Revival has been a huge aspect of racing over the past several years, and another huge racing series from the past looks to be making a return. Race Team Alliance chairman Rob Kauffman is pairing up with NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Ray Evernham to purchase the IROC brand with plans to revive the old International Race Of Champions (IROC) racing series that used to pit the best of NASCAR against other top drivers from different disciplines in equal cars.
Kauffman is a former NASCAR team owner. Evernham was most recently involved in helping create Tony Stewart's Superstar Racing Experience, a similar concept to IROC, which pits top drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar, sprint car and sports car racing against each other on short ovals. The two men have formed IROC Holdings LLC to oversee the series' return.
Racing executives @RayEvernham and @kauffmanrob form joint venture, acquire iconic IROC brand. Give us a follow to be the first to know about future developments! pic.twitter.com/aK6K46wDiC
— IROC (@irocofficial) January 8, 2024
According to Adam Stern from Sports Business Journal the pair's filing for the new trademark for IROC is intended to provide "entertainment services in the nature of automobile racing and exhibitions," including organizing events and selling merchandise associated with the brand.
The application was made on Dec. 7, 2023, with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
IROC was a main-stay racing series for years and featured some of the most successful drivers from different disciplines, including Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Rahal, Cale Yarborough, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, among others, who made up the auto-racing world from 1974-2006. Though Mark Martin never won a NASCAR championship, he shined bright for years in IROC.
As for what this move will bring, Kauffman and Evernham have big plans with an event to be hosted sometime this year that will feature historic cars from the series. The new IROC will initially be based out of Mooresville, North Carolina, near Charlotte, the home of NASCAR.
Will Evernham and Kauffman be able to revive IROC and once again pit the best drivers from NASCAR, IndyCar, sports car racing, and even F1 against each other? Only time will tell, but it would be awesome to see the likes of Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney racing against Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward and even, dare we hope, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
One thing is for sure, in its heyday, IROC was special. It would be very cool to see it return to its former glory.
