Formula 1 race winner and World Endurance champion Mark Webber will race in an American-based short-track oval championship next year, joining the likes of Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
The new Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) is being fronted by a number of ex-NASCAR regulars including Cup Series champion and dirt-racing regular Tony Stewart, with cars designed by legendary crew chief Ray Evernham who rose to prominence alongside NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon.
Webber retired from racing at the end of 2016, and took up a number of TV punditry roles including with Channel 4 in the UK.
The SRX Series announced on Wednesday that the Australian driver was joining its line-up. He is the first non-US based racer to sign.
I’m looking young there, thanks. 🤪👍🏼
— Mark Webber (@AussieGrit) September 9, 2020
SRX has earned a CBS TV deal, and is aiming for a six-race opening season with drivers and crew chiefs rotating to attempt to ensure parity.
The series will race in two-hour TV windows on short-tracks at night, and is set to start with 12 drivers.
Stewart compared the series to the International Race of Champions series which was extremely popular throughout its history in America and worldwide.
Its winners included Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt from its inception in 1974 to 2006.
.@TonyStewart talks about his new racing series: @SRXracing.@MW55 Unfiltered » https://t.co/mOBb7SzUjf pic.twitter.com/jq5fBitZIe
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) August 21, 2020
Willy T Ribbs – who was featured in a recent Netflix documentary called Uppity – will also take part, along with ex-IndyCar racer and pundit Paul Tracy, 2000 NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte, Webber, Kanaan and Castroneves.
