Hardin Takes YesterYear IROC Round 1 Opener

Jeffery Hardin's #2 Cadillac CTSV

Bootleg Racing League's Jeffery Hardin came away with the win Tuesday night in what turned out to be a very strategic affair. The YesterYear International Race of Champions (IROC) kicked off its inaugural season at Daytona International Speedway. The exclusive series pits 2024 season champions from the Bootleg Racing League, OBRL, Red Light Racing League, VLS iRacing League, and the YesterYear Racing™ League against one another in a 4-race competition driving identical Cadillac CTS-V race cars.

Round 1 went green from start to finish which meant executing the most efficient pit strategy was going to put drivers in the best position to win. Early on, it looked as though J.R. Shepherd, known as "The Institution" for his domination for many years in the Bootleg Racing League, and OBRL's Josh Robinson were the class of the field. Both had low line positions and were stuck like glue for the first quarter of the race until fuel concerns from being out front for so long caused Shepherd to back off a bit and get a place in line. OBRL's Tom Ogle, Christian Loschen and a changing "gaggle" of drivers held the high line together for most of the first 45 laps of the race, while YesterYear's Brian Bianchi was the primary leader of the middle line. And so they raced. Three wide, three distinct "trains" for almost 50 laps. Then came the pit stops.

A group of mostly Bootleg Racing League drivers were the first to show their hand and come into the pits. Led by Shepherd they pitted, and they were quick. Shepherd and fellow Bootleg racer Todd Liston beat the other drivers out by enough to lose them in the draft and it looked like smooth sailing for Shepherd and Liston. A much larger group of drivers including Robinson, Ogle, OBRL's Sean Foltz, Bianchi, and others pitted a couple of laps later. There was some chaos that ensued that took Ogle out of the race. The CTS-Vs have ABS and traction control which could have been the culprit since most drivers in the field aren't used to having these. The resulting exit of the pits for the second round of cars that pitted was very disbursed. Bianchi and Foltz came out together and hooked up quickly with Bianchi leading and Foltz very closely pushing. Robinson and others were caught in another line behind Bianchi and Foltz and it looked as though the ground they needed to make up was going to be almost impossible to overcome without a caution flag.

Meanwhile up front, Hardin and Red Light Racing League's Geoffrey Souza kept it tight and began closing the gap that Shepherd and Liston had built. It wouldn't take long before they were able to fully close the gap and the lead pack became four. As the laps began to tick away Shepherd finally relinquished the lead to Hardin and Souza. Liston stayed tucked behind fellow Bootleg driver Shepherd and it looked as though they were backing off for a huge run once the last few laps came. But something quickly looked alarming. Shepherd backed off so much that he and Liston lost Hardin and Souza. It then became obvious that Shepherd had fuel issues. Liston finally realized this, but it was too late. Hardin and Souza were up the road and now Liston would get pulled into a battle with Bianchi and Foltz for the third spot on the podium unless a caution came out, which at this point, looked highly unlikely.

In the end, it was Hardin and Souza that battled for the win. Souza waited until coming out of turn 4 to make his move. He had a run, but it didn't look like a great one. They went side-by-side and briefly touched, which was enough to slow Souza's momentum. Souza was three one hundredths of a second short of taking Round 1.

The YesterYear IROC Series will resume on June 10th, 2025 as the drivers head to the Mid-Ohio road course for Round 2.

Bianchi Accepts His 2024 Loot

Owner Kevin Bonaventura and driver Brian Bianchi accept the Old Red Boot.

On Saturday, December 14, 2024, Allen Wannamaker and Torrance Childs drove to Culpeppers Bakery in Worcester, Massachusetts to deliver Brian Bianchi his 2024 YesterYear awards. First up was the "old school-style" wooden plaque for winning the 2024 Race of Champions at Pocono Raceway. Bianchi overcame a mid-race incident to put himself in position to led the final lap (his only lap led) of the race and take the victory.

Bianchi sporting his Colony Tire hat with the Old Red Boot.

