Irv Hoerr (born November 14, 1946) is an American racing driver from

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Centr ...

. He is primarily known for racing in several sports car racing series. Hoerr was the 1992 IMSA GTO champion. He moved up to the GTS-1 class winning the 1995 and 1996 titles. Hoerr made seven

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

starts and had two Top 10 finishes.

Racing career

Sports car racing

Hoerr raced for

Rocketsports Racing Rocketsports Racing was a motor racing team based in East Lansing, Michigan in the United States. Team history Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004 ...

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(IMSA). He won the 1992 GTO class championship in an Oldsmobile Cutlass. He moved to the GTS class winning the 1995 and 1996 titles. Hoerr moved to a part-time schedule after the 1996 season and he continued to make occasional starts until 2002. He ended with seven championships, six in four IMSA divisions and another in the Latin America GT series.

NASCAR

Hoerr competed primarily as a

road course ringer In NASCAR, a road course ringer, also known as road course specialist, road course expert, or a road runner, is a non-NASCAR driver who is hired by a NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series team to race specifically on road courses. , current ...

. He made his first NASCAR start in the final race at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...

in the 1987 Winston Western 500. After not competing in a NASCAR race for a couple seasons, he entered two events in 1990. Hoerr's best NASCAR finish, an 8th place result, happened at

Sears Point Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southe ...

; later that season he claimed his only other Top 10 finish when he race to 10th at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

. Hoerr made his first attempt at an oval track at

North Wilkesboro Speedway North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill fr ...

in 1991 but he failed to make the field. A rear end failed caused him to end up with 36th place finish at Sears Point later that season. Hoerr made his first non-road course at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway), also known as ''The Tricky Triangle'', is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is the site of three NASCAR national series races and an ARCA M ...

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instead rounded into s ...

which races similar to a road course); he finished 19th. His last NASCAR start of the season happened at Watkins Glen; it ended after eight laps with engine problems. Hoerr made his last NASCAR start in 1992 at Sears Point; he finished 41st with engine problems.

Honors

*He was named the Motorweek Road Race Driver of the Year in 1986. *He was also named the Norelco Cup Driver of the Year in 1989. *The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association named him to their All-America Racing Team in 1992 and 1995. *Hoerr was named to the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Hoerr operates Hoerr Racing Products in Peoria along with his brother Scott Hoerr.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

References

External links

Hoerr Racing Products
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoerr, Irv 1946 births Living people NASCAR drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Sportspeople from Peoria, Illinois Racing drivers from Illinois