Retired driving vets are returning in 10-race series (cont'd)

Weaver said drivers can ask for minor setup changes -- but the cars will be as identical as possible to bring the skill level into play.

"If a driver comes in and says, 'This thing's pushing,' we'll fix it," he said. "But they'll need to tell us what to do. And there's only a couple of things that we're going to be able to adjust because we don't want them to be major changes. Tire pressure, wedge in, wedge out, something like that."

Old School Racing unveiled the first car at the Performance Racing Industry trade show earlier this month in Orlando, Fla.

"[I'm shocked] by the overwhelming interest by everyone that even finds out about that," Weaver said. "We're averaging 10,000 hits a day on our Web site. The word is just getting out there and we haven't done any advertising, per se."

Weaver said when the idea was first bandied about, he was surprised at the number of veteran drivers who came forward, including David Pearson, Harry Gant, Geoffrey Bodine and Dave Marcis. More than two dozen drivers are listed on the series Web site as participants.

"We've signed a letter of commitment, basically," Weaver said. "It's not a legal, binding contract by any means, but what it's done is showed them all the rules of the series and given them an idea of what they're signing up for.

"Inclusive of that is the schedule. The maximum is six races that they can compete in, in any one given year. There are a couple of drivers there on verbal commitments, but it's just a matter of time to be able to get in front of them and have them sign."

The biggest issue facing Old School Racing is coming up with the cash to cover the overhead. However, Weaver said the total cost of the series is less than running one car for the entire Nationwide Tour.

"We have a very small budget, comparatively, when you look at racing overall," Weaver said. "But right now, no one knows who we are. We really waited to start marketing because we wanted to get the drivers first.

"It's coming out of our own pockets. Yeah, it's scary but we've had so many people contact us as investors and say, 'This is a hell of an idea. Why hasn't someone thought of this before?' and want in. Well, we're not letting them in unless we have to."

Weaver expects interest from television as the series moves forward.

"There are a couple of different avenues we could pursue here," he said. "We could have a television company come in and say, 'We want this and we'll produce it.' Or we can produce it ourselves and then sell it to them. We've hired somebody that has experience in production of NASCAR races. So we're going to trust their judgment."

For more on the Old Racing School Champions Tour, click here.