Stout Captures Win In A Brawl At The Zach Brewer Classic

Eric Stout's Mystic Missile Circa 2009 Tour Modified replica car

Round One of the 2026 YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series got underway Tuesday night at Concord Speedway for the third annual Zach Brewer Classic. Eric Stout blew qualifying by making a mistake and started near the back of the 28-car field. But as the caution laden 150-lap race began to slowly reach its end, Stout found himself near the front with relatively decent tires even though he never pitted. "I was very conscious of saving my tires even though I had to move up through the field most of the night. The number of cautions helped, and also I was fortunate to ride the high line with some pretty quick drivers and pick off two or three cars each time on some of the restarts." Stout found himself starting on the outside of the front row in the Green-White-Checkered flag restart at the end of the race. James Lowe, who was on the inside of Stout, had fresher tires, but was at a slight disadvantage as the high line was working well all night. In the end, Stout was able to get by Lowe on the restart and take the checkered flag to capture the win.

Kenny Allen, who started on pole and had the car to beat all night, was hurt the most by the numerous cautions throughout the race. Concord Speedway is a "rhythm track" and long runs help drivers get into rhythm. This race was anything but. "I saw a lot of cobwebs on the track tonight and that includes me. This is a tough track, but simply wasn't the YesterYear style of racing and race craft fans have grown accustomed to. In the 2024 season, we averaged 4.9 cautions over the 15 races. Last year we averaged about 5.4. Those are typical numbers that are actually slightly better than the real-world Whelen Tour Modified Tour. We are not off to a great start by having a whopping 11 cautions tonight," said Allen Wannamaker, Founder and Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing™ League. Luke Allen, the Son of Kenny Allen, rounded out the podium. Luke drove a masterful race and was in the mix up front all night. After his Father was muscled to the inside front-stretch wall in a tight racing affair with Lowe late in the race, Luke capitalized on the late-race chaos and was able to pilot his Goldfish-sponsored modified to third place.

The mid-pack racing was tight and tough most of the night on the tricky short-track tri-oval. Most of the 28-car field did not get through the race clean. Only six cars, including Stout and Luke Allen, made it through the race with no bump-ups. Seven cars were unable to finish the race due to night-ending incidents.

Tonight was the third running of the Zach Brewer Classic. The race was dedicated to long-time Bowman Gray driver Zach Brewer.  Zach grew up in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina and raced Tour Modified stock cars at Bowman Gray Stadium and in the Southern Modified Auto Racing Teams (SMART) Tour.  Zach also drove in the Goody’s Dash Series and raced one NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified event.  Unfortunately, Zach died on March 3, 2024, due to complications from routine surgery.

The Series moves on to the South Boston Speedway bull ring next week where drivers will once again face an "old foe." In 2025, the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Mods visited SoBo three times and each was eventful in its own way.

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.