It was just really cool to see those cars on the track again.
I don’t follow racing nearly as much as I used to. These days, my weekends are more likely to be spent at Little League games, middle school mountain bike races and soccer games.
IROC, the International Race of Champions, brought together another incredible group of drivers over the weekend: Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Hélio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Tommy Kendall.
Some of “my drivers.”
That’s how I still think of the drivers from my True Value motorsports era, when I managed our involvement with IROC, NASCAR and the Indy Racing League.
Twenty-five-plus years later, there they were again.
The cars. The drivers. The competition.
And yes, the “old guys” can still race.
IROC Tried to Answer One Simple Question: Who’s the Best?
For anyone who didn’t follow IROC back then, the whole series was built around an age-old question in racing:
Who’s the best?
Not who has the best car.
Not who has the biggest budget, the latest technology or millions of dollars being poured into the development of their regular team car.
Who’s the best driver?
IROC was an invitational. You didn’t just sign up to race. The drivers were invited because they had earned the right to be there. They were champions, major race winners and some of the biggest names from different racing series.
They were the best of the best.
Then we put them in equally prepared cars.
Four times a year, they raced roughly 100 miles to answer the question.
We were testing the driver’s mettle, not the car.
Then drop the green flag.
These guys answered the call.
The 1999 True Value IROC Racing Team: Greg Moore, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Adrian Fernandez, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Eddie Cheever Jr., Kenny Brack, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. “12 Drivers. Equal Cars. One Track. 100 Miles. Who’s the Best?” We gave these posters away through True Value hardware stores, and this one still hangs in my garage today. Photo: Steven Rose.
There Was Something Different About IROC
Back then, racing was their business.
Their regular race weekends came with enormous pressure. Championships, points, teams, owners, sponsors, contracts and careers were riding on what happened on the track.
IROC was different.
These guys were competitive by nature. That didn’t suddenly turn off because it was an IROC race on Saturday. They wanted to win.
But in a way, IROC was for them.
One of the things I remember most was the drivers meetings.
Reviewing the rules at an IROC drivers meeting during the True Value IROC years. Photo: Steven Rose.
They were fun.
There was joking and plenty of good-natured ribbing. You got to see more of their personalities. The pressure was a little lighter, and the camaraderie came through.
This is how I remember the IROC drivers meetings. Plenty of joking, good-natured ribbing and camaraderie. Photo: Steven Rose.
And I’ve always thought there was one prize in IROC that wasn’t listed in the purse:
Bragging rights.
They had a chance to answer the question for themselves:
Who’s the best?
A Few More Gray Hairs, Maybe a Little Wiser
Watching them again over the weekend, they took the racing seriously.
But everything around it felt lighter.
These guys don’t have anything left to prove.
And let’s be clear: they were legends back then, too.
There’s something pretty special about seeing drivers you associate with another era racing together again.
We’re all 25-plus years older now. They may have a few more gray hairs and, like all of us, be a little wiser than they were 25 years ago.
But It Still Felt Like IROC
This wasn’t a return of the full IROC series as we knew it.
This time, they ran two shorter races on the same day.
But there were some familiar pieces of the old IROC format.
IROC didn’t rely on traditional qualifying to put the fastest driver at the front. Back then, we used a draw to set the field for the first race, and the series used inverted starting orders.
So when Jeff Gordon won the first race and then had to start at the back for Race 2, that felt like IROC.
And then he drove through the field and won again.
That felt like IROC, too.
Two races. Two wins.
IROC crowned Jeff Gordon its 2026 champion.
And yes, I was a #24 fan.
Not bad, #24.
But the Best Part Might Have Been the Smile
What I enjoyed almost as much as the racing was seeing these guys afterward.
Gordon and Hélio Castroneves were talking about the race they had just run, and they looked like they were having a blast.
And watching them, I couldn’t help but think there had to be a little bit of “we’ve still got it” in those smiles.
Because they do.
These guys have nothing left to prove. They’re legends.
But put them back in race cars with their peers and the competitiveness is still there.
And so is the fun.
Maybe that’s what reminded me so much of those old IROC drivers meetings.
Sometimes something sticks with you simply because it was really good.
IROC was.
And for a little while over the weekend, we got some of it back.
The cars were back.
A bunch of the guys were back.
That lighter spirit and camaraderie seemed to be back.
And once the green flag dropped, the competitiveness was definitely still there.
The “old guys” still have it.