Question about the iroc series?

[Wilma Blanton]

I have a question about the iroc series. When it first started it seemed like or i've heard some people say that it seemed like it truly was an international race of champions. But as the years went on it became more and it leaned more towards the nascar guys and giving the nascar guys an advantage plus they raced on all ovals.

Cause didn't the series used to be 2 ovals and 2 road courses or something like that?

Over the past 10 to 15 years didn't the nascar guys have a huge advantage over everyone else.

I've heard some people say that the people who ran the series gave the nascar guys an advantage is there any truth to this?

Also i heard the last time iroc raced at indianapolis when helio was leading that there was a fake caution for debris that wasn't even out there.

1 good thing about iroc over the years is weren't there some stunning upsets or shocking winners i think scott pruett won 1 year at daytona and than steve kinser won at talladega 1 year and danny lasoski and seabastian bourdais both won at texas?

Did steve kinser win 2 races at talladega or just the one?

[MichaelP]

I have a question about the iroc series. When it first started it seemed like or i've heard some people say that it seemed like it truly was an international race of champions. But as the years went on it became more and it leaned more towards the nascar guys and giving the nascar guys an advantage plus they raced on all ovals.

Cause didn't the series used to be 2 ovals and 2 road courses or something like that?

Over the past 10 to 15 years didn't the nascar guys have a huge advantage over everyone else.

I've heard some people say that the people who ran the series gave the nascar guys an advantage is there any truth to this?

Also i heard the last time iroc raced at indianapolis when helio was leading that there was a fake caution for debris that wasn't even out there.

1 good thing about iroc over the years is weren't there some stunning upsets or shocking winners i think scott pruett won 1 year at daytona and than steve kinser won at talladega 1 year and danny lasoski and seabastian bourdais both won at texas?

Did steve kinser win 2 races at talladega or just the one?

I saw Martin "Billy Bob" Brundell win an IROC race at Cleveland. The NASCAR guys were at a HUGE disadvantage that day because they had raced in the Firecracker 400 and were quickly flown to Cleveland. Earnhardt, Martin and Wallace pretty much ran at the back as they had virtually no practice time. DW was supposed to race but sat out due to injury.

Here's a good site to answer a lot of your questions: http://www.irocracing.com/

[Super44]

The first year(1973)at least and maybe more, there were 3 races at Riverside and ONE at Daytona on the road course, so all races were road course at lest in the first year with the porsches.
I think the need for a crowd and the only place to find a decent crowd became cup races, even the road races at the Glen ran concurrent with the cup race.
At first some drivers who the organisers WANTED were not available, Andretti for instance due to tire brand contract conflicts...
It was a great idea, great series, it was as close as they could come to answering the eternal question..... If only they could have rigged up a time machine to go along with it.....

[ClintCurtis]

Wilma, I couldn't have said it any better than Super44. It was a great series, and I have a lot of great memories to go along with it. The best part of it all was getting some of the greatest drivers from all series together. I would imagine that what we saw on the track on TV paled in comparison to the drivers hanging out together behind the scenes. If ABC had footage (and they probably do) of that, it would be priceless!

[Wilma Blanton]

Didn't martin brundle or mark blundell 1 of those 2 win at talladega in 1990? And it shocked pretty much everyone? Wasn't 1 of those 2 if not both in f1 at the time or am i wrong about that?

[MichaelP]

Didn't martin brundle or mark blundell 1 of those 2 win at talladega in 1990? And it shocked pretty much everyone? Wasn't 1 of those 2 if not both in f1 at the time or am i wrong about that?

Nope. Martin Brundle won at Cleveland, but from what I remember, his performance at Talladega in race 1 earned him the nick-name "Billy Bob Brundle". The 1990 series was only 3 races and Earnhardt won the first and third (Talladega and Michigan)

[Wilma Blanton]

Weren't the races at talladega and daytona and michigan normally either 40 or 50 laps?

[Wilma Blanton]

What was the deal with the 1990 iroc series being only 3 races?

[Indy500fanatic]

Weren't the races at talladega and daytona and michigan normally either 40 or 50 laps?

Michigan was 100 miles.

[Sea Fury]

What was the deal with the 1990 iroc series being only 3 races?

I think that was the year they switched from Camaros to Dodge K-car Daytonas (not to be confused with the Winged Warrior Daytona) but I could be wrong about that. Chrysler did not have a Cup program going at the time (although they did have Le Baron running ARCA) and I don't think the cars were ready in time for the first race. But I could be wrong about that.

