A retired NASCAR competitor, he is perhaps best remembered for his comeback after a serious head injury suffered from a crash during practice at Michigan International Speedway in 1994 that left him with only a 10% chance of survival.

In 1975, Irvan moved up to stock cars at the age of 16 at Stockton 99 Speedway and was victorious in his first race on asphalt in a semi-main event.

During this time, he lost his best friend, Tim Williamson, in a racing accident at Riverside, several months before he was slated to test in the Winston Cup.

In 1982, Irvan left California with $700 in his pocket and everything he owned loaded into his pickup truck and a homemade trailer, and he headed east to North Carolina.

[1] Before long, Irvan made his Winston Cup debut, on September 13, 1987, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway driving the No.

True Cure failed to fulfill its financial obligations, and after three races, Irvan was told he could seek other opportunities.

After starting 30th in his first race for the new team (Atlanta in March), Irvan charged to the front and grabbed a third-place finish, the first Top 5 of his career.

Four years earlier, Irvan watched the 500 on a borrowed black and white TV while washing cars, one of several jobs he worked to support both his family and his struggling career.

Irvan continued his tenure with Morgan-McClure in 1993, adding poles at Dover in June and Daytona in July and a victory at Talladega in May.

On July 12, 1993, Irvan experienced a significant personal loss when his friend, Davey Allison, died from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash outside of Talladega.

After the night race at Bristol in August, Irvan was released from his duties driving the #4 and took over the #28 at the Southern 500 at Darlington the next week, where he started 10th and finished fifth.

Entering the GM Goodwrench Dealer 400 at Michigan on August 21, Irvan was in a close battle with Dale Earnhardt as the class of the field.

One of the other members of the crew discovered that Irvan had crashed, and McReynolds and several others commandeered the pace car to take a ride over to the scene.

Track medical staff tended to Irvan, with a local trauma doctor offering assistance by performing an emergency tracheotomy to help him breathe.

Irvan was then airlifted to Saint Joseph's Hospital in nearby Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was diagnosed with a basilar skull fracture[3] and lung injuries and given only a 10% chance of surviving the night.

A few weeks following the transfer, Irvan appeared and addressed the fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway prior to the start of the Mello Yello 500.

Throughout the first eight months of 1995, Irvan remained focused on returning to Winston Cup racing and did broadcast work for TNN while recovering.

Six laps after the green flag was dropped, Irvan passed pole sitter Mike Skinner for the lead.

As the season progressed, Irvan won the pole position for the spring race at Talladega, then scored victories at New Hampshire and Richmond.

Irvan would be involved in an altercation in Charlotte during Easter weekend where he refused to dance with a female patron and escalated into a fight in the parking lot.

[4] At the end of the year, Irvan was let go by Robert Yates Racing and replaced by rookie driver Kenny Irwin, Jr.

During the year he scored 11 top-10 finishes with three pole positions despite missing the final three races while recovering from injuries suffered at Talladega in October.

Irvan was again airlifted from the track and was diagnosed with a mild head injury and a bruised lung as a result of the accident.

Two weeks later, on September 3, 1999, surrounded by his wife and two children, Irvan announced his retirement from driving at a tearful press conference in Darlington, South Carolina.

While he would fully recover before the end of the 1999 season, the reasoning for his retirement was to prevent future incidents while he had a family to support.

The team's next and most famous driver was sports-car racer Boris Said, who drove the #44 Irvan-Simo Racing truck sponsored by Federated Auto Parts.

The team also fielded a part-time Cup effort with Said in 1999, where Said qualified 2nd at Watkins Glen, led 9 laps, but retired with a blown engine.

Afterwards, Irvan announced he was planning to start a Cup team with Mark Simo with sponsorship from Federated Auto Parts, but it never materialized.

Irvan attended five NASCAR races in 2006, promoting a foundation that he formed called Race2safety as an advocate for head-injury awareness.

According to Irvan on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media podcast in September 2020, he and his wife currently live in Ocala, Florida.