YesterYear Racing™ Announces Spring Sizzler Sponsorship

Today YesterYear Racing™ entered into a sponsorship agreement with the Stafford Motor Speedway to sponsor Lap #65 of the 52nd NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler Race which will be run on Sunday, April 28th, 2024. The sponsorship will include giving the driver who leads lap #65 a $150 check. In return, YesterYear Racing will be listed in the Race Program and will receive the following PR announcement: "Lap #65 is sponsored by the YesterYear Racing League. Where Past Meets Present." The "Sizzler" will be an open event for the 600 horsepower modified cars. With a total purse of $140,000, and $20,000 to the signature race winner, it should be a great event.

Asked about the reasoning behind doing a real world sponsorship for a sim racing League, Allen Wannamaker, Founder of YesterYear Racing™, said the following. "The current sim racing market is estimated to be a $500 million per year industry today. The CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is expected to be 15.6% over the next six years according to consulting firm MarketsandMarkets™. This puts the overall sim racing market at a $1 billion industry by 2030. I personally think this is a conservative estimate. The barriers to entry for real racing are enormous. In addition, more focus on the environment, as well as inflationary costs will continue to make it difficult for real-world teams to make the math work. With sim racing the barriers to entry are nothing compared to real-world costs. It is also safer, "greener," much easier to get participants in a league or series, and with the developments of VR and AI technology, sim racing will only see positive growth into the future. I want YesterYear to carve out a niche that can grow as sim racing grows. It will take time and money up front, but I swear, the racing in some of these leagues and series are better than the actual races we watch on mainstream TV. It is only a matter of time before FloRacing, Motorsport TV, Racing America, and others begin to stream these series. I want to position YesterYear to be there and play a part when that happens."

The YesterYear Racing™ series will take the track again for Round 2 at Hickory Motor Speedway on April 2, 2024. All races in the 2024 Series are streamed on multiple media platforms by Maconi Entertainment.

Pernesiglio Interview With "The Reg"

YesterYear Racing's "Theater" section is now playing a 40-minute 2021 Derek Pernesiglio interview with legendary Plainville, Connecticut racer Reggie Ruggiero. "The Reg" discusses his early years racing at Plainville Stadium and Riverside Park, his later years on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, and the state of the Whelen Tour now versus when he drove. There are plenty of laughs and stories told by Reggie during the course of the interview. One of the more memorable stories involves Dale Earnhardt at a Busch Grand National race in Dover, Delaware.

To watch a replay of the interview, simply go to the "Theater" section of this website. The full interview will run for two weeks in the "Theater."

YesterYear Classic In The Books

Tom Ogle led 161 laps of the 200-lap YesterYear Classic on Tuesday night.  Ogle started on pole and had command throughout much of the race.  Just short of the midway point of the race, Donny Moore “rolled the dice” with pit strategy and stayed out on old tires while most of the field pitted, including leader Ogle.  Once up front, Moore proved to be hard to handle by setting fastest lap of the race (18.645) and pulling away from Ogle for a brief period of time before his tires began to really show their wear.  In the end though, the pit strategy gamble did not pay off for Moore as he had to stop off cycle and got caught behind slower traffic.

Dale Copeland finished second only 0.181 seconds behind winner Ogle.  Copeland pressed Ogle in the waning laps but could not muster up enough of a run on the tight Martinsville “Paperclip” Speedway to threaten for the win.

New England’s Brian Bianchi finished in third place with a solid consistent run. In the post-race interview Bianchi reminisced about his days in 1990 actually going to some of these races YesterYear will replay with his Father.

Another driver with a solid night was Bootleg Racing League owner Lowell Jewell.  Jewell was the “Hard Charger” last night starting 19th and making it all the way up to 6th.  With that result, Jewell celebrated a birthday and a top 10 finish in the YesterYear Classic.

The race got off to a rocky start with two immediate cautions, but then seemed to settle. The YesterYear Classic was Round One of the 2024 YesterYear Racing Series.  The Series will replay 15 actual races in history during the 1990 Winston Modified and SMART Modified Tours.  The drivers will take the track again on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 8:30pm EST for the Hickory 150 which will replay a SMART Modified Tour night race that took place at Hickory Motor Speedway on March 31, 1990.