Jul 4, 2021
As the debut season of the
surprisingly entertaining Tony Stewart/Ray Evernham-led Camping
World SRX Series nears its conclusion next week, we dive deeper
into the rabbit hole of one of its major influences - the legendary
International Race of Champions (IROC) - with longtime automotive
journalist and former Motor Trend magazine Executive
Editor Matt Stone (“The IROC Porsches: The
International Race of Champions, Porsche’s 911 RSR & the Men Who
Raced Them”).
As table-set in our previous
Episode 173
with former Indianapolis and Ontario Speedway exec Dave Lockton,
IROC was envisioned as the American motorsports equivalent of a
major “all-star” showcase - pitting twelve of the world’s best
professional drivers from racing’s top competitive circuits in a
series of races in identically prepared and maintained cars, in an
effort to test participants’ pure driving ability and determine the
sport’s true “champion.”
Stone helps us with the
backstory of IROC’s operational formation - brought to life in late
1973 by racing executives Roger Penske, Les Richter and Mike Phelps
in the form of an initial four-race roadcourse series across
Riverside international Raceway (three qualifying races: 10/27-28,
1973) and Daytona International Speedway (final: 2/14, 1974) - all
televised in tape-delayed glory on ABC’s then-dominant sports
anthology series Wide World of Sports.
Inaugural invitees: NASCAR
Winston Cup champions Bobby Allison, Richard Petty & David Pearson;
SCCA Can-Am road-race standouts Mark Donohue, Peter Revson & George
Folker; USAC Champ (Indy) Car winners Bobby Unser, A.J. Foyt,
Gordon Johncock & Roger McCluskey; and Formula One stars Denis
Hulme & Emerson Fittipaldi.
And the now-iconic sports car
initially selected to challenge them all: the purpose-built,
virtually identical 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 - all 16 originals
of which are still alive, well, hugely revered, and highly
sought-after today.