Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

Does anyone know who built the NASCAR Camaro's during the International Racing Of Championship years?

rarebmx

iTrader: (6)

great question. I would like to see specs, pictures and know if anyone has built a replica or has an original....?

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

Daytona, Start, 1988

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

amlv20

they were 12 race chassis and 6 back ups built by the actual iroc series.they were tube frame chassis with fiberglass panels hung off of them to make them look like camaro's from 85 to 90 when they were the fglass bodies were changed to dodges untill 98 when the chassis were scrapped to make the 4th gen firebirds. no one has made a replica, some one found the front noses but that is it.the only one in existence is the earndhart on in a museum.i have to many pics from my years of internet researches.i do have some specs from a hot rod magazine in 1985. but the racing third gens to care about in the 80's were the imsa gt camaros and firebids built by protofab which is now pratt & miller who builds the #3 & #4 pretty yellow corvettes now those were awesome. and if you've been to a race with those corvettes you know how hard it is to scrape you jaw off the floor. they are that awesome!!!

89_RS

The Z28 guys are gonna The Z28 was packing a 305 with 700R4 as a race car

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

The race car did a 13 second quarter mile at 106mph? Ugh... that's awful. Thats street car territory... were 80s race cars really that slow?

justcallmeclassy

iTrader: (1)

? Says the actuall race cars had a 355 and a T10... left side of the flyer lol.

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

you have to remember that the cars were geared high to keep up speeds. if they were geared lower then they would be faster than that.

justcallmeclassy

iTrader: (1)

Im no expert by any means but I believe that nascar cars drivetrain has remain relatively untouched since then do to the regulations. I think the engines are still the same anyway. I could be way wrong, somebody correct me lol

IrocZ'85

iTrader: (9)

IMSA cars are where its at

amlv20

damn right!!


for years now since pretty much the end of can am racing(which was literally ***** out run what you brung) all forms of racing are restricted by regulations to be safe and efficient as possible and maybe add to the show, nascar has restrictor plate races, indy cars are regulated to a top speed at Indianapolis,grand am cars are pretty much neutered so they wont exceed a certain lap time around daytona, le mans prototypes are restricted to no faster than the 3 minute lap time and have 20mm gurne to induce drag. if they could run without regs race cars would be extremely fast and dangerous.

kmcn47

cantremember where i heard it, i think speed, but can ams coming back, and yes unregulated cars could be scary fast i know its technically fictional but case in point redbull x-1

kmcn47

also i believe the cars were all built by Banjo Mathews

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Geared lower? They're geared 3.50 or 3.90 according to the spec sheet. The difference between those cars and the street cars is that they're geared TALLER and they're built to run sustained high RPMs that come along with that.

Preach it brother!

Unfortunately it seems technology is just way too far beyond the limits of human capability when it comes to car racing. The speeds and power we are capable of are just too far beyond what the human body can take when things only go slightly wrong.

I hate the restrictions and whatnot too, but it really did get kind of overboard.

However there's got to be a better way than just making everything a spec series. The universal answer to "the cars are too fast!" is to just make everyone use the same parts - it's ruining racing in my eyes.

Even worse than what they're doing to the cars, is what they're doing to the tracks. If I see another boring cookie cutter, chicane-filled garbage Tilke-designed track... well, I already gave up on F1 after 2008 - it's only gotten worse. Real men raced on tracks like Mosport, the Nurburgring, Zandvoort, the old Ostereichring, hell, Watkins Glen survived relatively well over the years. Now everything is a bunch of boring, flat, chicane-filled garbage. At least in the US they haven't ruined too many of our classic courses like they have in Europe. Mosport, Watkins Glen, and Road Atlanta are still pretty awesome tracks.

But all of that is one of the reasons I like the downhome garage racing alot of us do... it's still "run what you brung".


