A Reminder! The First Race!

[GP Racer]

Just wanted to post a quick reminder for those that don't know, the first IROC series race is on Speed Channel, late afternoon, today, Friday, at 5pm.

Its our first chance to see Scott Sharp, starting 6th, Scott Dixon, starting 10th, and Helio Castroneves, starting 12th. I for one, am hoping to see our guys leave the NASCAR boys in the dust!

For those who don't get to see it, I'll give you my best amateur report possible!

Good Luck!

[GP Racer]

Well, the first IROC series race is history, and I think our guys faired reasonably well.

Out of the 3 IRL drivers, Sharp ran very well. He was able to latch onto and keep with the NASCAR guys very well, and ran as high as 3rd for a number of laps. Helio and Dixon were running in the rear pack for most of the race, until the end, when it mattered! Both Helio and Sharp got bumped pretty good, NASCAR style, during the race and went below the yellow line to recover. The NASCAR guys stuck together though, as predicted, and there numbers helped them prevail. Extremely close finish, with Johnson spinning after the checkered flag.

Here's the order:

1-Newman, NASCAR
2-Bush, NASCAR
3-Kenseth, NASCAR
4-Johnson, NASCAR
5-Kinser, World Of Outlaws
6-Castroneves, IRL
7-Harvick, NASCAR
8-Dixon, IRL
9-Sharp, IRL
10-Kvapil, USAC
11-Losocki USAC
12-Yeally USAC

All-in-all, a great race. Lots of action, and passing and all the drivers seemed to love it. Our guys faired well, although this type of racing is really a NASCAR strength, and they will be tough to beat, as usual. A million dollars goes to the winner of the series! Not bad for 4 races.

[marcus]

no idea at thuis stage when this race will be aired for the Australian viewers ???"

I will try to ftgind out though.

[BootsOntheSide]

Looks like either the racing COMPLETELY doesn't suit USAC drivers, or they simply aren't as good as the guys in more high-profile series.

Sounds like a good race, even if the series name is a little incongruous - only 4 Champions out of 12, and only two International drivers.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Looks like either the racing COMPLETELY doesn't suit USAC drivers, or they simply aren't as good as the guys in more high-profile series.

Sounds like a good race, even if the series name is a little incongruous - only 4 Champions out of 12, and only two International drivers.

I was also surprised by the USAC drivers poor showing, although this race is all about drafting and pushing(literally!)each other to the lead. The NASCAR guys do that for a living everyday, and they stuck together to help each other out. Our IRL guys will have to do the same if there going to get to the front, but for literally no testing they afforded themselves well.

With a million bucks on the line, you can't blame the NASCAR guys for teaming up! Great action though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Love to see Michael Schumacher come over and do it. As great as he is though, I'm not sure he would handle the bump and run stuff in traffic to well. Its very much, un-F1 like! At least one road course would also even up the playing field abit.

Marcus, this race is part of Speed Week at Daytona International Speedway. Its a full week of testing, and racing, that leads up to the Daytona 500 NASCAR extravaganza. Speed Channel covers the whole week 24/7. Maybe you can get parts of there coverage?

[Down F0rce]

I think MotorsTV was showing this last year in the UK. I'll have to try and watch it sometime.

[wblh]

I am sure Shell Helix Motorsport will show all the IROCS here in NZ but I would like to know how to find the itinary.Am very interested to know how competetive Scott Dixon was at Daytona

[racer69]

Originally posted by marcus
no idea at thuis stage when this race will be aired for the Australian viewers ???"

I will try to ftgind out though.

Last year ESPN were shoing it over here, usually a while after each race, not sure for this year though.

[rustyfan]

Err, some corrections; Travis Kvapil is the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and Danny Lasoski is a World of Outlaws driver. The only USAC driver in the field is J.J. Yeley.

Race two will be held at Texas Motor Speedway, race three at Richmond (now this could be real interesting) and race four on Atlanta Motor Speedway.

As for champions and merits, I'd like to look at it like this;

Ryan Newman - former USAC Silver Bullet Champion, former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie of the Year
Kurt Busch - former NASCAR Southwest Tour Champion
Jimmie Johnson - former SODA and MTEG Rookie of the Year
Matt Kenseth - former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie of the Year, current NEXTEL Cup Champion
Kevin Harvick - former NASCAR Winston West Champion, former NASCAR Busch Series Champion, former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie of the Year
Steve Kinser - 17-time World of Outlaws Champion (most recent coming in 2002), 407 (and counting) A-Feature victories, winner of the Talladega IROC race in 1994
Helio Castroneves - Two-time former Indianapolis 500 winner
Travis Kvapil - current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion
Scott Dixon - former Indy Lights Champion, current IRL IndyCar Champion
Scott Sharp - former two-time SCCA Trans Am Champion, former IRL IndyCar Champion, former Rolex 24 Hours Winner
J.J. Yeley - current USAC Sprint Car, current USAC Silver Crown and current USAC Midget champion (only second driver ever, after Tony Stewart, to achieve the triple-crown in a single season)
Danny Lasoski - former World of Outlaws Champion


Also, I think it's a bit steep to expect IROC to field 12 current champions (never has, not in the "good old days" when even Formula 1 drivers took part). There was talk about a couple of NHRA drivers coming in for 2004 as well, but I reckon a scheduling conflict or something of the sort forced them out of it.

[GP Racer]

Thanks for the corrections rustyfan, I was in kind of a rush when I made the list. I have to ask though, are you really Swedish, because your knowledge of American motorsports is phenominal!

Good research on that list, as it really shows, that all the drivers are either present or past champs. This really is a race of champions, no matter how negatively people want to portray it. And with a million bucks on the line, its certainly nothing to scoff at!

[Kicking-back]

They should call it AROC rather than IROC then.

[gomick]

forgot about iroc - thanks for the reminder