Jeff Gordon announces that he will not compete in IROC in 2002

[Joe Fan]

http://www.nascar.com/2001/NEWS/12/1...roc/index.html

[Roselady3]

That's OK Joe- I won't miss him
He didn't do all that great in it anyway.

[Budmakesmewiser]

"Ya" your telling me,he never can do good in a race car that is not better than everyone elses,thats what irritates me about Gordon,he never could beet Earnhardt Sr or anyone else when the cars were equall.

[Joe Fan]

Bud, I have to agree with you. Jeff couldn't beat the old man consistenly in equal prepared cars which is why I could never rank him over Dale Sr.


With this decision, I have lost some respect for Jeff because he hasn't proven anything outside a Hendrick prepared car. He never did much in IROC and it appears that he is now too good for the series. I don't buy his excuse that it is taking away from his Winston Cup duties. The races are short sprints that are held in conjunction with Winston Cup races. Jeff he races on occasion in BGN in his Pepsi-sponsored car. Is he going fold his BGN team? If he continues racing the Pepsi car in BGN then we know that his excuse is pure BS. What better way to promote or expand the myth of greatness than sit in the infield coach and not have to compete against some of the best talent in the world in equal machinery.

[Roselady3]

I veiw it more a reaction of a child. "If I can't play with MY toys, set up the way I want them-& you won't let me WIN. I'm going to take my toys & go home!"
No Biggie!
Let 'em wuss out & not race.
I would rather hear about guys who can't get enough racing!
Drivers who will race anything- so they can get more.

As I read the article- I kept waiting for him to state "Brookie doesn't want me too!"

But- as ya'all have guessed- I'm not a Jeffie fan.

[Dick Blom]

Jeff didn't run the Busch car any last year, he dissolved the team at the end of 2000. As for his lack of wins in IROC, most of the races required a drafting partner and none of the WC guys wanted to take a chance on Jeff winning so the only ones who would draft with him were the other drivers and there aren't very good at it. Other wise it mostly is a problem of power-to-weight ratio's, the IROC cars are low on power compared to their weight, this means there is very little finness required to drive them, lots of down force and not much power make them relativly "easy" to drive, Jeff's talent doesn't really show off until the cars get more difficult to drive. As in '98 with the 5 and 5 rule and then again in 2001 with the hard tires.

Here are my thoughts on IROC racing that I posted elsewhere.

It sucks, if they would put them all in equal sprint cars for one race on dirt and one on a pavement oval, then in stock cars for one road course and one oval it might be interesting and actually mean something. As is, it is weighted so much in favor of the WC drivers it doesn't even make sense to run.

[Roselady3]

Dick- You & Lee would get along great. (where is he?) He's one of the Mods here.
He wrote a 4 part article on IROC & how to make it better. It was listed on Jayski- (you might be able to find them in the archives.)
You two could exchange articles (but he's a Ford man)

BTW- Happy Holidays to you & your Wifey!

[Emfa]

Originally posted by Dick Blom
...
As is, it is weighted so much in favor of the WC drivers it doesn't even make sense to run.

This may be the key. I'm pretty much in agreement with Lee and Dick here. "IROC. Big Deal! Who cares?" Maybe that's what Jeff is thinking as well? (as well as some of the other issues mentioned )

[KC]

I guess I don't see how Gordon is not a great driver. A great driver is always on a great team otherwise he is just another driver. Every racer on the track is a local champion, regional champion or lesser series champion of some sort. But none of them are worth a fiddler's damn without a good mechanic, crew and owner. I know a lot is made about how great it is to be the champ but it took a team of top flight pros to get it done. Dale Sr. alone was just a man, but with his team he was one of the greatest champs of the series. Gordon is only doing the same thing. Thats how the game is played. No cars are equal no matter how the rules are written. Even two identically prepped cars are not dead equal. Where a true great driver is made is when he has to overcome a bad car, bad circumstance or just bad luck and still win, in spite of mistakes by others. Both Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon demonstrated this in spades.

[Roselady3]

I look at it as just another race. Not neccessarily a "fair" race for all the different series. A stock car is a stock car & of course it is going to be better for a stockcar driver than an open wheel driver. But it's just another race. REAL racers will race anything. They will race shopping carts or tricycles if that's all that is available to them.
It will just open up another spot for a REAL racer who WANTS to race.
If Jeffie don't wanna- he don't hafta!
In the meanwhile- there will be another who will step into his place & give a go at it.
Somebody who can't get enough!
Somebody who wants MORE-
NOT less.

"Greatness" means different things to different people. Some may feel that wins are what make you great. Others feel that consistancy & winning championships is what makes them great.
I think a driver is great when he wins, is consistant & shows his passion for the sport by racing anything with wheels!

