The IROC Years

THE IROC YEARS

The International Race of Champions, or IROC, was conceived in 1973 as a way to answer one simple question: who is the best driver in the world? Some called it an All-Star Game, others referred to it as The Ultimate Test of Driving Skill – but to PolyDyn, we saw it a little differently. We believe it was a Proving Ground for some of the best technology ever designed to enhance the performance of automobile engines.

From 1973 to 2005, racing fans witnessed some of the most exciting displays from the best drivers in the world. Each year 12 of the top drivers, from all different disciplines of racing, were given identically prepared IROC race cars. All of the cars, rules, elements and variables were designed to make sure that each driver was on the same playing field – so that the best driver could be measured like never before. No pit stops, no custom set-up, no qualifying – just driver performance in its purest form.

The list of winners reads like a who’s who in auto racing. Just to name a few – A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Mark Martin, Cale Yarborough, Mario Andretti, Bobby Labonte, Bobby Allison, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Davey Allison, Ken Harvick and many more.

Many attribute the concept of this 100-mile race to Roger Penske. He is one of the most important figures in racing history – both as a race car driver and a racing team owner. IROC started out on road courses and eventually moved toward the NASCAR arenas.

In the beginning, the standard cars supplied to the racers were all Porsches. Then they moved to Cameros. In the mid 80s, they started running Dodge Avengers. That’s when PolyDyn became involved. There weren’t many “off the shelf” parts available for the Chrysler engine at the time that could stand up to the rigors of the IROC race – running the motor wide open for 100 miles was very taxing on the car parts, especially the engine. The horsepower required at those speeds was not something you could get from the factory.

Walt Smolinski of IROC contacted a number of engine bearing manufacturers searching for a supplier who could supply engine bearings that would fit the difficult needs of the IROC engines. Partnering with Engine Tech, PolyDyn introduced its’ unique and proprietary coatings capabilities, delivering on a great opportunity to become a major provider of coatings for the IROC Series. It truly was the proving ground for many of the products and services PolyDyn offers today.

In fact, one of A.J. Foyt’s top machinists, George Billetdeaux, is currently on staff at PolyDyn – and oversees many of the products offered to PolyDyn customers – bringing much of what he learned at A. J. Foyt Engine Corp. and with the successful and talented A.J. Foyt teams. George was an important part of the team that helped A.J. Foyt win his 4th Indy 500 race in 1977.

While racing fans got to experience most of their thrill watching the Indy 500 race, the employees at PolyDyn, looking at the parts after the race brought just as much excitement. We were able to see the condition of all of the engine parts – after they were pushed to the max. And race after race, we would confirm that what we were doing was working. That’s really where our Performance Coatings [link to coatings page] division was born.

If you starve a race engine bearing from lubrication for as little as .2 or .3 seconds, the bearing will heat up very rapidly, score and stick to the crank shaft – once that happens, it will spin and tear up the crankshaft, rods and the block. Our coatings incorporate a special polymer that actually attracts oil to the bearing and won’t let go. So if there is a starvation period, the coating turns into a lubricant – protecting engine parts, and serving as a nice back-up system.

We can’t claim that our coatings, or our TX7 performance motor oil additives ever took the wheel and won an IROC race against the best drivers in the world. But we remain confident that our people, and technology, were a real part in allowing those drivers to perform their best – without worrying that their engine would fail due to lubrication, or engine failure.

So the next time you are looking for the ultimate performance with your performance engine – or for a motor oil additive that allows your engine to perform its best in the toughest of environments – you can feel confident that PolyDyn has delivered in some of the most demanding conditions in the world – on the big stage at IROC.