YesterYear Icebreaker Won By The Iceman

It was only fitting that when the checkered flag flew on the third annual YesterYear Icebreaker race at Thompson Speedway, the Iceman would come away victorious. James Lowe isn't flashy, doesn't always start on pole or set the fastest lap of the race, and doesn't always lead a huge number of laps. But Lowe is the definition of consistent and you can count on him being there at the end of almost every race he runs. That is what happened Tuesday night at Thompson Speedway in Round #3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified Series. "We ran into some issues during the pit stops we did in the first two races. I saw Luke and a few others stay out at Concord and South Boston, so I thought we would give that a shot here. It paid off," Lowe said in his post-race interview. Lowe qualified fourth and ran near the front all night in the 150-lap event.

Around lap 100, a caution came out where a major decision had to be made by the drivers to pit or not. Lowe and his teammate Chris "Whirlwind" Worrell both chose to stay out, as did point leader Luke Allen and a handful of other cars. Eric Stout, who started on pole and was fast all night, chose to pit as did some of the drivers from the mid-pack on back. "Restarting on the outside was a huge advantage all night. I was not in a position to do that on the next restart even though I was running up front, so I chose to pit and get fresh rubber to hopefully work my way back to the front," said Stout after the race. Stout came back out and restarted ninth, but weaving through the field proved tricky, which allowed Lowe, Worrell, and a hard charging Eric "Double E" Essary to stretch things out a bit. Essary, who had pitted on lap 46 for tires, looked to be faster than both Lowe and Worrell as the laps began to wind down. But on the back stretch Essary and Lowe touched tires which sent Essary back a few positions, but which Worrell was able to recover from. When the checkered flag flew, it was Lowe, Worrell, and a hard-charging Eric Stout on the podium. Stout was able to pick off Todd Liston, Essary, and Luke Allen in the waning laps.

Points leader Luke "The Kid" Allen, for his part, led 83 of the 150 lap race and looked to be in a position to continue his marvelous run of late. But he got loose coming off of turn four late in the race and took a trip through the infield grass. This set him back from the leaders, but he still managed to come home in fifth place after coming out on top of a very physical battle with Essary for the position. Liston drove his "Toad Design" Tour Modified to fourth place in another solid finish. Liston has been the model of consistency with a 7th, 5th, and 4th place finish in the first three round of the Series.

Twenty-one drivers took the green flag Tuesday night at Thompson. The race saw five cautions for twenty laps and took 53 minutes to complete. The Series takes next week off before returning to Lanier National Speedway on Tuesday, April 21 for Round #4. James Lowe and Luke Allen are tied for the points lead with 530 points each, while Chris Worrell sits in third with 490 points followed by Todd Liston at 462 points.

Luke Allen Crowned King of the Modifieds at SoBo

King of the Modifieds crown.

It was a family affair last night at South Boston Speedway as Luke Allen, known simply as "The Kid," led 115 laps to capture victory at the tight, 0.40-mile bull ring oval. Allen dominated most of the night and seemed to be able to run any racing line the track had to offer. The win was even more impressive due to the fact that the entire 27-car field pitted at least once, except for "The Kid." "It looked to me like he Iron-maned it out for the second race in a row and still seemed to be able to put his car anywhere he wanted to at SoBo. That is not easy to do, especially because the track started getting really greasy late in the race," said League Founder and driver Allen Wannamaker after the race.

Coming in second place was Luke's Father, Kenny Allen. Kenny led 35 laps of the race and was up front most of the night battling his Son. An early wreck caused Kenny some minor car damage, but he was able to work his 600-horsepower Tour Modified stock car back up the field and steer it home into second spot on the podium. Rounding out the podium was James Lowe who was strong all night, but had trouble working his way through the field. "I made a driver error during that pit stop run. I pitted on the back stretch by accident and had to come all the way around since my pit box was on the front stretch. That set us back a bit, but we were able to work our way back up to third. We'll take it and move on to Thompson," said Lowe in his post-race interview.

The race saw nine cautions waive as the famed short track began to take its toll on the field. Pole sitter Eric Stout was battling "The Kid" during the first few laps of the race and got loose down on the low line causing a huge "parking lot" to form behind. A few laps later his teammate A.J. Hamel also spun with more carnage in his wake. "It was a bit of a tough night again for the drivers. We had nine cautions tonight which is a lot, but this track will do that to you. The real-life King of the Modifieds race took place here at SoBo just over a week ago and they had eight cautions and only ran 125 laps. We ran 150 laps and got nine cautions, so I guess that is about par for the course here," said Wannamaker. Torrance Childs, Co-Owner of the YesterYear Racing League added, "If you finished the night on the lead lap, you were a survivor. There weren't many cars that drove out of here tonight without a scratch." When the Speedy Dry™ settled at the end of the night, Luke Logan Allen drove away from South Boston with a 25-point lead over James Lowe in the overall point standings and in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings. Chris "Whirlwind" Worrell is another 25 points behind Lowe and currently sits third in the point standings.

The drivers will make the long trip from South Boston, Virginia to Thompson, Connecticut and will tackle Thompson Speedway next Tuesday, April 7 for Round 3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified season. When asked about the upcoming race at Thompson Speedway, driver Kenny Allen said he had a "score" to settle at Thompson since he feels like he was in a position to win the race last year, but spun in the closing laps.

Round 3 of the YesterYear Racing™ League Tour Modified series from Thompson Speedway will be broadcast on the Virtual Grip Network.

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.