[Dick Blom]

Rosie darlin' I would say Kenny Schrader will race anything, when someone talks about the great drivers in stock cars they always start out with counting wins and/or championships in Winston Cup I have never every ever heard or read of any one saying oh the wins and championships don't mean much, but Kenny Schrader is the best because it is the other kind of racing they did that makes them great! Yea right!!! In 10 years I suspect very few will remember who raced or won in IROC, but every fan will be able to tell you was the 2002 WC champion! I think Jeff simply has got his priorities in the right order.

[Roselady3]

Hi Dickie---->>> (I'm trying to resist- I'm trying to resist-*G*)
I would agree with you- But where would the fun be in that?

I don't really place an importance on IROC at all- It's just another race. The ONLY thing that I do respect is that the drivers are out there doing it- racing. It's what they love.
& you know what? Kenny does have my respect, because he loves racing so much- that he does race anything. Too bad he don't win.

[The Beer Baron]

Since 1998 IROC has become 80% NASCAR drivers and 20% Indy drivers.
In previous year guys from from other forms of motorsport were invited, with the rapid surge in NASCAR , naturally IROC went that way, I guess why have a race like that on Saturday when you're racing against the same guys on Sunday for real!

IROC at Daytona is just another appetiser before the big race!

[Lars]

There was this driver, all though he didn't win the WC championship in 2000, he was able to run the schedule full time, meet all his sponsor obligations, run a two car WC operation on the side & run the IROC series in which he was the 2000 champion. BTW...he had won 7 WC Championships previously. In 2001 he was about to do the same with the burden of adding one more team to his side job of WC car owner until his passing. I don't think he would have backed out of IROC...whether the series sucks or not...this guy loved to race & he raced hard. A lot of folks didn't like the way he drove, but he was well respected by his peers and NASCAR. He once said "If you have feathers on your legs or on your butt, stay out of a race car". I guess someone is taking his advice next year.

[Joe Fan]

Originally posted by The Beer Baron
Since 1998 IROC has become 80% NASCAR drivers and 20% Indy drivers.
In previous year guys from from other forms of motorsport were invited, with the rapid surge in NASCAR , naturally IROC went that way, I guess why have a race like that on Saturday when you're racing against the same guys on Sunday for real!

Beer Baron, the IROC organizers invite the top 3-4 CART drivers every year and I am sure that top F1 drivers get invites (or used to get them until the repeatedly turned them down). This is the reason why the series is top heavy with NASCAR drivers. Ideally, they would like to have the top four Winston Cup drivers, the BGN champ, the top 4 CART drivers and the top three IRL drivers or some combination close to this. But only one or two CART drivers accept invites so IROC goes back to the NASCAR series to round out the lineup when the others decline. Why? Because yes they are driving in the top series in North America but mainly because IROC officials know that they will usually accept the invite. This is needed to get the field set for the following year.

[The Beer Baron]

CART turned them down in 2000 because they had a race the same weekend at Long Beach as the Talladega round, they'd have had to fly to Talladega for that round.
Michael Andretti isn't too keen on IROC, also this year Gil deFerran was injured and couldn't make Daytona and he was replaced with a NASCAR driver

ALso 1997 was the last time an IROC event was held at a CART race weekend.

Also some of CART's invites went to the IRL, but there's no sportscar guys there, like Tom Kendall.

Well I don't get to hear who gets the invites, only those who accept.

Also F1 driver's contracts would exclude them from racing, not to mention their constant trans atlantic travel to test/race.

I like the idea of 6 NASCAR , 6 CART/IRL
That's a real Them v Us battle

[Joe Fan]

Beer Baron, last year IROC scrapped the bottom of the barrell to get Mark Dismore in the lineup. Dismore finished 8th in the 2000 IROC standings. Ideally, IROC would probably want a line-up like this:

1) Jeff Gordon NASCAR Winston Cup Champ
2) Gil De Ferran CART Champ
3) Sam Hornish IRL Champ
4) Kevin Harvick NASCAR BGN Champ

Then...
5) Tony Stewart 2nd in WC points
6) Kenny Brack 2nd in CART points
7) Buddy Lazier 2nd in IRL points
8) Sterling Marlin 3rd in WC points
9) Michael Andretti 3rd in CART points
10) Scott Sharp 3rd in IRL points
11) Ricky Rudd 4th in WC points
12) Helio Castroneves 4th in CART points

So far, I only know of five of these who have accepted so far (Hornish, Harvick, Lazier, Sharp and Castroneves). Michael Andretti never accepts and Jeff Gordon has declined.