Does anyone have any more information on the IMSA IROCs? It's hard to learn much as far as history goes about old American racing series like that since they're not really around anymore, there's no attention to it to get people nostalgic. Makes me wish I were older and could have enjoyed that stuff during its heyday but I didnt discover the magic of racing until 1989 at the age of 4, and I was only familiar with circle track racing then.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

That Levi Garret car is a ProtoFab car. Those are not the same as the originals like the Earnhardt car above. Look at the details like the front, the hood, the "grille" and other details. The originals are much closer to stock details than the protofab one.

IrocZ'85

iTrader: (9)

heck yea! I was talking to a friend about imsa and can am a few days ago. Definitely seems like it was a death race...or mario kart hahaha. But in all honesty it was wayyy more interesting than anything today because of the regulations like you mentioned. Regarding the other ^^ poster, I also heard they were going to bring Can Am back soon! I hope they do I'd love to see some cool cars and teams racing all sorts of engine combinations! But with the state of regulations and safety today in racing, we'll see what happens :/

NCGuy68

Correct. Mathews in Ashboro, NC built the chassis and sent them to Penske Racing in PA to finish. Ray Evernham (former crew chief for Jeff Gordon) was a chassis specialist and did much of the fabrication. The motors were supplied by Traco engineering in CA (Southgate I think) and had to produce reliable 450bhp. I don't know the actual motor specs, but have hear from reliable souces they were destroked 350s. The above is true for the 1975-80 Camaros. Don't know who did them for the 1985-89 years.

Its incorrect to call them NASCAR Camaros because NASCAR had nothing to do with the prgram. Roger Penske was the man who stepped foreward with the idea to fill a request from ABC Sports to provide a tight racing series they could spotlight on their ABC Wide World of sports broadcast. Porsche carreras were used in 1974, the first year.

NCGuy68

As I've mentioned above, Traco engineering in CA supplied the engines for the 1975-80 IROC race cars. They were not built by any NASCAR team but instead, more resembled the engines found in SCCA Trans Am series race cars during that period.

Todays NASCAR Sprint Cup engines are the result of a very close collaboration between the factory and the race teams. You ain't gonna find one in any new Camaro or Mustang sitting on a dealers lot. BUT, if you know the right people and have VERY DEEP pockets, you can actually lease one. Try dropping one in your 86 IROC and WOWING the gang at your local track

89_RS

Formula 1 is about the closest thing you'll get to ***** out safe racing. The safety rules focus on the survival cell and the cars are designed so that the driver can take headers into the wall at speeds approaching 450 kph without life threatening injuries IIRC what I heard Claude Rouelle tell us. The real nit picky rules are in the use of KERS & Aero packages.

NCGuy68

You're absolutly right! And remember that the engines are limited to 'only' 19,000 RPMs. Unrestricted, they're capable of 23,000 RPMs. Unreal!

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

The main reason for the thread is because I wanted to see where these bodies are built. My focus of concern is the bumper cover. Im curious to know how those covers are built. Mine is so flimsy and flexible.

89_RS

NASCAR's the same way. Now that the engines have EFI, they are capable of producing peak power at just under 12,000 RPM's. That turned alot of heads in the F1 world. They weren't too impressed with a 23,000 RPM engine with valves that are electro-pnuematically actuated. The Chief Engineer of the RBR/Cosworth engine program was very impressed that NASCAR got a push-rod 6.0L V8 to turn over 10,000 RPM's and have more room to spin. That's extremely impressive considering NASCAR teams as a whole spend less on their entire season than even poor F1 teams do on the chassis R&D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz2zB...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTkVKPdyWs0

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Formula 1 is a glorified spec series at this point. Engine freezes along with all the other gimmicks got me tired of dealing with it, and these aero rules got absurd in a hurry. I cant believe they all went along with it.

