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Firebird Collection Details and Safety Evolution

14:52
35:35
118.7K views

At 14:52 in

Ray Evernham's Massive IROC Racecar Collection is Even BIGGER! (Barn Finds & Test Drive)

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What happens here

Ray returns to the Firebird, stating his intention to keep this car in his collection due to its association with Helio Castroneves, a driver he admires. He explains that IROC shifted to building its own engines during this era, partnering with Flo-Tek's Jon Blewett to ensure performance within the 500 horsepower range, prioritizing engine longevity. He points out details like the brake cooling ducts (removed for superspeedways) and the intricate aerodynamics on the front of the car. He mentions the car's chassis number, #36, highlighting that later Firebirds were highly developed for safety, with fully contained aluminum seats and adjustable brackets for optimal driver safety.

Goal: Discuss specific details of the IROC Firebird and its safety advancements

Tools and materials

  • Flo-Tek — Partnered with IROC to build engines
  • IROC Firebird — Illustrating safety features and engine details

What they say

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for my next trick we're going to see if I can get my butt out of ilio Casta seat and this car but you know the thing again that impresses me as a crew chief mechanic for some just you know how sanitary these cars were on the inside for this time you know it it it certainly got Pensky Mark of of of excellence in culture on it but you know J signori is is an amazing Mentor so many of us that had came out of the J signori School of racing went on to be crew chiefs in NASCAR and indie car and sports car racing um you know he is someone who is responsible for a pretty big footprint um in in auto racing because of the things that he as I said he's he's just one uh students of of the College of J signori and iro have have gone on to win so many major racing championships with the you know the things that he taught us and again you look around the inside of this car and you can just see how sanitary uh these things always were where a lot of the guys building these cars in New Jersey uh modified guys that weren't from Nascar land Jay took guys you know that that were all short track racers drag racers you know whether it was wall Stadium or English town Raceway Park or guys that a deal ships and and turned them into race car mechanics I thought that part was interesting cuz the headquarters was in Tinton Falls New Jersey wasn't it wasn't here it was in tinon Falls New Jersey Jay Jay lived in Manasquan New Jersey and when um The Story Goes as when Mr Pensky asked Jay to come back there were four Partners in Iraq um Roger Pensky less RoR uh you know the legendary football player and and general manager of Riverside uh Mike Phelps who was the the the TV uh man and Jay signor and Jay said look I'll do it do the work and we'll get it going but I want to do it here based in New Jersey close to my home because I don't want to you know Jay loves boats and and he lives right on the Manasquan River and he's like look I don't want to go back to Reading Pennsylvania where it's cold and I can't use my boat huh that's answers a lot of questions I was wonder why it was there what do you plan on doing with this car this car will stay in my collection you know we're going to I'm going to keep the one of my favorite of each series um we plan on selling the others uh hope to get something going on on racetracks with them what's really hard is they've all they've all got so much history you know it's a coin toss but uh you know as I said um I'm a fan of of ilos uh because I've got to…

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