Nearly 18 years since its final race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in October of 2006, the International Race of Champions (IROC) is back in action — with a twist.
Led by NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ray Evernham and longtime motorsports entrepreneur Rob Kauffman, IROC held a vintage exhibition event at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park in July.
The two-day nostalgic weekend featured more than 20 different original IROC race cars — from the original 1973-’74 Porsche Carrera to the last generation of IROC car, a 2006 Pontiac Firebird.
The IROC brand was acquired in January by Evernham and Kauffman’s company, IROC Holdings LLC.
How did a series that’s been defunct for nearly two decades get new life within the first six months of new ownership? Evernham feels his dynamic with Kauffman aided the process.
“It was a lot, but Rob Kauffman has been a good partner,” Evernham told SPEED SPORT. “He and I are kind of opposites when it comes to business. I’m the ‘get it done’ guy and Rob’s the kind of ‘think it through guy.’
“He’s a big-picture guy and I’m a detail guy. So, it worked really well. But the fact is, we both really love vintage motorsports, and we understood that the IROC plan meant a lot to a lot of people. Wherever that goes, we just don’t know,” Evernham continued.
“But, we hoped that putting on a reunion and exhibition, getting a bunch of cars and people together would be successful. If you look at what happened last week, or two weeks ago, it was pretty amazing.”
The reunion at Lime Rock’s 1.5-mile permanent road course placed plenty of former stars of IROC back in the saddle.
Among the drivers who participated were the series’ most decorated driver, five-time champion Mark Martin, along with 2001 champion Bobby Labonte, two-time champ Al Unser Jr., Geoff Brabham, Ken Schrader and Davy Jones.
Having a major turnout of former drivers join the event weekend “meant a lot” to not only Evernham, but two of the series’ foundational partners, former president Jay Signore and co-creator Mike Phelps.
“They had fun, it was a great event,” Evernham said. “The guys just wanted to come back and have fun. Almost every one of those drivers have called me and thanked me. They had a blast. They got together, it was an exhibition.”
Evernham joked that while drivers were out on track together, he and his team made sure the competitive side of drivers didn’t get the best of them for safety reasons.
“We’re not ever going to let them really run wide-open in those vintage cars. A, they weren’t safe back then, they’re not safe now,” Evernham laughed.
“We were talking about 1974 Camaros and stuff like that.”
Aside from on-track action, fans clamored for autographs and photos from some of racing’s historic past.
Evernham noted that a laid back atmosphere gave drivers the opportunity to soak up the moment — one that many weren’t able to when they were racing full time in their respective series.
“The guys sat and signed autographs for hours at a time. They got to mingle with fans,” Evernham said.
“Like, Mark Martin will tell you that when you’re racing like Mark was, you’re under pressure, you’re moving, and he didn’t really get a chance to really appreciate his time with the fans and enjoy things. He was able to enjoy that at IROC.
“Mark has been a huge supporter. I watched him sit on a concrete block outside the tent for an hour-and-a-half just signing autographs and talking to people.”
With the series’ first event in decades in the books, the question remains — what now?
It’s a loaded question, however, one Evernham and Kauffman are mulling over.
“Right now, we’re doing all of our post event notes. We’re trying to figure out exactly what was good, what was bad, where we’re at financially, all of those things,” Evernham explained.
“We’ve got trademark things with the government, where we’re getting all that sorted out and making sure that we have a plan. But we’ve talked to several people already about more shows from the vintage side.”
From a vintage perspective, Evernham said there’s “a ton of interest” in holding exhibition-type events.
“Ultimately, I would love to see IROC continue to go up in different levels. I love the vintage deal, if that’s all it ever becomes. I’m still gonna have a lot of fun doing it,” Evernham said.
However, for one of motorsports’ most innovative minds, the thought of resurrecting IROC into a modern series is still a “dream” scenario.
“I think I’ve been pretty open that my dream is to somehow, someway bring back IROC point two, back to the glory that it was,” Evernham admitted.
“I think that there’s several different levels that IROC can be involved in. Whether it is to continue with the vintage stuff, or whether it is to bring back the real IROC series.
“Whether we do different things with cars, but I just think that there’s a lot of opportunity there. But again, going to have to just keep working a little bit at a time with it.”