There were always parallels between Superstar Racing Experience and IROC: The International Race of Champions but to hear Ray Evernham tell the story, the parallels would have been far greater had his particular vision come to fruition.
SRX, after announcing five of six races, and a second season on ESPN announced it was ceasing operations in January.
Evernham said his version was never going to make use of more than one or two active NASCAR drivers at a time, where the second and third years had numerous. The third season featured Brad Keselowski and Hailie Deegan running a full schedule with Kyle Busch also running multiple races.
The series ditched the local ringer concept come year three, a role filled by the likes of Doug Coby, Bubba Pollard, Kody Swanson, Peyton Sellers and Bobby Santos.
“I’d like to use (Cup) drivers once in a while, you know, same with the IndyCar people but it was really about bringing in the superstars that weren’t racing anymore and then mixing them with a local short track hero, which I think is really important,” Evernham said. “Your local short track hero. …
Evernham says he doesn’t know if SRX returns someday but believes there is a place for a series like it — something that was more motorsports entertainment than pure motorsport.
Which leads to IROC, which Evernham actually wanted to call SRX when he first started it with Stewart, Montag and Pyne.
For now, Evernham just wants to put old IROC cars on the track with those who drove them from the 70s to the early 2000s. He called it a IROC reunion.
“We’re shooting for the fall,” he said. “If there’s interest in this thing, where do we go from there? Our goal is to get those cars back on track and then see how popular it can get.”
Like SRX, Evernham doesn’t believe IROC cars need to be going 180 mph on superspeedways but probably be a short track exhibition.
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