Yahoo Autos IROC Reunion at Lime Rock Park draws huge crowds
This past weekend saw something that had not happened in nearly 20 years: actual IROC cars racing on track.
Thousands of race fans flocked to Lime Rock Park July 19-20 to see IROC present two nostalgic days of on-track racing. Those in attendance were treated to a visually compelling racing exhibition of authentic IROC race cars being piloted by an array of famous drivers, including IROC racing legends Greg Biffle, Geoff Brabham (two-time IROC race winner), Davy Jones, Bobby Labonte (three-time IROC race winner and 2001 IROC Series champion), Mark Martin (13-time IROC race winner and five-time IROC series champion), Ken Schrader, Danny Sullivan (one IROC race win) and Al Unser Jr. (11-time IROC race winner and two-time IROC series champion).
In addition to this impressive list of former IROC drivers, the event also included four-time NASCAR Truck Series Champion Ron Hornaday, Grand-Am Sports Car Series and Trans Am champion Boris Said and 1995 NASCAR Truck Series champion Mike Skinner. The IROC event took place as part of the SVRA’s SpeedTour All-Star Race weekend.
IROC (International Race of Champions) is a series that held races from 1973 to 2006, which brought together the greatest drivers from all forms of motorsport to race identical cars on historic tracks for an all-star extravaganza. Earlier this year, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ray Evernham and former NASCAR Cup Series team owner and venture capitalist Rob Kauffman founded IROC Holdings LLC and announced they had acquired the rights to the iconic IROC brand. The return of IROC to the race track this past weekend was the first step in revitalizing the brand.
“What we set out to do with our event at Lime Rock Park was to prove there is still interest in the IROC brand,” Evernham said. “After experiencing the overwhelmingly positive response this weekend, there is no question that IROC has a special place in motorsports history and fans want it back.”
The car line-up featured two vintage 911 Porsches paying tribute to Mark Donahue and George Follmer, along with 21 original IROC racecars representing nearly every generation of car used in IROC competition up until the series paused operations in 2006. During the exhibition race held on Saturday, 17 cars went out on track and put on a captivating show for the fans that lined the rolling hills of Lime Rock Park.
In addition to the on-track racing exhibition, the IROC paddock was a hub of activity all weekend. Fans had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the IROC race cars, two autograph sessions were held with hundreds of fans lining up to meet their favorite drivers and commemorative IROC-branded merchandise was available for purchase. Ray Evernham, Mark Martin, Geoff Bodine and Matt Yocum also participated in a special IROC panel discussion that gave fans insider access to some of their favorite memories from IROC history.
“I have really enjoyed working together with Ray and his team bringing back the IROC brand. The fan response has been extremely gratifying,” Kauffman said. “Ray and I would like to extend our thanks to the SVRA, Lime Rock Park, True Value, Audrain Motorsport, VP Racing Fuels, and Goodyear for their support in making this event possible, but, most importantly, I want to thank all of the fans for their unwavering enthusiasm for what we are doing.”
As part of the SpeedTour All-Star Race weekend at Lime Rock Park, which was hosted by Parella Motorsports Holdings (PMH), fans were also treated to the SpeedTour All-Star Race, which gathered icons from Formula 1, NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA, and paired them with competitors from the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series to compete as co-drivers in a race to win $50,000.
On what’s next for IROC, Evernham and Kauffman would only say, “stay tuned”.