amlv20

you should pay attention to the alms...which is my favorite motorsport series, but yea some tracks have diminished and disappeared road atlanta may be next, but you forgot to mention road america and my home away from home laguna seca!!! and no can am is not coming back, a series that has spec cars made to look like can am cars is in the works to be a support series to the alms. the imsa camaros were built by proto fab after they stopped building the mustangs for roush, they are tubed framed chasis with katech engines who has built racing engines for gm for some time now.the bodies were fiberglass by protofab, who is now pratt & miller they know a thing or to about winning races with a chevy.


all the body panels were fiber glass and "hung" off the chassis. and are pretty much just as flimsy. read this very informative.
http://s9.zetaboards.com/nythirdgen/topic/7227294/1/

NCGuy68

Sorry about that - guess we did get a little off topic.

Your cover is flexable because its a production car required to withstand at least a 5 MPH bump with minimun if any damage. The 75-80 race cars were steel bodies all the way around. Don't know about the 85-89 cars, but I'am very sure they were much more substansal then any production car.

Since the IROC Fab shop closed several years ago, I wouldn't know how you would ever get a race cover.

amlv20

again very useful info from mikes long research and experience.

http://s9.zetaboards.com/nythirdgen/topic/7227294/1/

kmcn47

i thought they were atleast 355 ci atleast thats what my father told me, that and that all or atleast most of a few complete body kits for the cars were found in a barn in maine iirc

kmcn47

not an iroc series car but nearly identical and awesome none the less

kmcn47

i have an *** ton of pictures by the way, my father traveled to alot of races back in the day, we are a camaro family

kmcn47

,

kmcn47

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kmcn47

the levi garret car

kmcn47

and some random camaros and a firebird

ZZ3 Z28

Chevrolet's high-performance operations manager Herb Fishel was a major player in getting the IROC race car on the track in 1984. The chassis was built by Banjo Matthew in Asheville, NC. Then it was sent off to Jay Signore's shop in Trenton, NJ for final finishing. Engines were built by KATECH in Mt. Clemens, MI, a 350 Chevy small block producing 420 hp @ 6,800 rpm. Fiberglass body panels were manufactured by Diversified Products of Pontiac, MI. Drag coefficient was a miniscule .347. Cale Yarborough won the inaugural series in 1984.

source: Camaro, The Third Generation by Michael Lamm, 1987

NCGuy68

You're right - my bad. Years ago, I was talking to an Ex Traco employee when I attended the 30th Camaro anniversary event up in your neck of the woods - Mid-Ohio sports car track. He did say they began with 350 blocks. Don't know what made me think he said destroked.

StevenB L98/LS1

I had a old IROC poster of Geoff Bodine's car on it, i lost it somewhere but anyway i found these vids this guy posted 3 IROC races of 88, and the same guy has Trans Am series SCCA with our cars racing pretty cool stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/user/11reynard11

white gold 88

There's some great info on this thread. Good reading.

NCguy, I'm impressed with your memory. I grew up in Winston Salem so everything was about NASCAR. My uncle went to school with Richard Childress so one of my memories was sitting in his race car before Earnhardt started driving for him. Later his pit crew spent Saturday nights under our camper awning at Charlotte putting fluids in their bodies just to sweat it all out Sunday before and during the race. Back in the day....

NCGuy68

This seems true for the 84-89 years, but not for the 74-80 seasons except that Banjo did build the chassis for all those years. Roger Penske tapped Jay Signore (a retired NFL player) to become president of IROC Corp. He, along with Les Richter (chairman of the IROC board) acted as de facto 'Tech Directers' for the series and worked closely with the drivers. Penske chose Traco to supply the early engines because of his association with them during his dominating years (68-69) in SCCA Trans Am series with driver Mark Donohue. KATECH (still in business last I heard) supplied/supplies the engines for the very sucessful C5 'Vette race cars so they seem a natural to have built the 84-89 engines.

Actually, Mark Donohue won the inaugural event (1974) driving a Porsche Carrera at Riverside International Speedway in CA.

