Former NASCAR star Bill Elliott – “Awesome Bill” – returns to the seat of the 1985 Camaro this weekend.
The cars stood out, identical but for their individual pastel colors. The names were emblazoned on the doors – Unser, Fittipaldi, Earnhardt – each one a legend. But most of all, there was the idea.
“People still ask the question: Could this guy beat that guy in equal cars?” says Ray Evernham, the Hall of Fame NASCAR crew chief. “Who wouldn’t want to see that?”
The International Race of Champions – IROC – did not always live up to its lofty billing, but over its three-decade span, the series attempted to answer motorsports’ nagging mystery. IROC began in 1974, launched by a team including Roger Penske, with top drivers from what is now IndyCar, NASCAR, Formula 1 and sports car racing going head to head.
Such was the appeal of the series that it spawned a production car in the 1980s, the IROC Z – an optional performance package offered on the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 at the time. But by the time the series ran its course in 2006, it had long since faded into a largely NASCAR sideshow.
Now IROC is back, revived as a vintage racing class. Some 27 original cars, coaxed out of collections and restored to period-correct racing trim, will take part in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion – one of two firsts. The series never visited WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca during its run. And examples of every generation of cars used by IROC have never before gathered at the same location.
Evernham and venture capitalist Rob Kauffman acquired the rights to the brand in 2024 and started hunting down the old cars. He says it was not difficult to attract drivers, particularly to Laguna Seca.
“I told them I’d drive whatever they wanted me to,” says NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin. “The whole thing is going to be fantastic.”
Martin will be joined on track by a lineup of racing royalty. Stock car greats Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte and Ken Schrader, 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan, Jensen Button and Zak Brown from Formula 1 and Scott Pruett, who won the 24 Hours of Daytona five times, will be in the field, among others.
Martin, who claimed five IROC titles in his storied career, had not suited up since his retirement. But last year, when Evernham tried out the IROC reunion idea at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut, Martin was back in a race car.
“Once you strap in and the engine fires up, it’s really eerie,” he says. “It feels like those 13 years evaporated.”
But the 40-time NASCAR race winner admits that he has switched off his competitive impulse. Driving at Laguna Seca will be for fun. Besides, like Gordon and a few others, he has never raced at the iconic track.
“I’ve watched it on television,” Martin says with a chuckle. “But I’m staying at a Holiday Inn Express, so I should be alright.”
Evernham notes that some of the cars gathered at Laguna Seca share the spotlight with the drivers. Zak Brown’s 1978 Chevrolet Camaro was used for publicity away from the track. So in addition to the likes of Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip, Hollywood’s Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman took turns behind its wheel.
As for his own 1995 Dodge Avenger, the wily crew chief who guided Gordon to three championships, found a driver with knowledge of the Corkscrew.
“I’m bringing in a ringer – Bruce Canepa,” Evernham reports. The former sports car driver is currently vice president of Friends of Laguna Seca, the nonprofit organization responsible for operating the circuit.
Evernham has no plans to revive IROC as a competitive series, calling the proposition a “different financial and political conversation.” Top racing teams have little interest in risking injury to their drivers or crossing sponsorship lines. Perhaps that is why the nostalgic tug of the series remains strong.
“IROC, in its time, when racing was growing – nothing against drivers today, but those guys were larger than life,” Evernham says.
Can Am driver Mark Donohue earned the 1974 IROC championship, besting the likes of Bobby Unser, Richard Petty and Emerson Fittipaldi in Porsche Carrera RSRs. The next year, running at two ovals and two road courses, the IROC field included AJ Foyt, Bobby Allison and Graham Hill, among other now legendary drivers, all in Camaros.
“When I was a kid I thought it was so cool,” says Al Unser Jr. of IROC’s heyday. “Dad and Uncle Bobby were in it. When I was invited, every time it was ‘heck yeah.’”
McLaren racing boss Zak Brown will drive this 1978 Camaro at Laguna Seca. The likes of Gene Hackman, Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood have also been behind its wheel.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner known as “Little Al” serves as grand marshall for the class at the Rolex Reunion. While Unser says his racing days are done, he enjoyed his time battling NASCAR’s best.
“My thinking was the more cars I could drive, the better I’d be at Indianapolis,” he explains. “Mainly I was learning from them.”
Unser recalls probing the likes of Dale Earnhardt for tricks of the stock car trade. He says the seven-time NASCAR champion was forthcoming and friendly – off the track.
“When we were competing, I used to say that Dale Earnhardt in front of me and the world was beautiful, Dale Earnhardt behind me and the world was messed up,” he adds.
But Unser’s ability to take on unfamiliar tracks in a heavy Chevy Camaro or Dodge Daytona impressed Martin. The IndyCar star, in his opinion, was one of the few who could jump into what was essentially a stock car and outpace the NASCAR drivers.
“He could slip into that stock car and kick our ass,” Martin observes.
There were essentially three stages in IROC’s lifespan. From its beginning to 1980, the series lived up to its billing, with both oval tracks and road courses represented (apart from the first season, which was contested solely on road courses). In 1980 at Atlanta, Mario Andretti spun and set off a chain reaction that took out eight of the 12 cars. IMSA driver Don Whittington wrecked several laps later, leaving just four cars to finish.
The chaotic race proved costly. With no sponsor, series organizers were forced to take a break. When the series returned in 1984, it ushered in a new era. IROC traveled to three ovals – Michigan twice and Talladega Superspeedway – and the curious street layout at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. The field now consisted of five drivers from the Indy series and five from NASCAR, with just Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx representing the international sport.
After 1991, road courses disappeared from the schedule. IROC became essentially a NASCAR support race. Although top IndyCar and sports car drivers continued to take part, stock car regulars often made up half of the field or more.
IROC’s legacy remains in that essential question.
“They had a decent balance for a while,” Evernham says. “That challenge – the best of the best, head to head. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Lewis Hamilton against Kyle Larson? Holy crap.”
In resurrecting the series as vintage racing, Evernham has given fans and drivers a reminder of that brief era when there was the possibility of an answer. He says IROC will return to the Rolex Reunion next year, as well. And two other events are planned for 2026.
“I get to drive with people I raced with and people I watched,” Martin says of his trip to Laguna Seca this year. “The seat still fits, the uniform still fits – those are good things.”
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