Next up Bianchi was presented with the massive "Old Red Boot" trophy, "It's a lot larger in person. The pictures don't do it justice," Bianchi said. Bianchi also shared the moment with Culpeppers Bakery owner and operator Kevin Bonaventura. Culpeppers Bakery (Worcester, MA) and Colony Tire (Edenton, North Carolina) are the two main sponsors for drivers Brian Bianchi and Rex Hoyle. When asked about the presentation, Allen Wannamaker, Founder of the YesterYear Racing™ League, said, "It was important for me and a YesterYear Board of Drivers Member to present the Old Red Boot to Brian in person and ideally at the location of his major sponsor. Torrance was nice enough to accompany me on the trip to Worcester. We got there early and sat down and ate the Culpeppers Special for breakfast. The pancakes were fantastic! I had plain and Torrance had blueberry. Top shelf for certain. We got to see some behind the scenes workings of the bakery which was interesting. Kevin was a great guy and certainly a huge race fan of all types. There were many old racing flags that adorned the walls of the bakery in the back."

In closing Bianchi said he was looking forward to defending his title next year as YesterYear travels back to 1966, a mere 17 years after the birth of NASCAR, and will re-run 15 modified stock car races from that year. The season kicks off on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway oval for The OBRL Icebreaker 300 Presented by VctryLnSprts.

Pittman Wins the Night, Bianchi Wins the Season

Brian Bianchi's Tour Modified

It was a fitting end of the season as the YesterYear Racing™ circus traveled to Martinsville Speedway for the Southern 200. It was the third visit to the "Paperclip" in 2024. In a pre-race interview, Allen Wannamaker, Founder of the YesterYear Racing™ League said, "It was nice to come back to the track where it all began back in March of this year. This was our third race here, but the second time here was back in the early spring so it felt like we had not been here in a while, and felt new."

Tom Ogle, who was looking for his third consecutive victory, set the stage early by winning his 7th pole position of the year. As the race got under way, however, it was quickly obvious that Ryan Pittman was going to be fast. Pittman had won the second Martinsville race by holding Ogle off and it looked like the big question was could he get out front and do it again. On lap 37 the question was answered as Pittman got in front of Ogle. Once in front, Pittman looked the stronger of the two cars most of the night.

In the end, it was Pittman who was able to hold on for his fourth win of the season and his second at the Paperclip. Ogle cruised to second place with Bootleg Racing League veteran Donnie Moore grabbing his first podium of the year coming in third.

Even though Pittman won the night, it was Massachusetts driver Brian Bianchi that won the season. Bianchi ran a very strategic and conservative race finishing in fourth place. The only other driver in the field that could have beaten Bianchi in the points race at the end of the night was Maine driver Lloyd Moore. When asked about how the race played out, Bianchi stated, "I tried to keep him (L. Moore) in my sights all night. I was in front of him most of the night, but Lloyd is a strong driver and anything can happen on the track. With that in mind I was able to get some space between myself and the other cars for most of the race which was good as it shielded me somewhat from any trouble on the track."

The 200-lap race ultimately had 5 cautions for 25 laps, but they came in spurts. The "Big One" happened on lap one and collected numerous cars. Then there was a very long green flag run that had some drivers thinking they would need to perform a green flag stop, which can get tricky in Tour Modifieds since the pit stops are slow. But a caution finally came out which allowed most drivers to stop.

By winning the Championship, and also winning YesterYear's flagship Race of Champions at Pocono back in September, Bianchi becomes the first driver to be able to race for the YesterYear "TRIPLE CROWN." To complete this Bianchi will need to win the points battle in the 2025 YesterYear IROC 4-race Series that kicks off in February.

In the post race interview Wannamaker thanked all the drivers, broadcasters, and participating leagues for making 2024 a success. Wannamaker also said he was looking forward to kicking off the YesterYear IROC Series in February and confirmed a second season of the YesterYear Tour Modifieds would happen. "About halfway through the 2024 season I knew the YesterYear concept was viable and I began planning for 2025. We will be going back 24 more years in time next year to 1966. A mere 17 years after the birth of NASCAR. I was able to research all that was going on back then and cob together a schedule based on 15 historic Tour Modified races. There will be some interesting tracks for sure and the schedule will be more balanced. We ran 1 super speedway, 1 speedway, 1 bull ring, and 12 short tracks this year. Next year the balance between bullring and short track will be 7 and 6 respectively," Wannamaker said.

With season one a wrap, the YesterYear Tour Modifieds will go dormant until late February. Once they awaken, we are sure 2025 will be one for the ages.