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."