The ISCARS Dash Touring Series (previously known as the NASCAR Baby Grand National, Goody's Dash Series and IPOWER Dash Series among others) was a stock car racing series created by NASCAR in 1975 that involved V-6 powered cars raced over relatively short distances. After the end of the 2003 season, NASCAR transferred the Goody's Dash series to IPOWER (International Participants Of Winning Edge Racing). In 2004, they ran the IPOWER Dash Series. In January 2005, officials announced the cancellation of the 2005 Dash season due to problems with sponsorship. The International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series (ISCARS) purchased the series allowing the series to continue through 2005 and was operating until 2011.
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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 2010 Honda will make its debut in ISCARS DASH Touring with a 4-cylinder fuel-injected engine that is capable of producing 350 to 375 horsepower with a price that makes ISCARS even more affordable.
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. The involvement of car makes that the tuner crowd is driving is what we want to put on the race track."
In 2008, the series joined forces with the new American Speed Association, headed by Dennis Huth, ASA is now the sanctioning body for the series.
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 Sprint Cup) cars of the era, as paint schemes and numbers often matched those from Grand National cars. 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." 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 Sprint 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.) Now called ISCARS DASH Touring, the series is still a great place for young drivers to gain valuable experience competing against seasoned veterans like Danny Bagwell, Geoff Bodine, Johnny Chapman, Jake and Justin Hobgood all of which have experience at the top levels of NASCAR. 1986 Daytona 500 Champion Geoffrey Bodine joined the circuit in 2008 to compete in the final four events. ISCARS plans to highlight Bodine's involvement as part of an extensive driver development program. Bagwell is well known for a destructive accident in '99 at Daytona when the vehicle hit the wall and tumbled repeatedly. It ended up upside down, the engine was gone, all the wheels were out, the windshield, and the sheetmetal distinagrated. All that was left was a pile of bent safety bars. Also in this series was the only car ever to careen into Lake Lloyd, Dave Stacey in 1994.
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.
List of series names
List of champions
Other former regular drivers
Death of Roy Weaver
On February 8, 2004, the first IPOWER Dash race ended in tragedy when Roy Weaver, a safety worker at Daytona International Speedway, was killed when he was struck by a car driven by Ray Paprota. Weaver was attempting to pick up debris from a race accident at the time. Although inconsequential to the incident, it is noteworthy that Ray Paprota is a paraplegic and was driving with hand controls. For the rest of Speedweeks, flags at Daytona flew at half-staff in Weaver's memory.
Aftermath
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.