As the owner of 2 IROC Series Camaro race cars, I was excited to see this article. However, I wish the author would have done more research because the IROC series is a very important part of auto racing history and needs more than a few paragraphs here. (BTW I am friends with the owner of the Pink Camaro shown in this articles photo and I hope he weighs in here on that era of the series because other than the Series drivers, only the car owners can provide personal and unique insight on this). For those readers who are only familiar with the street cars which are only related to the Series cars by name only, it might be helpful to list the series cars in chronological order because the way the story reads, its a little confusing. Especially because the photo layout just makes your brain think they ran in order of appearance. This is important because without knowing this you are leaving out some interesting and little known facts about the “evolution” of the race cars during the Chevrolet to Dodge transition period which I will explain. Porsche is the only car that is even remotely close to the street version. The 2nd Gen Camaro began the transition from factory bodies and front subframes mated to race chassis built by Banjo Matthews (think of an early version of back-halfing), to the 3rd Gen IROC Series Camaro, which is what made IROC a pop culture name in the 80s, but used only 3 GM factory parts and fiberglass bodies on full NASCAR style chassis.
The cars ran in the series this way:
Porsche 911
2nd Generation Chevrolet Camaro
3rd Generation Chevrolet Camaro
Dodge Daytona
Dodge Avenger
Pontiac Firebird
I am not an expert on the IROC Series (in general), but I am one on Third Gen Camaros and especially the IROC Series Third Gen Camaros, since I happen to own the yellow and dark blue race car bodies. NONE of the other IROC Series Camaros exists and ONLY ONE COMPLETE IROC Series Camaro survives (the red car was given to Dale Sr after winning the series in 89 and is in a museum in NC) due to the rebody scramble when GM pulled sponsorship in 89. I have spoken with Jay Signore who was the owner (a.k.a Godfather) of IROC International and he explained that is what began the tradition of giving the series winner the car he drove in the final race. The Camaro bodies were immediately removed from the chassis and rebodied ad Daytonas after the end of the 89 season. GM wouldnt allow IROC to use Chevrolet or Camaro as of Jan 1,1990 because the contract expired, so IROC in turn ended the use of IROC on the street cars. This is why there were no 1990 street IROC Camaros actually built in 1990; they were built up to Dec 31 1989 but titled as 90s. And its not accurate to compare an IROC SERIES Camaro or Daytona or Avenger to the street cars. BTW the original BASE engine for IROC was LG4 starting in 85 TBI wasnt base until 88 and its a pretty good bet the car in the article is TBI because its wearing the base IROC 15" wheels (also new for IROC in 88). To any true 3rd Gen fan, real IROCs have 16". That’s a different discussion for another day, but its important to know the history. Anyway, because GM pulling the sponsorship came as a surprise to IROC International, they had to scramble to get another manufacturer for the upcoming 1990 season (which was already planned) and the Daytona was close enough in dimensions to the Camaro to fit the chassis without major modifications. What most people don’t know is the actual IROC Series Race Camaros used the STREET Camaro A-Pillars, Windshield and Roof Skin. Because of this (and the short timeframe IROC had to assemble a dozen (plus) brand new race cars), the Daytonas actually used those 3 Camaro body pieces. So when you see an IROC Series Daytona it is sitting on a Banjo “rear steer” chassis that was most likely once under a Camaro although I have documented a few Daytonas with chassis dated after 1990. I believe (but have not confirmed) that nearly all Daytonas were sold to a race driving school in PA then again to a school in TX where they were then sold to individuals after that school went out of business. From talking with Avenger owners, I believe nearly all Avengers exist but again have not confirmed. There were technically two IROC Firebird series: the first being True Value the second was Crown Royal. I’m not sure if the True Value cars were repainted as Crown Royal since I believe the cars and chassis were unchanged for the entire run. All the Firebirds were sold at the IROC auction when they closed shop in the early 2000s.
