Ogle Wins IROC Round 3 in Hotlanta

Tom Ogle's IROC Cadillac CTS-V

Tuesday night's Round 3 IROC race started with all eyes on Bootleg Racing League driver and point leader J.R. Shepherd and OBRL driver Josh Robinson, who trailed Shepherd by 3 points in the standings. However, their was a spoiler in the field. Not only did OBRL driver Tom Ogle have a birthday Tuesday night, but he drove one hell of a race and captured his first win in the Series. "I got hit early on and was pinched in the wall. My car had damage, but it seemed like the hit help the Cadillac get around the turns better," Ogle said after the race. The 14 car field remained in a tight pack for the first 25 laps of the event. "It raced like a superspeedway even though we were in a Cadillac and running old Atlanta Motor Speedway 2008," Robinson said post race.

Shepherd and OBRL's Sean Foltz pitted together just after the halfway point of the 100-lap race. Ogle, Robinson, and VLS iRacing League driver Christian Loschen pitted about 10 laps later and the chase was on. Ogle and Robinson had a much quicker pit stop than Loschen, who was dropped from their draft after the pit stops. Could Ogle and Robinson run down Shepherd and Foltz? That was the big question. And the answer came with about 16 laps to go in the race. It was a definitive yes!

The final 16 laps of the race saw Shepherd, Foltz, Ogle, and Robinson battle it out. "I think all of us up front took turns doing a slide job or two on each other, but the racing was a ton of fun," said Robinson. While Robinson and Shepherd battled up front for the lead in the waning laps, Ogle was able to hold down third from Foltz and save a bit of tire. In the end it was enough. Ogle took the lead with about 2 laps to go and stayed high to get a run off the turns for the last two laps of the race. "I drove it in a little hot going into turn three and four on the final lap, but I was able to hold it down off the wall and get the run I needed," Ogle said in his post-race interview.

The Virtual Grip Network broadcasted the event and the replay can by found on their YouTube site. Legendary sim racing broadcaster Bill "Soup" Zahn, who called the event with Zach "Shaggy" Chapman, said this event was one of the more exciting races he has called this year.

The final round of the 2025 YesterYear Racing League IROC Series will take place on October 28, 2025 at Thompson Speedway, a short track located in Connecticut. Allen Wannamaker, the founder and owner of the YesterYear Racing League, said "Thompson is where we will crown a Champion for the Series. The Champion will receive a bottle of Garage Oil Spirits American Badass Whiskey and earn the right to come back in 2026 and defend their title. Finishing the Series at Thompson should be a nail biter. Short track racing is a unique discipline in its own right, and seeing how the Cadillac CTS-V gets around that track will be interesting indeed."

From Spin to Win: J.R. Shepherd Wins at Mid-Ohio

J.R. Shepherd's Cadillac CTS-V IROC Car

It all played out like J.R. Shepherd had likely planned and Hubble (YesterYear's in-house AI Bot) had predicted. Get to the front early, pull away quickly, and set her on cruise control. Except for the fact it didn't play out that way at all. Yes, J.R. quickly got in front, and yes he looked to be pulling away. But tragedy struck on lap two coming out of The Esses onto Thunder Valley straight when Shepherd hit the gas too early and spun his Cadillac CTS-V into the grass. Driver Jeff Aho followed the same pattern and spun as well taking an unfortunate Tom Ogle out of the race. The incident put J.R. back into 6th position and OBRL's Josh Robinson in command of the race.

From there, the race started to settle into a rhythmic tone for the front runners, except for J.R., who made quick work of Todd Liston and Allen Wannamaker (a sub driver for Lloyd Moore) and began chasing down the top three. First on Shepherd's list was Sean Foltz. J.R. was patient and waited a couple of laps before making his move. Shepherd then chased down Christian Loschen, but Loschen pitted for a splash of gas as to not burn his tires up battling J.R. for position. Loschen misjudged a bit and came out behind Wannamaker and lost time to Robinson and Shepherd before finally clearing Wannamaker after a couple of laps. Attrition began settling in. Brian Bianchi blew his engine and had to retire. Todd Liston spun a couple of times but stayed in the race. John Wilson missed the start of the race and never got going. Back up front it didn't take long for Shepherd to run down Robinson and clear him. Once that happened J.R.'s original plan set in. Out front, he could now get into a rhythm and cruise to victory, which he did. Robinson managed to hang onto second place, while VLS iRacing's Christian Loschen finished third.

In his post race interview Shepherd, nicknamed "The Institution" for his unbelievable number of wins and championships in the Bootleg Racing League, said "I didn't plan it that way, but I got on the gas too early coming out of The Esses which put me in a tough spot."

With the win, Shepherd inherits the points lead followed by Robinson who is three points behind, and Jeffery Hardin who is nine points behind in third.

Round 3 of the YesterYear Racing™ IROC Series will take place on Tuesday, August 19, 2025 at Atlanta Motor Speedway's 2008 track design.

Scott Negus Claims Victory at the Old Dominion 267

Scott Negus's Tour Modified Race Car

On a wild and crazy June 3rd race, Scott Negus hung around the top 5 most of the night to claim victory at the Old Dominion 267. This was Round 7 of the YesterYear Racing™ Tour Modified Series and the last race before the summer break. The South Boston Speedway was hot and slick most of the race and drivers struggled to adapt. Rex Hoyle started on pole, but it was points leader Tom Ogle who started second that quickly took command of the race. Ogle got a comfortable lead and then looked to put it in cruise control to save his tires in case a later battle might dictate the need for less wear. 2024 Champion Brian Bianchi made his way into second place early on and was following Ogle, but on the second caution of the race Bianchi passed a car he was supposed to be behind when going into the pits. This gave Bianchi a green flag drive through penalty and basically put the win out of reach as he went two laps down.

Meanwhile, the pack racing was tight. Many drivers had trouble adjusting to the heat of the track. Grip seemed to start going away after 30-35 laps. Allen Wannamaker, Luke Allen, Randy Schuler, and a few other drivers had solo spins. Most coming off of turn 4 onto the front straight.

On lap 167, Brian Neff, who Hubble (YesterYear's in-house AI Bot) had predicted would win the race, got loose coming out of turn 4. Neff and Bill Martin touched and Neff went spinning. In frustration, Neff looped his car around quickly to rejoin the fray, but in doing so hit leader Tom Ogle and took him out of the race. This incident quickly brought drivers back into the mix to win the race since Ogle looked to have the race in hand. Todd Liston, Jerry Isaacs, Brian Johnson, Kenny Allen, and Scott Negus all had "new life" breathed into them.

In another minor incident, Jerry Isaacs had his left front wheel assembly damaged which became severely bowed in. Amazingly, Isaacs seemed to pick up speed because of it and looked to be gradually pulling away from the field. However, another caution ensued and once Isaacs pitted for tires, his car never seemed the same.

This left a three-way battle for the win between Negus, Johnson, and Liston. As the laps began winding down, it looked clear Negus had the better tires and was going to win the race. Liston made an aggressive last lap move on Johnson to claim second place, which put Johnson third. Isaacs nursed his bowed-wheel car home to fourth while Kenny Allen rounded out the top five.

When the dust settled, Tom Ogle still maintained his points lead, but only by four points over Todd Liston, and five points over Kenny Allen. The Series will resume the second half of the season on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 at Stafford Motor Speedway for the Camden Classic.