“He Beat Me Because…” – Ray Evernham Talks About What Propelled Him to Join IROC

Published 02/21/2024, 12:02 PM EST

Ray Evernham has been an integral part of NASCAR. In his illustrious career, he has crossed a lot of hurdles and evolved in a way that served him and his job better. He has explored all sides of racing, from being a driver to a journeyman chassis engineer. He ultimately became one of the most renowned crew chiefs in the 90s.

His transition from on-track to off-track work was marked by a fateful incident. That occurrence also helped him to form the roots of IROC, the International Race of Champions. IROC was active between 1974 and 2006. But 2024 might witness the IROC coming back into the racing scene and igniting old flames of racing love.

Ray Evernham spills the beans on his IROC inception

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When you roam around a long-abandoned racetrack, you will get goosebumps. You can almost hear the buzzing, high-pitched noise as ghosts of cars pass you by. You may almost wish to be back in that bygone era, watching legends drive cars. Ray Evernham is on a mission to grant such a wish by resuscitating IROC, a racing series that stopped operations in 2006.

Evernham was an important part of IROC’s active years. In a recent discussion on Dale Jr. Download, he opened up about his major inspiration.

He described the horrific fiery crash that both he and Tony Siscone faced at Martinsville in 1982. “We kept blowing tires out and hit the wall. Tony hit me in the back, didn’t see another car was right in front of me. Big fire, big fire…He got burned bad with his hands and what not.”

Tony Siscone & Ray Evernham get into a fiery crash in 1982. Tony came back two years later & won! #ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/v4465JB9l0
— Martinsville Speedway (@MartinsvilleSwy) January 21, 2016

But Evernham was taken aback by Siscone’s sheer determination to win. “We both came back to race in 1983. We go at the Wall Stadium, and Tony’s got…his hands can barely do anything but hold the steering wheel….we’re racing for the Championship, and he beat me… here’s a guy that I always thought, ‘oh he had the best cars, he had life easy’…that’s why he beat me all the time. And I realized he beat me because he, really wanted it.”

This realization motivated Evernham to quit full-time racing and join the IROC.

Tony Siscone ranked 17th in the Area Auto Racing News “Top-25 Asphalt Modified Drivers of the 20th Century” in 2000. Spending 22 years behind the wheel, Tony collected 169 victories and 12 track championships (6 at Wall Stadium, 3 at Atlantic City Speedway, 2 at NASCAR’s Flemington Speedway, and 1 at NASCAR’s New Egypt Speedway).

Evernham and Rob Kauffman are on the way to breathe new life into IROC.

WATCH THIS STORY: NASCAR Legend Tony Stewart’s New Challenge: Swapping Race Tracks for Diaper Duty!

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IROC to see the light of day after 17 years

The International Race of Champions hosted the likes of racing legends from NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, and other series. Some of the winners in this series included A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. Evernham worked as a mechanic for IROC before launching his NASCAR career. He won three championships as Jeff Gordon’s crew chief.

In January this year, Evernham and Rob Kauffman formed IROC Holdings LLC, intending to host an IROC event in 2024 with old cars. As per NBC Sports, Evernham said: “We’re really, really early in the planning stages, but just to get the IROC brand, get people to know a little bit about what it is and put on some demonstrations and try to get some of these IROC out of the garages and back on the racetrack.”

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Are you excited about the legendary racing series coming back?

Did Ray Evernham’s IROC Announcement Trigger the Downfall of Tony Stewart’s SRX Series?

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Written by:

Sumedha Mukherjee is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports who is known for her in-depth track analysis as well as her lifestyle coverage of Cup drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Inspired by the Kiwi's journey so far, Sumedha has also written pieces on Shane Van Gisbergen, predicting how the Supercars Champion would do in the new and unfamiliar American setting. Pairing her research skills with her vast experience as a writer, Sumedha creates stories her readers can easily get lost in.

Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh

“He Beat Me Because…” – Ray Evernham Talks About What Propelled Him to Join IROC

Ray Evernham spills the beans on his IROC inception

IROC to see the light of day after 17 years

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