IROC Testing: The True Value IROC team concluded their first day of testing Monday at Talladega Superspeedway in preparation for round two of the 2001, 25th anniversary season. Veteran test drivers Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle, Jim Sauter and Andy Hillenburg were on hand to put the Pontiac Firebirds through initial test runs. Dave Marcis said, “We worked a bit today with the roof pieces, the NASCAR air deflector. What we have on the IROC cars is the equivalent to what we have on the Winston Cup cars and we all agree that the cars are extremely comfortable. They draft really well, so if you fall behind you can draft back up again.” Dick Trickle said, “The cars are driving like baby buggies and we’ll have to remind the drivers they’re still in race cars going 180 MPH. Andy Hillenburg said, “To give you an example of how much fun it is to drive these cars, Jay Signore told us to go out and just run a few laps, well, we ran an entire race and didn’t come in until Dave (Marcis) ran out of gas.” IROC President, Jay Signore said, “Talladega is one of our favorite tracks. We’ve had some great races here over the years and always look forward to the next one. For our 25th anniversary we are paying tribute to all of our past champions. We have four dedicated test cars, and at each of the four races we have those four cars lettered with the names of past champions. We have 16 champions total, so it works out perfectly. For Talladega we have the 1975 champion Bobby Unser, 1984 champion Cale Yarborough, 1989 champion Terry Labonte and 1993 champion Davey Allison.” He continued, At Daytona, IROC paid tribute to 1974 champion Mark Donohue, 1979 champion Mario Andretti, 1980 champion Bobby Allison and the 2000 reigning champion Dale Earnhardt. In tribute to Dale Earnhardt, IROC will run eleven cars for the remainder of the season. Jay Signore said, “Dale Earnhardt was a great champion and we feel it is a fitting tribute to run one man shy.” The True Value IROC Talladega race takes place this Saturday, April 21 at 2:30 p.m., following the NASCAR Busch series race. More info on my 2001 IROC page.(IROC PR)(4-17-2001)
