|| *Comments on the 2001 Race 1:* View the most recent comment <#17> | Post a comment <#post> 1. HomeDepotKid posted: 10.26.2004 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Late in this race, Eddie Cheever and Dale Earnhardt(in his last IROC race;We miss ya greatly, Dale) collided. Then, Dale bumped around with him after the race. But Cheever and Earnhardt had no grudge. 2. J. Kircher posted: 04.12.2006 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Eddie Cheever Jr. tells one of the better personal stories about Dale Earnhardt following The Intimidator's passing. With a few laps left both were running up front when Earnhardt had a run to the inside and Cheever basically blocked him into the turn 1 grass. Earnhardt slid through the grass and drove up onto the banking, saving the car and seemingly not lifting. After the race was over on the cool-down lap, Cheever said he looked up in the mirror and saw a car coming after him and then he got the nudge that sent him spinning down the backstretch and he heard the crowd reacting and knew for sure who it was. When Cheever drove to pit road he said an IROC official told him "I wouldn't get out if I were you." Cheever thought: Great, I'm going to get my butt kicked in front of all these NASCAR fans. Cheever, on the defensive, got out of the car and then saw this huge throng of media make its way to his car and in the middle of them was Dale Earnhardt. Cheever was more than apologetic, saying he was sorry and he didn't mean to do that. Earnhardt just put his arm around him and said "We're alright, we're alright." Cheever said Earnhardt also told: You better bring your A-game to Talladega (the next IROC race). Since that was said, Cheever said he couldn't wait until then to race him again and sadly the chance never took place. 3. Smith posted: 08.21.2006 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lest we forget that this race ended in a near-dead heat between Jarrett and Rudd. 4. James W. McLaughlin posted: 11.16.2006 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last IROC race for the Intimidator 5. Thomas posted: 02.07.2007 - 8:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eddie Cheever said the thing he regrets the most in his life is not being able to race Dale in the next IROC race at Talladega. 6. Steve posted: 09.22.2007 - 6:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) He regrets that missed opportunity more than failing to win a Formula One race, which he came close to doing for America a few times. He really was looking forward to racing Dale again. 7. Douche Bagolow posted: 02.08.2008 - 11:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Colors: Earnhardt: Green Cheever Jr.: Silver Burton: Rose Goodyear: Aqua Brack: Yellow Dismore: Lime Jarrett: Medium Blue Lazier: Red Stewart: White Rudd: Gold Labonte: Violet Green: Black 8. Brett posted: 05.06.2008 - 2:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Race ended with 2 wide for the win, and 3 wide for 3rd place, one of the better IROC races. 9. Clayton posted: 05.25.2008 - 10:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN use to show IROC races on tape delay all the time and I rememeber watching this race on ESPN about a week after Earnhardt was killed! It was sad/crazy/weird/fun(because the race was great) at the same time!! I didnt know what to feel! 10. Anonymous posted: 03.14.2009 - 11:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1 / Dale Earnhardt/Green 2 / Eddie Cheever Jr./Silver 3 / Jeff Burton/Rose 4 / Scott Goodyear/Aqua 5 / Kenny Brack/Yellow 6 / Mark Dismore/Lime 7 / Dale JarrettMedium /Blue 8 / Buddy Lazier/Red 9 / Tony Stewart/White 10 / Ricky Rudd/Gold 11 / Bobby Labonte/Violet 12 / Jeff Green/Black 11. RaceFanX posted: 03.20.2009 - 2:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First of only two IROC races for IndyCar driver Scott Goodyear 12. Anonymous posted: 12.15.2009 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome Finish; ironic Dale died 2 days later. I want IROC to come back. The racing was awesome! 13. RaceFanX posted: 06.08.2011 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Numbers- Dale Jarrett- #7 Ricky Rudd- #10 Eddie Cheever, Jr.- #2 Kenny Brack- #5 Bobby Labonte- #11 Scott Goodyear- #4 Dale Earnhardt- #1 Mark Dismore- #6 Tony Stewart- #9 Jff Burton- #3 Buddy Lazier- #8 Jeff Green- #12 14. RaceFanX posted: 01.27.2018 - 12:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt won the IROC title in 2000 and used his championship interview after the race to call out all of the CART drivers for declining IROC invitations that year, encouraging them to come back and race him in 2001. While that comment likely wasn't behind it CART would have a representive in the series again for this season as Kenny Brack accepted a position racing in the series, this would be Brack's second and final IROC season after his 1999 campaign during his IRL days. Reigning CART champion Gil de Ferran was also ready to take part in the series until a crash in preseason testing for that series caused him to drop out, he was replaced by NASCAR racer Tony Stewart. de Ferran would ultimately never race in IROC. 15. RaceFanX posted: 10.23.2019 - 9:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR Cup driver Mark Martin won the last IROC race of the 2000 season but wasn't invited back for 2001, making this the first IROC race without him in the field since 1993. Martin only finished eighth in Cup series points in 2000 and thus didn't make the cut for the series; typically the NASCAR drivers invited would be the top-5 in the previous year's point standings with some changes as needed (the reigning IROC champion was always invited no matter how they did in their regular series, as mentioned above sixth place in points Tony Stewart was brought in to replace de Ferran, Bobby Labonte was sixth in points in 2001 but invited for 2002 {I'd put money on that being because Cup champion Jeff Gordon declined}). Martin would return to IROC in 2003. 16. Rich posted: 09.17.2020 - 1:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Scott Sharp and Geoff Bodine were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch was the sole pit road reporter. 17. RaceFanX posted: 11.21.2020 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) IROC was getting pretty NASCAR-centric by this time but there was still top-level open wheel talent willing to give it a shot. Reigning IROC champion Dale Earnhardt called out all the CART drivers for declining their invitations in 2000 but in 2001 former Indy 500 winner Kenny Brack agreed to take on the challenge and accepted his invitation. Brack, who previously represented the IRL in IROC back in 1999, turned in a great run in his return to the stock car series as he led a lap and finished fourth. This was Jeff Green's IROC debut. Green was invited after his dominant driver to the 2000 NASCAR Busch Series championship but had a rough start in the all-star series after he drew the last place starting position and fell out early with a mechanical problem to finish dead last. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: