Tony Stewart is starting his own auto racing circuit, Superstar Racing Experience, with a short track focus, and it already has a broadcasting deal set up with CBS.
As the Sports Business Journal reported Monday, Stewart teamed up with fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham to create the new series, also known as SRX, which will feature six short-track races starting in the summer of 2021.
And SRX and CBS have a multi-year deal that includes airing the Saturday night races next year.
The current plan for SRX is to have 12 drivers, including Stewart, to compete at tracks around the country, including possibly Eldora Speedway, the Ohio dirt track owned by Stewart, the Associated Press reported Monday. Other possible tracks include Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, Terre Haute Action Track in Indiana and Florida’s Five Flags Speedway and New Smyrna Speedway.
Although SRX didn’t comment on who exactly could be competing next year, it anticipates popular active and retired drivers and crew chiefs to participate, per the SBJ. And the most intriguing part is that each driver will be randomly paired with a crew chief.
Stewart, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR, compared SRX to the now-defunct IROC (International Race of Champions) Series, which ran from 1974 until 2006, when he was the last champion. Other participants in that series included Dale Earnhardt, Mario Andretti, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.
“I always liked the IROC Series back in the day and even before I was old enough to be a professional race car driver, I looked at that as the cream of the crop,” Stewart told the AP. “When I got invited to run IROC, it was a huge honor. You were part of an elite group of drivers that got the opportunity to race each other. I always took that really seriously.
“When the series went away, I think it left a big hole. It didn’t needed to be filled then, but we have an opening now that gives an opportunity for guys like myself and a lot of the guys who will be invited who can still drive race cars, still have the ability, still want to race, to come back. Hopefully they will feel the way I did, like it’s a cool opportunity to take seriously and be looked up to as the best out there.”
They’re also aiming for 90-minute races without pit stops to fit nicely in two-hour, primetime TV windows, one of several contrasts to NASCAR.
Evernham — Jeff Gordon’s crew chief in the 1990s and a three-time Cup Series champion — was behind the idea for the new circuit, the AP reported, and he will design the uniformed cars so drivers are competing in the same equipment. The idea is to emphasize drivers’ talents, rather than engineering or technological advancements.
As Evernham told The Associated Press, he’s looking to build a full-body car that relies on existing safety advances, fits within a budget and “is a car that the racing public can relate to, as well.” He’s had talks with at least one tire maker and is seeking manufacturer support.
“We envision a hybrid of all different series — we don’t see it looking like a crazy dunebuggyish type car,” Evernham told the AP. “To me, it’s got to be a really cool looking car that also puts it back in the drivers hands, mechanically-wide and allows it to be more affected by the pedals.”
Stewart and Evernham combine with former NASCAR COO George Pyne and Sandy Montag, the CEO of The Montag Group, a talent management company, as the four board members and sole backers of SRX, the SBJ reported.
[jwplayer turmNX2D-q2aasYxh]
[vertical-gallery id=931059]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]