IROC at Chicago in 2002 UPDATE and California: IROC (International Race Of Champions) will be heading to at least new venue next season, announcing that it would run the third of its 2002 four-race schedule on the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval. The track will host the 12-car IROC race as part of its July 12-14 NASCAR weekend, and will run a 100-lap event on July 13. The series will open in its customary Daytona setting and will likely end at Indianapolis, with a fourth track yet to be worked out. The series has been unable to finalize its driver lineup, although IROC p.r. chief George Signore said Friday that the series will look at the top three or four drivers from the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch series, as well as CART and the IRL. This years Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr. is one of the drivers that has been contacted, and will be part of an IROC test at Daytona Nov. 12-14.(SpeedVision), ESPN2’s RPM 2 Night reports that the four tracks will be Daytona, Michigan, Chicago and Indy(11-1-2001) UPDATE: hearing that Michigan is out and California Speedway will take its place(11-3-2001) UPDATE 2: The IROC Series will return to California Speedway after a three-year absence on Saturday, April 27, 2002, for a 100-mile race. California Speedway President Bill Miller and IROC Chairman Les Richter made the announcement Sunday during a morning press conference prior to the speedway’s CART FedEx Championship Series season finale Marlboro 500. The race, which is race two of a four-race series, will be part of the April NASCAR weekend at the speedway. The IROC Series was part of the speedway’s inaugural race weekend in June of 1997, with Mark Martin capturing the first event. Known to many as auto racing’s “All-Star Event,” the cars are identically prepared Pontiac Firebirds with 12 drivers from a variety of disciplines invited to participate(California Speedway PR)(11-5-2001)
