Soon after penning the deal to purchase the IROC brand, NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham has begun planning for the year ahead. Over its run from 1973 to 2006, IROC used a variety of cars that today would be any racing fan’s dream to watch. Considering that the series is making its return after 18 long years, Evernham believes that there is a need to jog people’s memories and re-ignite their passion by holding a vintage car race by the end of 2024.
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Talking to SiriusXM NASCAR radio on Thursday he said, “The plan right now is to put on a vintage-type race event/reunion here before the end of the year. We are really really early in the planning stages, but just to get that IROC brand out, get people a little to know about what it is, put on some demonstrations, and try and get some of these IROC cars out of the garages and back on the race track.”
@RayEvernham discusses the return of the @irocofficial brand and what the future plans are. ⬇️
️ “The plan right now is to put on a vintage type of race event […] before the end of the year.” pic.twitter.com/iHA9J1b4Y1
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 11, 2024
In its time, IROC brought together legendary names from across many racing disciplines to race it out against each other. Driving identical cars that were put together by a single team of mechanics, the drivers were all on a level playing field. The inaugural run of the series was won by Mark Donohue and its final one in 2006 by Tony Stewart.
Evernham’s love for IROC has stayed burning through all these years and he even holds a large collection of the iconic IROC cars. Considering that he has made it his hobby to track down these machines from across the country and bring them back to their former glory, it should come as no surprise that he is planning a vintage race event to kick things off.
Ray Evernham joins hands with former Cup Series team owner Rob Kauffman
Evernham and Rob Kauffman announced IROC’s revival last Monday. Forming a new organization called IROC Holdings LLC and acquiring the IROC brand through it, the duo intends to bring it back to mainstream racing once again. The concept that the initiative was built on in 1973 was having four races in equally prepared cars, with 12 drivers from different forms of motorsports.
With time, each of the four races became a part of a NASCAR weekend and ran on four prolific tracks including the Daytona Oval. A Porsche Carerra was the ride in the maiden year and it was followed up by muscle heads like the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Daytona, and the Pontiac Trans Am.
In 2024, nostalgia is what Evernham and Kauffman offer racing fans. Should they be able to breathe some modern air into the original conception and put NASCAR stars against drivers in IndyCar and Formula One, they might have something big on the horizon.