NCGuy68

Thanks for the compliment white. Actually I'am an 'old fart' compaired to alot of the guys around here. LOL I was very 'tuned-in' to the early IROC races having owned as my first Camaro a 67 SS 350. As you know, Winston is still a hot bed for everything NASCAR and its cool you spent some quality time at Charlotte. Oh man!.....don't get me started on Childress and Earnhardt. Enjoy your car.

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

All this talk about IROC series, the veteran crews, and drivers makes me envy all of you knowledgable guys. I was born in 1981. So all the good stuff that you guy saw on tv while having a cold one, I was outside playing with Hotwheels and Matchbox cars. I wish I would of payed more attention when the series was strong. But who would of known that I was gonna own a unique (86 IROC with the outer high mount brake light) Camaro. In 2002, my dream was to own a Honda Civic. When I got married, my bro n law told me to drive his 87 IROC. 3 months later, my bro n law bought me a Camaro as a wedding gift and the rest is history in the making.

white gold 88

Chevy 86, Nice wedding gift. Better look after that bro in law.

NCguy, I went to several races back in the day. Lots of them I was too young to really appreciate. I still believe that some of Jr's Back in the Day shows have our old camper in them. Especially the Charlotte ones.

As far as this unlimited all out speed thing goes, you have got to remember the costs involved in racing for the tracks. Insurance regs and such. Bobby Allison nearly put an end to NASCAR racing when he tore down the fence. Like window nets things change to protect the drivers and the fans. I can remember at Charlotte the only thing between us and the track was a guard rail about the same as you see on the Interstate highways now. Imagine if it was like that when the Indy cars ran there several years ago.

Sorry, got off track LOL so to speak.

ZZ3 Z28

I thought we were talking about the 3rd generation Camaro's in the IROC series, not the other series' manufacturers. Mark may have won in 1974 but Cale won the first year driving the new 3rd gen Camaros.

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

You dont happen to know the owner of these extra parts do you?

cIaRmOaCrZo

where would i be able to find some of those left over body parts or buy?? i cant find them anywhere!

kandybluez28

Here is an interesting post by someone who apparently owns 3 iroc bodies. Has some info on what happened to the cars. Hope he gets them put together like he plans. I've always loved those cars.
http://s9.zetaboards.com/nythirdgen/topic/7227294/1/

LoudTransAm

I got to watch the IROC series every year from 4 yrs old till it ended! My first race was 1988 but I dont remember the 3rd gen camaros :-( I can only member it being the Daytonas and 4th gens. Was so awesome seeing something other then Nascar fly around the track and a hell of alot better then the Arca series when it was 4 cylinders go around lol. Those pics of the Firebird/Trans Am cars are sick! I want that style spoiler!

NCGuy68

Yeah, I remember the guard rail days. The first time I went to N. Wilksboro, a kid hung a sign on a board counting the laps down.

I remember a while back when the Indy cars ran at Charlotte. A wheel came off (or some kinda part) and killed/injured a spectator in the stands. No more Indy cars after that.

NCGuy68

Ops, I missed that your source was about 3rd gen Iroc only and yes, Cale did win the first 3rd gen Camaro race.

Porsche was only used one year, the first. After that, Penske hooked up with Chevy who was happy to supply the cars to promote the Camaro. The IROC series became so sucessful and popular Chevy introducted RPO B4Z in 1985 and the rest, as they say, is history.

NCGuy68

I'am really hoping that you can locate what you need. That would be awesome! Be forewarned though, if you do find authentic parts have a dump truck full of $$ because they wouldn't be cheap but then again, ya never know.

Since you're in CA, allow me to suggest that you attend the Monterey Motorsports Reunion held at Laguna Seca each year. I've seen films of 3rd gen Iroc/Trans Am type Camaros running there. Buy a pit pass if you need to and talk to the guys that own/drive and wrench on them. Tell them what you're looking for and they might point you in the right direction. Hey, it don't hurt to ask and would be time and money well spent.