The IROC Tilt Towards NASCAR

The IROC Tilt Towards NASCAR

The International Race of Champions has been releasing the list of the drivers accepting invitations to compete for the 2000 IROC championship over the last couple of weeks. Although there are still a couple of slots open, we pretty much know whom will be competing this year. Strangely, the list of drivers doesn’t look much different than last year, except there will be an even larger disparity of NASCAR drivers verses the other series representatives. Real quickly, lets look at this years invitees and their credentials

  1. Dale Jarrett. 1999 Winston Cup champion dominated the Winston Cup schedule last year, winning 4 races and finishing 201 points in front of the runner up. There is no doubt that he belongs.
  2. Dale Earnhardt. Dale won 3 of the 4 IROC races last year, winning his third IROC title. Dale is second in all time IROC wins. An obvious choice as well.
  3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Two-time Busch Grand National champion. Earnhardt did well in his rookie season in IROC and clearly belongs in 2000.
  4. Greg Ray. Greg won the 1999 IRL title.
  5. Eddie Cheever Jr. 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner, 7th in 1999 IRL standing.
  6. Mark Dishmore. 3rd in 1999 IRL standings.
  7. Bobby Labonte. Second to Jarrett in Winston Cup last year with 5 wins.
  8. Jeff Gordon. 1999 Daytona 500 champion.
  9. Tony Stewart. 1999 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, 4th in points and 3 wins.
  10. Rusty Wallace. 8th in Winston Cup Points, 1 win at Bristol.

 

There are two spots remaining. Mark Martin and Jeff Burton are rumored to have accepted those spots, with an official announcement due shortly. Martin finished 3rd in points with two wins and Burton won 6 races, finishing 5th in the final rundown. All these drivers have great ability, but the question remains, why the lopsided margin of Winston Cup drivers. In 1997, six of the 12 drivers came from Winston Cup. In 1998, again, six of the 12 were Winston cup. Last year, 7 of 12 came from Winston Cup and this year it looks like 8 will be competing with 3 from IRL. There was a scheduling conflict that prevented any of the CART drivers from accepting an invitation, but if there hadn’t been a conflict, odds are there would have still been 8 Winston Cup representatives. According to the rules listed at the official IROC website, Drivers who have won major races or major championships at major tracks throughout the world are given primary consideration by IROC to compete in the series. Based on that rule, I have a hard time including Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Eddie Cheever, and Mark Dishmore in this year’s list. All of these drivers are truly champions, but I have a hard time including them in any series that is supposed to determine the best driver in the world based on their most recent season. The word "major" is somewhat subjective, as some of the smaller series, such as World of Outlaws are enjoying increased popularity.

I would like to submit some candidates that I think should be on this impressive list instead. How about Bill Baird? The 1999 ARCA champion finished in the top 10 in 17 of 21 events, including 5 wins. I also offer Jack Sprague. The 1999 Craftsmen Supertruck champion won 3 races and a tight, season long points battle against Greg Biffle, whose 9 wins makes him an interesting candidate also. I think that only one driver from the trucks should be invited, so Sprague gets my nod. I would like to see 1999 Indy 500 winner, Kenny Brack get an invitation. I know that the CART/IRL split has diluted the Indy 500 field the last couple of seasons, but the Indy 500 is still undoubtedly one of the most prestigious events in the world to win. Mark Kinser held off a determined Danny Lasoski to win the World of Outlaw title, as well as the prestigious Knoxville Nationals. Juan Montoya won the CART championship, and as such, belongs in the IROC. Montoya was actually offered a spot, but couldn’t accept the invitation due to the scheduling conflicts. One last choice would be 9-time NHRA champion John Force. True, Force is a dragster, but from a purely entertainment posture, it would be great seeing him going head to head with all the other champions.

The tracks IROC will be running at did not change this year. The events will be staged at Daytona, Talladega, Michigan and Indianapolis again. This gives the overwhelming advantage to the 8 drivers with extensive experience at those tracks. I’ve said several times that the races need to be held at tracks in which all the competitors have experience on. This year, I would like to have seen them race at Texas and Indy, two tracks that both the IRL and Winston Cup series visit. I think that a road course needs to come back to IROC. Watkins Glen would be a good choice. I also think that they should race once on dirt. I think the drivers would enjoy it and the fans would love it. Make the final event be at Knoxville. Let’s see what these drivers really have to offer.

One last thing. I do enjoy watching the IROC races. Last year, Dale Earnhardt treated us to some very exciting finishes. Obviously, something has to be done with the points though. Dale won the first three races, and barely beat Mark Martin for the championship. The current rule states that the most recent winner gets the championship in the event of a tie. That means that if Martin and Earnhardt would have tied, Martin would have won the title because he won the last race, even though Earnhardt won 75% of the races. At least change the rule so that the first tiebreaker is the driver with the most wins.

Good luck to all the drivers and lets look forward to another entertaining IROC season.

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