International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series

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The International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series (ISCARS) (previously known as the NASCAR Baby Grand National, Goody's Dash Series and IPOWER Dash Series among others) is a stock car racing series created by NASCAR in 1975 that involved V-6 powered cars raced over relatively short distances. NASCAR sold the Goody's Dash series to new owner Brdaytona, who resold the naming rights, which lead to the series being renamed to IPOWER Dash Series. In January of 2005, officials announced the cancellation of the 2005 Dash season due to problems with sponsorship. ISCARS purchased the series allowing the series to continue through 2005 and is still operating today.

1 Current series
2 History of NASCAR sanctioned series
3 List of serie's names
4 List of champions
5 Other former regular drivers
6 Death of Roy Weaver
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Current series

Under current ownership, led by Randy Claypoole, ISCARS has adopted new engine rules. The series started as the NASCAR-sanctioned Baby Grand National as a four-cylinder series before adopting six-cylinder engines and full-size tires in 1998 (as NASCAR had phased out six-cylinder engines in the Busch Series, and the series initially used tires smaller than their bigger counterparts), and for 2007 will adopt a 5.1-liter (310 cubic inch) V8 engine formula, mainly to control costs of engines, which Claypoole hopes will cut costs.

Claypoole noted, "While the consumer currently deals with high gas prices, the rage with small sporty cars has a lot more to do with fad than fuel mileage. Today, there is a vast demographic interest in owning sport compacts."

"The after market is a multi-billion dollar industry that is thriving and most interested in sport compacts. Popular opinion is that the fans will be excited to see sport compacts with a bigger engine. After all, this is racing."

[edit] History of NASCAR sanctioned series

The unofficial start of the series was in 1973 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. A group of drivers began racing on a road course owned by former NASCAR Cup owner Bill Ellis. Ellis decided not to continue after a few races. The drivers decided to format an association called the Baby Grand National Racing Association, Inc. (BGNRA), and appointed Charlie Triplett as president. Triplett says the name stemmed from the cars' resemblance to the Grand National (now NEXTEL Cup) cars of the era, as paint schemes and numbers often matched those from Grand National cars. ^[1] The series was originally a touring series of 4 cylinder compact sedan cars. The slogan for the series was "The Poor Man's Way to Race." ^[1] The founder turned to NASCAR to begin sanctioning the series in 1975. The series flourished with the relatively inexpensive cars and motors. It was not uncommon for forty drivers to enter an event. Five time champion Dean Combs used a Datsun 200 SX in the 1980 season, and became the first NASCAR driver to 'regularly' compete in a foreign-made car. Contrary to popular belief, foreign cars had competed in NASCAR competition in the early days of the sanctioning body; indeed, a Jaguar won a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the Grand National division (predecessor to the modern NEXTEL Cup Series) at a road course in Linden, New Jersey in 1954, according to commentator Mike Joy, and the last foreign-made car to compete in a NASCAR-sanctioned event was an MG at one Grand National race in 1963 (before Toyota entered the Nextel Cup Series at the beginning of the 2007 season.)

^[2]

NASCAR significantly changed the dynamics of the series in the early 1980s. NASCAR mandated using the Iron Duke motor (manufactured by Pontiac), changing the cost for a motor from approximately $800 to $22,000. Pontiac provided motors to five or six teams. The much greater expense led to only ten to twelve teams competing in events. NASCAR changed from a 4 cylinder to a V-6 motor in 1998, but still allowed teams to use either 4 or 6 cylinder engines from that point on. Most teams elected to use the V6 engines.

[edit] List of serie's names

1973 The Baby Grand National Racing Association
1975 The Baby Grand Series
1980 NASCAR International Sedan Series
1983 Darlington Dash Series
1985 Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series
1990 NASCAR Dash Series
1992 Goody's Dash Series
2003 IPOWER Dash Series
2005 International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series

[edit] List of champions

2006 Eric Wilson
2005 Wade Day
2004 Johnny Chapman
2003 Robert Huffman ^[3]
2002 Jake Hobgood ^[4]
2001 Cam Strader
2000 Robert Huffman
1999 Robert Huffman
1998 Robert Huffman
1997 Mike Swaim, Jr.
1996 Lyndon Amick
1995 David Hutto
1994 Will Hobgood
1993 Rodney Orr
1992 Mickey York
1991 Johnny Chapman
1990 Robert Huffman
1989 Gary Wade Finley
1988 Larry Caudill
1987 Larry Caudill
1986 Hut Stricklin
1985 Mike Swaim
1984 Mike Swaim
1983 Michael Waltrip
1982 Larry Hoopaugh
1981 Dean Combs
1980 Dean Combs
1979 Larry Hoopaugh
1978 Larry Hoopaugh
1977 Dean Combs
1976 Dean Combs
1975 Dean Combs

[edit] Other former regular drivers

Andy Belmont, a three-time winner
Rob Moroso, a six-time winner
Phil Parsons, a five-time winner
Larry Pearson, a five-time winner
Robert Pressley, a three-time winner

[edit] Death of Roy Weaver

On February 8, 2004, the first iPOWER Dash race under Brdaytona ownership ended in tragedy when Roy Weaver, a safety worker at Daytona International Speedway, was killed when he was run over by a car driven by Ray Paprota. Weaver was attempting to pick up debris from a race accident at the time. For the rest of Speedweeks, flags at Daytona flew at half staff in Weaver's memory.

In 2005, Weaver's widow and three children competed on The Amazing Race: Family Edition, a reality television competition show on CBS. Two of the challenges were directly related to racing. The family finished in third place.

The compact cars never raced at Daytona again.