found on their wesite at www.YesterYearRacing.com