IROC Road Race

[NismoZ]

Charlotte Observer says...Daytona infield course. :rolleyes: Better than none, I suppose.

[cameraman]

The Daytona track web site has this:

Crown Royal IROC Series Returns To Its Racing Roots
Series Celebrates 30th Anniversary with Addition of Road Course Event to 2006 Schedule
January 5, 2006
Crown Royal International Race of Champions (IROC) Series officials announced today that it will hold one of its 2006 races on a road course for the first time in 14 years. As part of its 30th anniversary season, the Crown Royal IROC Series will race on the famed road course at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) on Thursday, June 29, in conjunction with the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race weekend.

The Daytona road course event is Race Three of the four-race invitational all-star series, which also includes events held at one superspeedway and two intermediate tracks. The series will make return engagements to three of the tracks it competed at in 2005. The season-opener will be contested at Daytona on the 2.5-mile, high-bank tri-oval on Friday, February 17, followed by a pair of intermediate tracks: Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, April 7 and the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 28.

Daytona and the Crown Royal IROC Series share plenty of history, with its road course being the site of the inaugural 1973-74 IROC Series season finale. Legendary open-wheel driver Mark Donohue won that race and solidified his IROC championship in its first season. A road course event was a regular stop in the series from 1973 to 1991, with NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace winning the last road course event at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) in 1991.

“We’ve missed the road racing element of the series over the years and I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to add a road course back into the mix,” said Jay Signore, IROC President and General Manager. “This will be the first time the Crown Royal IROC Series will race on the Daytona road course since our inaugural season. I want to thank Robin Braig (President, DIS) and his staff, as well as everyone at NASCAR and the Grand-Am Series for working with us on the schedule to make road racing once again a part of the challenge for the Crown Royal IROC Championship.”

The Crown Royal IROC team will begin testing on Daytona’s 3.56-mile course on January 5, in conjunction with Rolex 24 of Daytona testing, and will return to the track in early February for the superspeedway season opener.

“Race fans will get the best of the Crown Royal IROC Series at Daytona on both the historic 31-degree high banks and the legendary twists and turns of our 3.56-mile road course in 2006,” said Braig. “We’re proud to host the opening round of the prestigious all-star racing series during Speedweeks, and the additional Crown Royal IROC Series road course event during the Pepsi 400 weekend will now give fans one of the most diverse racing weekends in motorsports.”

For the third consecutive year, Crown Royal returns as series title sponsor as part of its “Be a Champion. Drink Responsibly.” campaign. Last year, Crown Royal honored the first ever all-time IROC Legends of Victory Lane team as voted by the fans, which included Mario Andretti (open-wheel), the late Dale Earnhardt (stock car), Scott Pruett (road racing) and Steve Kinser (open-wheel).

“Much like the Crown Royal brand, the IROC series is steeped in history and has a rich legacy,” said James Lorenz, Senior Brand Manager, Crown Royal. “We are very excited to see the series return to its roots and include a road course event as they continue to help us promote and advance our commitment to drinking responsibly.”

The 2006 driver field will be announced in mid-January in conjunction with NASCAR testing at DIS. Mark Martin captured two race victories (Daytona, Richmond) en route to winning the 2005 Crown Royal IROC Series title and $1 million first-place purse.

They consider this a road course???

http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/images/content/12510.gif

[devilmaster]

edit: replaces Richmond.

[Steve99]

Better than nothing, but . . . .

Seems like it would be difficult to use the road course on the same weekend that NASCAR is running on the oval. And those IROC "Firebirds" may be real pigs on a road course since they were made to only run ovals.

[Accipiter]

Seems like it would be difficult to use the road course on the same weekend that NASCAR is running on the oval.

It's not. They've done it for the past few years with Grand Am.

Bet you're right about the cars being pigs, though.

[cameraman]

What they need is a matched set of Audi R8s.

That would make things more interesting.

[Andrew Longman]

Anyone remember when IROC started and they ran 911s? IIRC Mark Donahue and other road racers cleaned their clocks while the NASCAR guys all complained when they trashed their transmissions.

Don't worry about the Firebirds being pigs. No one will care so long as Jeff and lil E are there.

[Warlock!]

Anyone remember when IROC started and they ran 911s?
Check it. It used to be fairly interesting.

http://www.irocracing.com/current_season/history.html

[formulaben]

Back when it was actually an International Race of Champions?

[cameraman]

The Texas race is on the Friday of the Long Beach weekend. I think you have to agree to run all races to drive in IROC so I guess that there will be no Champ Car drivers involved this year.

No conflicts with the IRL schedule.

The June Daytona race is on Thursday, the first day of the Lime Rock ALMS race weekend is Friday.

Grand Am prototypes have the same Long Beach conflict.
They are at Daytona in June with IROC so that won't be a problem.

Even the SCCA Speed GT drivers have the Long Beach conflict.

Looks like the non-nascar drivers are going to come from the IRL :shakehead

[cameraman]

Yup:

Mark Martin
Tony Stewart
Martin Truex Jr.
Steve Kinser
Ted Musgrave
Frank Kimmel
Max Papis
Carl Edwards
Sam Hornish Jr.
Max Angelelli/Wayne Taylor - sharing the ride :confused:
Scott Sharp
Matt Kenseth

[TKGAngel]

They probably all got ticked off that SeaBass beat them at their own game. Remember, the open wheel guys are just supposed to come and smile for the cameras, and serve as moving chicanes for the NASCAR boys. SeeBass blew that theory out of the water last year (although he did get high praise from Mark Martin, who I can't recall ever complementing anyone before).

7 drivers are from the NASCAR/Busch/Truck/ARCA arena. When 58% of the grid is from one type of racing, you shouldnt be able to call it the "International Race of Champions."

[oddlycalm]

Check it. It used to be fairly interesting. Absolutely, and it could have become even more interesting had it kept going along the original lines. Since it became a NASTARD deal it's been the usual roundy round nonsense.

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