[BootsOntheSide]

6 NASCAR 3 CART 3 IRL sounds good, but the races would each have to be set to either be at a NASCAR race meeting which doesn't clash with either CART or IRL, or some other combination, but with NASCAR in action more than half the year its easier that way. I'd like to see half the races done in CART cars, and maybe on road courses, maybe then it'd be a truer comparison, and actually worthy of the name. Right now American Race Of NASCAR Drivers would be mroe apt.

[The Beer Baron]

I suppose when they are scrapping the barrell to fill the spots is what hurts the series. (Though I never bothered to check where Dismore
finished in the IRL in 2000, actually 5th) don't think Salazar would do it and Goodyear had retired

IROC involves a lot of pre season testing, which eats into the drivers schedules, with a new team that Gordon is heading, it'll only distract from the Winston Cup efforts, it's the Winston Cup that pays the bills.

But if IROC could get the best from NASCAR/CART/IRL then it would mean more, but CART/IRL have to mould their schedules around IROC then, this year CART announced their schedule and IROC then scheduled a race at Fontana while the CART guys were in Japan!

[The Beer Baron]

BootsOnTheOtherSide:

I can't see IROC using CART/IRL style chassis, even for 1 round, though a road course would be interesting.

Watkins Glen? but too near the Indy round!

Anyone notice how the Charlotte race isn't there anymore, so IROC isn't at SMI tracks anymore.

[Emfa]

This all begs the question, "How much longer will IROC last?"

[Dick Blom]

Originally posted by Emfa
This all begs the question, "How much longer will IROC last?"

One, maybe two more sesons.

[Lee]

I'm here, or maybe I should say, I'm back. Been having allot of computer problems, hopefully they are all cleared up now.

There has been talk, the last few years, and again this year, that they will pull the plug on the IROC series. Personally, I think this would be the best move. IROC, from it's very inception, back in the mid-70s, has never been anything more than a canned, made for TV, JOKE! Regardless of the year, what cars they have run, what tracks they have raced on, or who has driven in it, this series has never proven, or meant anything! The series of articles, that I am writing, that Roselady3 mentions, (btw, it is nowhere near complete Roselady) from Jayski's, is basically the same thing that I wrote of, on this forum, about two years ago, with allot of refinments, Joe Fan would remember it. This could very well be implimented, and would produce a good racing series, but I'd lay money that no one would touch it, they prefer just to go on with this lame, since inception, format, now in use, until it eventually (hopefully sooner, than later) drys up, and blows away.

As to Jeff Gordon deciding against competing in this series, I think he has made a good, and sound decision. First let me reinforce the FACT, that I an NOT a Gordon fan. Richard Petty made a similar decision, not to compete in IROC, back in 1976. During Speedweeks, at Daytona, in 1976. Petty was running in the IROC race, on Friday, before the Daytona 500. There were several bad accidents, and a couple of drivers were injured, fortunatly, not seriously. Petty withdrew from the race, and said that he would not ever race in IROC again. I'm running a race, two day before our biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. It makes no sense for me to risk injury in this, or any other race, that might jepordise my competing in the series that I make my living driving in. He realized that competing in this sideshow spectical was stupid, because an injury in it could adversly affect his ability to race in the Grand National (today called Winston Cup) Division, which would be self-defeting. Gordon has made much the same decision. He sites a hectic schedule, which is true, especially for a Winston Cup Champion. Not only do they stay on the road, constantly, due to the racing schedule, but also because of appearences, both as the reigning champion, and for the sponsors. Dale Jarrett made mention of the fact that his off-season, the year he won the championship, was so full of comitments, that it seriously effected the first half of the on-coming season. This can definatly have a bad effect on a family, one could hardly blaim Gordon for wishing to spend more time with his family. Finally, the comitment to his team, and the Winston Cup Series, this is the exact same reason that Petty gave, for his decision, back in 76. He is saying that racing in this sideshow spectical, is not worth the risk of injury, that could affect his Winston Cup career, the series where he makes his living. This is a decision that I think is going to become more common, in the coming years. I agree with Gordon, and support this decision 100%!

[The Beer Baron]

Good points there Lee, but the one about DJ and his 'extra' commitments on being series champ hampering his defense of the title, no doubt when Daytona comes around everyone will want a piece of Gordon so his race preparation & early season preparation could be more hampered.

[Budmakesmewiser]

All i know is that i would rather be on a race track in a car,rather than being in the garage,if Gordon is so confident that his team is so good than why would he even worry,"This is the strongest team i have ever been on","well than Ol Gordon if they are so good than why would you need to over see everything.He has plenty of time to drive an IROC car every couple of months.Nothing Gordon has said makes any sense,it is all BS,he just can't win in a car that is not better than everyone elses,we saw what happened at North Carolina this year,if Gordon's car is always not that good than he would have been able to do better than he did then,with him being so good and all.What a line of BS.