Former NASCAR Champion Working To Revive Legendary IROC Series

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Racing fans rejoice, because the IROC (International Race of Champions) series appears to be on its way back after nearly 20 years away.

Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Ray Evernham recently purchased the series’ brand and trademark in hopes of bringing it back.

Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal broke the news.

Stern reports that “the group plans to offer ‘entertainment services in the nature of automobile racing and exhibitions,’ per a trademark filing.”

The IROC Series began in 1974. It featured drivers from various types of racing across the globe racing one another in “identically-prepared stock cars set up by a single team of mechanics in an effort to make the race purely a test of driver ability.”

Superstars from across the world of motorsports, including Mark Donohue (Formula 1), A.J. Foyt (IndyCar) and Dale Earnhardt (NASCAR) all won series championships.

But the series shuttered following the 2006 season due to lack of sponsorship.

Now Evernham hopes to bring it back to life.

“Had a visit from my Mentor and former boss at IROC Jay Signore,” he said in a recent Instagram post. “It was great to see him and show him our collection of IROC cars. We have a lot of restoration and preparation work to do. I wonder if there are any of my old iroc guys out there that remember how to work on these things. We are always looking for iroc cars and iroc parts. ”

Evernham worked with the series in the 1980s. He played an integral part in designing and setting up cars. This eventually led to his entry in NASCAR.

Once there, he teamed with Jeff Gordon to dominate the NASCAR Cup Series for much of the 1990s.

Now he’s returning to his roots. And racing fans across the globe couldn’t be more excited about it.