CLASS OF 2026:
Champions Returning, Rookies Arriving,
Forty Years in the Rearview.
An inside look at the 23-driver grid lining up for VMRA's 40th anniversary season. The defending champ with a target on his back. The three-time champion looking for one more. The rookie class bringing new car numbers to a club that's raced for four decades. Here's what to watch, and who to watch it on.
Forty seasons after the first VMRA race at Spanaway Speedway in 1986, the 2026 grid is the kind of roster that tells you exactly where a club is in its life cycle. You have a defending champion entering his prime, a veteran field with three former title winners still turning laps, a rookie class that just showed up with fresh car numbers, and, for the first time in years, a full slate of confirmed entries for every round on the tour. For a 40 year old club, that is not a coincidence. That is a sign the sport still has a pulse.
The 2026 season opener at Tri-City Raceway on April 12 gave the field its first chance to show form. Kahl Cheth #23 took the main event by the full 25-point margin, with Jason Quatsoe #8 second and Steve Woods #22 third. The defending champ never unloaded, and the 2026 title race opens with a new name on top of the board.
Before the pack lines up on the Superspeedway of the West, let's meet them.
§ 01 The Defending Champion
Kyten Jones
Won the 2025 championship by X points over runner-up. Did not unload at the Tri-City opener and enters Evergreen already down 64 points to the leader. The guy everyone else is chasing — who hasn't taken the green yet in 2026. Evergreen is his home track. If he shows up, the story changes in a hurry.
Jones enters the 40th anniversary season with a target on his back and a long way back to the top of the board. Add 2 to 3 sentences: his background, how he came up through VMRA, his crew chief, his car owner, why he matters. Watch whether the #30 is on the hauler Saturday — nine more rounds of points after this one and the math gets harder every week he sits out.
§ 02 The Contenders
Three drivers have a realistic shot at closing the points gap over the summer. All three were in the top five last year. All three have at least one VMRA championship on the mantle. None of them will back off.
Steve Woods
Three VMRA titles. Set fast time at the Tri-City opener (16.17). Evergreen has historically been a Woods track. If there is a round where he closes the gap on Jones, this is the one. Add the story: his car, his crew, his shop in Wenatchee, the year he won his third title.
Chad Broom
The Idaho contingent's best shot. Podium at Tri-City. Never won at Evergreen, but keeps finishing the opening 15 laps in the top five, which is how you eventually get a trophy there. Add: what he drove in 2025, who wrenches for him, the Stateline crew that makes the haul with him.
Kahl Cheth
Took the 57th Apple Cup main event by the full 25-point margin and walked out of Tri-City sitting on top of the championship book at 64 points. If the car is brand new for 2026, say so. If it's a rebuild of last year's, say that. What's the story with his crew? First time car owner? Family operation? Evergreen's a different animal than Tri-City, but the confidence travels.
Rounding out the championship hunt: List 3 to 5 more drivers with their car numbers, one sentence each about their 2025 finish and what to expect from them in 2026.
§ 03 The Class of Rookies
Every healthy racing club has one thing in common: new car numbers showing up every year. For the 40th season, VMRA has X confirmed rookies on the grid, drivers racing their first full VMRA campaign. Their path to a championship is longer, but their path to a top-five finish at any given race is shorter than most people think.
B. Hector Sr
Opened the season with 35 rookie points at Tri-City — the most of anyone in the rookie class, and enough to crack the top-five overall at 55 total. Add: where the car is built, who's on the crew, any family racing heritage, expectations. If he runs the same at Evergreen, the rookie-of-the-year race gets a long lead early.
New numbers to watch in 2026: List the rookies. Example: "#44 Jane Doe from Kent, a first year VMRA driver who spent 2024 running Hobby Stock at South Sound. #57 John Smith out of the Tri-Cities region, brother of known driver, inherited the family car and rebuilt it for vintage-mod competition." etc..
VMRA has always been a club that welcomes new cars. One of the reasons it has lasted 40 years is that the rulebook is built to let a new driver bring a 1960s era car and go racing without having to spend $50,000 first. The rookie class of 2026 is proof the formula still works.
§ 04 The Legends Still Turning Laps
Vintage modified racing has a rare quality among motorsports: the veterans don't age out. In 2026, X drivers on the grid have been racing VMRA events for 20+ years. They aren't chasing championships anymore. They're chasing something harder to define, the thing that made them pull the car onto the trailer 40 years ago.
Add 2 to 3 paragraphs profiling the senior drivers. For each: name, years in the club, a memorable win or finish, what they drive now, why they're still doing it. This section is the emotional heart of the piece. Don't rush it. Vince knows who these people are.
§ 05 What to Watch Across 11 Rounds
The 2026 calendar runs from April through September, spanning 11 rounds across five tracks in three states (9 points rounds and 2 non-points specials). A few subplots worth tracking:
Can anyone beat Jones at Evergreen? The defending champ's home track is the season's first real test after the opener. Jones has rarely lost at Monroe in the last X starts. This weekend is where that streak either grows or breaks.
The Apple Cup pivot. VMRA's mid-season run to Tri-City Raceway for the Apple Cup Classic historically splits the standings. A win there is worth more than a win at the season opener, not in points, in momentum.
The east-side swing. Wenatchee and Stateline in consecutive weekends is the hardest stretch of the schedule. Teams making the round trip from the Seattle side are looking at 12+ hours of tow time and two completely different track styles. Teams that come home in one piece with points in hand usually have a shot at the title.
The 40th Anniversary Finale. If a specific event is planned, the Fall Classic, a championship night, an anniversary banquet, preview it here. If not, say: "Details of the 40th Anniversary championship finale will be announced in late summer."
§ 06 Forty Years, Forty Seasons
The thing that's different about the Class of 2026 isn't the drivers. It's the context. Every green flag this season is the 40th time VMRA has dropped one. That's a rare number in American grassroots motorsports. Most clubs fold before they hit 20. Many never get started at all.
The drivers on this year's grid know that. The ones who have been here the longest talk about it quietly. The rookies are starting to figure it out. And the championship that gets decided in September or October will be the 40th one the club has ever awarded.
Forty years of racing. Forty years of carrying the spirit of 1950s through 1970s modified stock cars forward when nobody else was. Forty years of guys unloading at the same tracks, working on the same cars, telling the same stories at the concession stand.
It's a hell of a grid. Let's go see who wins.