YesterYear Unveils "Old Red Boot"

Today YesterYear Racing™ unveiled the Championship Trophy for the Series. The "Old Red Boot" will be the seasonal Trophy that all YesterYear drivers are competing for. The Trophy is a play on words using a word from each of the leagues that send drivers to compete in the YesterYear Racing™ League. Those leagues include the "Old Bastards Racing League, Red Light Racing League, and the Bootleg Racing League.

Allen Wannamaker, Founder of YesterYear Racing™ stated, "I wanted something unique that would appeal to drivers and be a coveted award on the platform that many would want to win. Something that would also potentially boost driver participation in the three leagues. My first thought was coming up with something akin to the unique college football awards out there given to the winner of seasonal match-ups that have been occurring for decades. Something like the "Little Brown Jug," which is the award given to the annual winner of the Michigan versus Minnesota football game. Or the "Old Oaken Bucket," which is given to the winner of the Indiana versus Purdue football game each year. Hopefully I have succeeded in doing so."

The actual red and black boot, handcrafted from a quality resin compound, has a turquoise buckle with a old-style spur on the back. It stands 9.5 inches tall and is mounted on a custom black base with room for plenty of name plates for future annual champions of the Series. "The type of base was Torrance's (Torrance Childs) idea. He knows a guy that runs a custom trophy shop that he has been using for many years. The guy does our trophy work for Torrance's Gran Turismo 4 League that has been running for about 20 years now. Torrance took it to him and he had some great suggestions including adding a slight mounting slant to the Boot that creates a slightly more stylistic look," Wannamaker said. "Overall, it is a pretty kick-ass trophy. Very one-of-a-kind."

The Old Red Boot will not leave YesterYear Racing™ headquarters in Massachusetts. However, it will be presented the the annual champion who will also receive a customized smaller version of the original. In addition, the annual YesterYear Racing™ champion will qualify for the 4-race YesterYear Racing™ International Race of Champions Series that will kick off in February of 2025.

Pittman Holds on for Second Win of the Season

Chris Davis almost played spoiler by overcoming an end-of line penalty, which put him last on the grid, to win Tuesday night’s Palmetto 150. The Myrtle Beach Speedway night race was Round 9 of the 2024 YesterYear Racing™ Series. In the end, it wasn’t meant to be as Ryan Pittman kept it clean in the waning laps of the race to drive to his second victory of the season. In the post-race interview Pittman said this: “I want to thank Chris for keeping it clean. He was as fast, if not faster than me at the end and was closing fast. It was a fun race and this is a great bunch of guys to race with.” Chris went on to give a relevant message about how race fans should support their local tracks. The message was relevant since last night's race took place at Myrtle Beach Speedway which closed its doors in 2020 due to lack of local support. The site of the old track is being developed by a commercial real estate firm that will build two separate town-home communities called “Reve at Champions Point.”

The race had 3 cautions for 14 laps once again beating the actual number of cautions in the historic race which was 6. Points leader Tom Ogle decided to take tires early expecting a long run to ensue like last week’s Thompson race, but Ogle got collected in an accident working his way back up the field and finished 12th. Brian Bianchi, second in the point standings, also ran into some issues ultimately having to serve a drive-thru penalty which put him two laps down. Bianchi finished 15th. Bringing it home third was Todd Liston who has been a very consistent performer throughout the season. Todd’s regular League is the Bootleg Racing League which has been around for thirty years and is run by long-time legendary boss Lowell Jewell. The Bootleg drivers frequently race at Myrtle Beach in their League and it showed Tuesday night with the top 5 placed drivers coming from the League.

The YesterYear Racing™ circus rolls on to “The Magic Mile” next Tuesday, September 3rd, for the New England 125 and then takes a week break before heading to "The Tricky Triangle" in Pocono, PA on September 17th for the much-hyped **Race of Champions**.

Lloyd Moore Grabs Tri-Track 150 Win

It wasn’t long-time Hubble (YesterYear Racing’s AI Prediction Bot) pick Donny Moore that crossed the checkered flag first on Tuesday night at Thompson Speedway, but rather Lloyd Moore coming away with the victory.  A couple of things played into this outcome.  First, Donny Moore did not grid up for the race.  Second, Lloyd Moore, who spun during qualifying and put up no time, methodically worked his way up from the back of the field over the course of the 150-lap event.  There were several cautions within the first 50 laps of the race and Moore, being near the rear, took advantage of one of those cautions and stopped for tires.  This turned out to be a great strategy as a very long run ensued where cars ahead of Moore burned up their tires.  Allen Wannamaker, who took over the race lead around lap 40, led for 78 consecutive laps on old tires.  However, for roughly 50 of those laps he battled with Jerry Isaacs and Josh Buckley, all of whom had original tires and spent their rubber fighting with each other for position.  A late caution with 25 laps remaining in the race sealed their fate.  Wannamaker choose to pit and take two tires, while Issacs and Buckley stayed out and “rolled the dice.”  In the end, both drivers succumbed to the drivers with fresher tires.  Moore took over the lead of the race quickly once the green flag waived with 22 laps to go, and Tom Ogle, who also stopped early in the race for tires, raced into second.  Ogle could not track down Moore and finished second on the night, with Issacs bringing it home third.

The two races at Thompson this season have one unusual aspect in common.  Both winners, Ogle in June, and Moore last night, started at the very back of the field and won the race.  Round 14 of the YesterYear Racing series will be back at Thompson in October for the Fall Final.  Maybe drivers should consider starting from last in that race.  We will see.

The YesterYear circus heads to Myrtle Beach Speedway for Round #9 next week on Tuesday, August 27 for “The Palmetto.”  A 150-lap race around the famed South Carolina short track.