I've been hung up on watching old iroc races for the past few days, and that got me to wondering what oil the iroc series used in their cars. I haven't been able to find anything pertaining to that, despite finding info on the different chassis, brake and engine combos used throughout the series' tenure.
What oil did iroc use?
- Thread starter Red91
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The early cars had "Union 76" advertising on them, so probably something from Unocal. Not sure about later years.
Since the cars were more about parity than ultimate performance, perhaps it was not a great platform for advertising oil?
Since the cars were more about parity than ultimate performance, perhaps it was not a great platform for advertising oil?
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I'm just wondering about grade and type. Brand is secondary.
My guess is Cam2 20w50. After IROC converted to Camaros, they were all prepared by Penske Racing, and they were using Cam2 in the mid-late 70's.
I remember the seeing the first season with Camaros, and the black number 7 won all of them. It must have been something special.
I remember the seeing the first season with Camaros, and the black number 7 won all of them. It must have been something special.
Originally Posted by nascarnation
The early cars had "Union 76" advertising on them, so probably something from Unocal.
Normally, a sponsorship wouldn't always mean a team actually used that product but in the case of IROC, there weren't unique teams, engines, chassis, etc, as I recall. The cars were built identical and maintained by non-team related crews/mechanics, is that right ? If that's the case, they might all use the same Unocal oil. Then again, Union 76 really wouldn't care so long as viewers thought that's what was being used.
The early cars had "Union 76" advertising on them, so probably something from Unocal.
Normally, a sponsorship wouldn't always mean a team actually used that product but in the case of IROC, there weren't unique teams, engines, chassis, etc, as I recall. The cars were built identical and maintained by non-team related crews/mechanics, is that right ? If that's the case, they might all use the same Unocal oil. Then again, Union 76 really wouldn't care so long as viewers thought that's what was being used.
That's probably a good guess for the 70's, but I wonder about the eighties and nineties. I've been watching some old races from the late nineties up til 06(last season) and best I recall none of the cars minimal sponsors were oil companies. Considering that a large portion of those races were run at sizeable tracks at wot, I wonder if they use 20W-50, or went with a straight weight like 40 or 50?
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Yes, the cars were set up by iroc and it's test drivers, so no one had an advantage other than skill and driving style.
Originally Posted by Red91
I'm just wondering about grade and type. Brand is secondary.
Jay Signore (who headed up the program for Penske) is still alive and lives in NJ. You might be able to get a hold of him.
The guys from TRACO who did the motors back in the 70s have passed away.
I'm just wondering about grade and type. Brand is secondary.
Jay Signore (who headed up the program for Penske) is still alive and lives in NJ. You might be able to get a hold of him.
The guys from TRACO who did the motors back in the 70s have passed away.
I actually hadn't thought of that, but I somewhat doubt he'd want to be bothered about it. I don't know. I've been watching a lot of the races with the Firebirds. In the last season, in which Tony Stewart won the championship, he offered to return the purse(1m) if iroc would come to eldora. I would love to see that. They ran the Daytona road course in 06, which was a welcome break from the oval speedways.
Did the series switch from factory based chassis/bodies (similar to old school Trans Am series cars) to NASCAR-like tube frames/fabricated bodies about the same time that SCCA Trans Am did??
Late seventies I believe.
Not in IROC, but in the CanAm series we ran straight 50w Castrol in the 510 Chevys- multi vis oils weren't around then.
Yeah I'm curious too. Also, was "we" an individual team or the series as a whole?
Originally Posted by Red91
Yeah I'm curious too. Also, was "we" an individual team or the series as a whole?
In our car we ran castrol 50w, others various oils - no muti vis & there wasn't the oil hysteria then , engines usually suffered bad head gaskets if anything.
Yeah I'm curious too. Also, was "we" an individual team or the series as a whole?
In our car we ran castrol 50w, others various oils - no muti vis & there wasn't the oil hysteria then , engines usually suffered bad head gaskets if anything.
Neat info. Thanks.
It really wasn't all that important, we used Castrol because it was furnished, but Valvoline would have been fine too.
The oiling system on the 510 aluminum big blocks with a dry sump was excellent, and as stated before there was no oil hysteria
straight 50w worked well.
The oiling system on the 510 aluminum big blocks with a dry sump was excellent, and as stated before there was no oil hysteria
straight 50w worked well.
Originally Posted by 928
It really wasn't all that important, we used Castrol because it was furnished, but Valvoline would have been fine too.
The oiling system on the 510 aluminum big blocks with a dry sump was excellent, and as stated before there was no oil hysteria
straight 50w worked well.
I would have loved to see those beastly power plants installed into formula machines, a la Formula 5000!
It really wasn't all that important, we used Castrol because it was furnished, but Valvoline would have been fine too.
The oiling system on the 510 aluminum big blocks with a dry sump was excellent, and as stated before there was no oil hysteria
straight 50w worked well.
I would have loved to see those beastly power plants installed into formula machines, a la Formula 5000!
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