The first year of IROC, it was no great shock that MD won the title. The series was run by Penske and he was Penske's guy, and Penske was Porsche's team (Can Am and all), and so Mark did most of the IROC 911 testing and development before the first race. Put the road racer in a 911 that he did most of the testing in and have them run all road courses, and of course not forgetting that Mark REALLY WAS THAT GOOD, and go figure, he takes the title. (Who was the only other driver to win a race that season? Mark's ex-Can Am Penske Porsche teammate George Follmer.)

It was the second year that they changed from 911s to Banjo Matthews (IIRC) Camaros. They still kept road courses in the mix, and back then F1 drivers could (and would) play too-Bernie Ecclestone did not yet run the show and therefore didn't keep the F1 drivers' "attachments" in a vice the way he does now. So if Emmo or James Hunt wanted to run IROC or Mario wanted to double- or triple-dip in F1, F5000 and Indy cars or if Clay Regazzoni wanted to run the Indy 500, back then, they could. Consequently, in the 1970s IROC fields included winning F1 drivers and World Champs: Peter Revson, Denny Hulme, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson, Graham Hill, Jody Scheckter, Mario Andretti, James Hunt, Gunnar Nilsson, Jacky Ickx, Niki Lauda, John Watson, Patrick Depailler, Alan Jones, Clay Regazzoni, Keke Rosberg, and Jochen Mass (who had won a GP but by the time of his IROC starts was better known as a sports car driver). These guys were not regular backmarkers like some of the later F1 IROC guys like Brundle-these were race winners and former-, current, or-future World Champions. (They were not as elitist and snobbish as later F1 guys, either. Nor were they afraid to run ovals. Can you really picture Schumacher or Alonso in later IROC series?)

There was also significant participation by sports car drivers. Until the 1990s motorsports fans were more used to drivers in their favorite series driving other types of cars as well, so if you were an Indy car fan, chances are you periodically saw your favorite guy racing sports cars once in a while and you'd be familiar with some of those drivers and maybe become fans of theirs as well. (Can you imagine many modern NASCAR fans doing that?) So IROC in the first half of its lifetime was also graced by the likes of Peter Gregg, Al Holbert, Derek Bell, etc.

And of course you have the two disiplines that, until the NASCARization of IROC in the 1990s, dueled back and forth for dominance of the series: Indy car and NASCAR guys. Foyt, Johncock, various Unsers, Rutherford, Sneva, Petty, Pearson, the Allison Brothers and later Davey Allison (THERE'S one NASCAR driver I truly and honestly miss ), Yarborough, Earnhardt....

Then, in the early 1990s, the IROC road racing went bye-bye. Since they were already driving what amounted to BGN stockers, guess what happened when they started driving them on nothing but stocker tracks? Sure, you had the odd win by Geoff Brabham or Little Al, but as soon as they skewered it in favor of the NASCAR guys in NASCAR cars on NASCAR turf, the decline began. Soon it was really only about the Indy and NASCAR guys with the occasional token short-tracker and sports-car driver. Then towards the end, even the Indy car drivers were being marginalized. It's no big shock, then, that as the "I" and "C" parts of IROC went away, the bloom was off the rose and drivers and therefore fans lost interest. It got to the point that they were even culling the NASCAR mid-and-back-packers for willing drivers who didn't have conflicting sponsor commitments. And since it was so biased towards NASCAR and Bernie wouldn't let them do it anyway, why should the F1 guys even bother?

And so, now, it's gone.

[Wilma Blanton]

Would anybody who post here have any iroc races on tape or dvd? And if anyone does would they be the regular tv broadcast or a satellite feed?

[Wilma Blanton]

In the 1980's and early 90's how fast could an iroc car go at daytona or talladega or michigan?

And when iroc ran at daytona and talladega did they run a restrictor plate or have any devices on the car to slow them down?

[Wilma Blanton]

Does anyone who post here remember the 1991 iroc race at talladega it was the 2nd iroc race of the year.

I think this race had a 2 or 3 or 4 car wreck on the backstretch and did 1 of the cars flip over i think the drivers in the wreck were dale earnhardt dorsey schroeder and another driver or 2?

I also think this race was delayed by rain cause i think when it started it was cloudy and than later in the race it was sunny so i think the race was delayed by rain shortly after it started?

Even after the wreck eliminated some guys there was still a good race and a good battle i think the battle for the win camme down to 4 or 5 guys the drivers involved in the battle for the win were rusty wallace mark martin bill elliott scott pruett and al unser jr?

Pruett won the first round of the iroc championship in 1991 at daytona.

Rusty Wallace wound up winning the race.

If anyone has this race on tape or dvd please let me know.