Sponsorship woes delay IROC start

Sponsorship woes delay IROC start

	Published : Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:07 By : Agencies Print this Story

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The all-star International Race of Champions will not run at Daytona next month, because series officials have not secured sponsorship.

IROC pits 12 drivers from different auto-racing disciplines in equally prepared cars. The four-race series usually begins at Daytona International Speedway the Friday before NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500.

But Crown Royal, which covered the $1 million payout to the IROC champion, pulled out of the series at the end of last season. Without a replacement sponsor, IROC officials said Tuesday they would delay the start of the season.

'We are very disappointed about not making it to Daytona this year, and we are working very hard to find a title sponsor,' IROC president Jay Signore said. 'Our hopes are to find a new title sponsor in enough time to be able to have a full four-race season within 2007.'

IROC has raced at Daytona in all but seven of its 30 seasons. Last year, the series raced here twice, including its first-ever race on the Daytona road course.

'As the World Center of Racing, we are never pleased to hear that one of our sanctioning bodies is struggling,' track president Robin Braig said. 'We are hopeful for IROC and will certainly do anything we can to help them find another partner.'

Braig said Daytona officials worked with the IROC series all winter to help it find a new sponsor, but ran out of time.

IROC always has been a crowd favorite, especially at Daytona, where the late Dale Earnhardt won six times. The 2001 version featured one of the most thrilling finishes, when Eddie Cheever ran Earnhardt into the wall and then through the grass two laps before the finish.

Earnhardt delighted the crowd by spinning Cheever on the cool-down lap, then playfully grabbed Cheever by the side of the head, pulling him close to whisper into his ear after they had climbed from their cars.

Earnhardt was killed two days later on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Tony Stewart, last year's IROC champion, has lobbied IROC officials to stage a race at Eldora Speedway, the dirt track he owns in Ohio. He even offered to return the $1 million payout he received last year if it would get the series to Eldora.