“Spanning the globe to bring you a constant variety of sports; the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition … This is ABC’s Wide World of Sports.” Legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay spoke those words every Saturday afternoon for 37 years, from 1961-1998, when ESPN became the premier sports broadcasting channel. Those words of Jim McKay were heard in millions of American homes.
ABC Sports was particularly fond of showing motorsports. Every Saturday afternoon, millions of American children (and adults!) were treated to 90 minutes of non-mainstream motorsports like NASCAR, NHRA, demolition derbies, surfing, and even the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show. While I’ve never seen the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show, it must have been good enough to be shown on one of the very few TV channels on the air at the time. This is when IROC racing entered the motorsports scene in the early 1970’s. It ran for a good 15 years or so, reaching it’s peak around 1980. There was no other place where you could watch NASCAR legends like Richard Petty and Bobby Allison duke it out with F1 legends like Emerson Fittipaldi and Denis Hulme. Throw in Mario Andretti, and you were bound to sit back and watch one hell of a ride.
The late Chris Economaki was always commentating on some form of motorsports, and his talent showed during the pre-race commentary of IROC V. IROC V was the 5th IROC season, and the year was 1978.
While most younger Camaro enthusiasts will think that IROC was simply an option package developed for the Camaro starting in 1985, there’s more to the story. The story behind IROC goes all the way back to 1973 with Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps (no relation to the swimmer of the same name!) all had the amazing idea to put 12 of the world’s greatest race car drivers in identical cars to compete on road courses and NASCAR superspeedways alike in a four-race series. Richter was cautious enough to say that the IROC series might not determine who the best driver was, “but we sure go a long way towards that goal.”
The first IROC season was the 1974 season, and it kicked off on October 27, 1973. It consisted of 4 events with all racing done in identically-prepared Porsche 911 RSR’s. For the 1975 season, Chevrolet came on board, and the Chevrolet Camaro was the car of choice.
Here are some pictures that have only recently been released to the public. Enjoy.
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Bobby Allison leads the field in what looks like IROC IV or something like that. He has a rear-view mirror filled of Mario Andretti and an unknown driver in the black Camaro. -
The late Chris Economaki was synonymous with auto racing, and here he is doing what he always did best: pre-race commentary on the grid during IROC V, which was the 1978 season. -
IndyCar, Formula One, and NASCAR winner Mario Andretti leads the way at Daytona. Mario was a regular invitee in the early years of the IROC series and took the championship in 1979. -
Three-time Indy 500 winner and 1975 IROC champ Bobby Unser gets a little nudge from four-time Indy champ and two-time IROC champion A.J. Foyt. -
Bobby Unser returns the favor to A.J. Foyt -
Mario Andretti gets a mirror full of Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Alan Jones, Tom Sneva, and Neil Bonnett. -
I’m not sure how, but my best guess is that a tire or some large piece of debris from another car made it’s way to Formula One racer Ronnie Peterson’s windshield during IROC II. It looks like the right side of the front spoiler and grille got hit as well. -
Al Unser comes up on Bobby Allison at Riverside International Raceway in what looks to be IROC II or III. -
Richard Petty and A.J. Foyt negotiate the “S” turns at Riverside. Petty was known as The King of NASCAR, but an IROC championship eluded him. His best finish was 5th at IROC V. -
Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, and Brian Redman battle for position at Riverside during IROC III’s 1976 season. Foyt took home the championship later that year. -
Johnny Rutherford goes a little too wide at Riverside. -
Bobby Allison looks to escape unscathed during IROC VII in 1980. The same cannot be said for Darrell Waltrip and Mario Andretti. Ouch. -
Being who the racers are in this group, this looks like IROC XIII in 1989. You have A.J. Foyt, Scott Pruett, Dale Earnhardt, and up top is IROC XV champion Rusty Wallace. -
Rubbin’s racin,’ and this witness mark on Earnhardt’s Camaro proves that these guys are just as competitive in the IROC world as they are in their native NASCAR country. -
Two CART and two NASCAR guys. This is from IROC VIII. The one and only year (1984) Cale Yarborough took the series title. -
Here are two NASCAR guys in familiar territory. Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt had many battles in their regular “company cars,” and this IROC race was no different. -
Here is another great matchup between CART/F1 racer Emerson Fittipaldi and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. This looks to be IROC VIII, in which Earnhardt finished Ninth and Fittipaldi came in Eleventh for the season. -
Go time! -
It’s hard to get used to Dale Earnhardt in anything other than a black car, but in 1989 he raced (at least once) this white Camaro. As a side note, this was the final year of the Camaro in IROC racing. In 1990 the switch was made to the Dodge Daytona. Scott Pruett is leading the field in the No. 8 Camaro, Dale Earnhardt is 2nd in the No. 7 Camaro, Al or Bobby Unser Jr. is 3rd in the No. 10 Camaro, and Rusty Wallace is 4th in the No. 12 Camaro. -
Tavis Highlander drew up this IROC fifth-gen a few years ago, and he gave a little taste of what the series’ cars might have looked like if the series was still going today. You’ve gotta admit that this car looks seriously evil. I like the NASCAR wheels. Somebody needs to build this car.That’s all of the never-before-released pictures. Tell me which picture is your favorite. I like all of them. The digital drawing is cool, but it needs the name of a driver to be on the windshield, but I like it just the way it is.
The Unmuffled Auto News 
My grandfather worked for ABC and we have some ABC sports memorobilia. Such a big thing at the time. Candler, what are your thoughts about the tragedy at the race track this past weekend?
That is cool about your grandfather working for ABC! As for the tragedy at the race track, I do not think that Tony Stewart can ever recover from what happened that night. I don’t think that anybody can. However, if you watch the video closely, Ward did NOT stay by his car, which would have been safe. Instead, he walked directly into the path of Stewart’s car, and sprint cars have little to no side visibility, so it is quite possible that Stewart didn’t see Ward. It is extremely hard to steer a sprint car, as the tire differences are simply gigantic. Since sprint cars are built to turn left primarily, the right tires are far larger than the left tires by up to 18 inches. This makes them extremely unstable. Plus, they are tricky to drive at low speeds, due to the tire difference and the lack of power brakes, steering, or any visual aids. Ward was wearing a black fire suit and a black helmet at a notoriously dimly-lit track. Kevin Ward, Jr.’s father released a statement a couple of days ago saying that Tony Stewart was the only driver who did not see Ward Jr., but also said that Stewart was not at fault. That is quite possible, and I agree to some point with Ward Sr. However, I do not think that Tony Stewart was the only driver who did not see Ward.
Whenever I think I know a lot about cars, you have a post which educates me about something new altogether!
I’m glad that I am still able to educate a “car master”…