Ogle Presented With Old Red Boot On His Home Turf
- Allen Wannamaker
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
On a rainy Tuesday, November 18th, Ogle's Auto Sales got two surprise visitors. YesterYear Racing™ League Founder Allen Wannamaker, and League Co-Owner Torrance Childs paid a visit to the Wooster, Ohio business. They weren't there to purchase a car though. Instead, they were there to present driver Tom Ogle his trophy for winning the 2025 YesterYear Tour Modified Series. The trophy in question was the famed Old Red Boot. One of the most unique trophies in sim racing.
Wannamaker explained, "The Old Red Boot was a concept I came up with after many months of thinking about a trophy that would be unique enough for people to truly want to win it. When I started YesterYear in 2024, I cheated a bit and pulled drivers from existing leagues that I respected and that wanted to race on Tuesday nights. Tuesday is a tough night to run a league, but a night none of these other leagues raced, so I could go to them and honestly say I am not trying to recruit drivers away from your league, merely putting something out there on Tuesday in case someone wanted to race tour modified stock cars that night. The leagues were Old Bastards Racing League, Red Light Racing League, and the Bootleg Racing League. I eventually landed on creating the trophy as a kind of shout out to those leagues, hence the Old Red Boot."
Once Wannamaker and Childs arrived at Ogle's Auto Sales, they did a quick photo shoot with Tom holding the trophy in his shop. "The Boot is much larger than you anticipate," Ogle said during the photo shoot.
Ogle had a somewhat dominate performance in the 2025 YesterYear Tour Modified season winning five of the fifteen races and leading 52% of the total laps raced in the Series. "Tom was quite dominate this year. There was a point during mid-year when he ran into some issues, but the speed of the #13 car couldn't be denied. The fastest guy on the track, at least this year, won the Champioship. That doesn't always happen in racing," Wannamaker said. "He's a tough racer, especially when he is out front. Tom is one of those drivers that is fast, and who doesn't make a lot of mistakes on the track," Childs added.
After the photo shoot, Childs, Wannamaker, and Ogle met up with OBRL driver Josh Robinson (who lives in the area) at Erie Street Pub in Massillon, Ohio for a Victory Meal. "We broke bread and had a good meal and shared stories. It's always great to meet up with drivers and league owners in person when you can and get to know them," Ogle said.
For their part, Wannamaker and Childs got to experience some Great Lakes musts. On the way to Ohio from Massachusetts, the two YesterYear Racing™ League owners stopped by Glen Park Tavern outside of Buffalo, New York and had some wings and a cobb salad. "The wings were phenomenal. Not greasy, just the right crispness. Allen and I are both foodies, so that was certainly on our list since we knew we'd be by-passing Buffalo," Childs said. Another must stop was at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. "We stayed in North Canton and were only about ten minutes from the NFL Hall of Fame. We did that intentionally as Torrance and I are both football fans. It was a great stop. We spent about three-and-a-half hours at the Hall of Fame learning the origins of the game, and about some of the rare, behind-the-scenes objects you won't see on the Hall of Fame floor," Wannamaker said.
With the 2025 season "in the books," the long winter break will now take hold with many focused on the upcoming holiday season. When pressed a bit on what is in store for 2026, Wannamaker was vague. "I'm looking forward to the break. The 2025 YesterYear Racing™ Tour Modified Series was based on NASCAR-sanctioned modified races that occurred in the year 1966. The only thing I will say at this point about next season is that it will once again consist of 15 races, once again be based on historic races that have taken place in the past, but will not be as far back in history as 1966." Wannamaker also said that he will begin releasing the 2026 YesterYear Racing™ Tour Modified schedule on December 10, 2025, one race per day with the full schedule culminating on Christmas Eve, just like last year.
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