As part of the NTT IndyCar Series’ first-ever Freedom 250 race weekend around the streets of the United States capital Washington, D.C., the International Race of Champions (IROC) held two 10-lap support races on Saturday (Aug. 22).
The original IROC series competed from 1973 until 2006, having laid dormant ever since that final season until NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ray Evernham and Rob Kaufmann acquired the rights to the series two years ago.
The 10-lap races had a star-studded cast consisting of eight drivers each: Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Helio Castroneves, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, Tommy Kendall and Tony Kanaan.
Gordon went to claim victory in both races, while Busch — the 2003 IROC champion — finished second each time.
“You got to kind of pinch yourself,” Busch said. “Like, this is happening.
“It was definitely a privilege to be out on the track and experience this race.”
Elliott led the start of race one before finishing fourth and went on to finish sixth in race two.
“Seeing the fans here and seeing what this event showed to this area and what it could do is pretty amazing,” Elliott said.
Labonte, the 2001 IROC champion, finished the inverse of Elliott: sixth in race one and fourth in race two.
“You know you can definitely see the crowd, you can see the Capitol, you could see all kinds of buildings, and to do it around the (National) Mall, it’s just crazy,” Labonte said. “It’ll be one of those things I’ll look at more later, and I’ll go, ‘I cannot believe we did that last year or last week or last month.'”
Kendall was a four-time Trams-Am Series champion in 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1997, as well as a frequent invited driver in IROC in that decade. He finished seventh and fifth in the two races, respectively.
“I’ve been watching IROC for years, and to be invited to be one of the 12 that comes every year, especially as a road race guy, I mean, it was one of the bigger moments of my career at that point,” Kendall said.
“Getting the call to come to this special race felt similar.”
Series owner Evernham called the racing between the two 10-lap sprints “great.”
“The fans want to see this stuff,” Evernham said. “There is a space for a form motorsports entertainment, right?”
“And SRX (Superstar Racing Experience) was that; this is that. it’s a good mix between, senior’s tour, WWE and flat-out racing; it’s what we do.
“And this is purely so the fans can see legendary drivers back on the track. … These guys are not playing the game at the pace they used to, but they’re still playing the game, and some of them are pretty competitive.”
As for what’s next with the series, Evernham says the next IROC event will be between April 15-17, 2027, at Ten Tenths Motor Club in Charlotte, N.C.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf