Evernham raising funds with bike and auto show (cont'd)

"I hired Aimee Giroux about a year ago to handle our charity," he said with a smile. "The bottom line is, it's important that we find the time no matter what. There's just a certain amount of time in your life that has to be dedicated to helping other people, or paying back some of the fortune that you were allowed to have.

"We lead a pretty good life, so you have to dedicate some of that back to helping other people."

Sign of the times

Unilever has found business success with the Ultimate Chargers program and the unique sponsorship arrangement with Gillet Evernham Motorsports.

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Evernham joins many of the top team owners and drivers in his charity work, and there's a definite spirit of cooperation among them, he said.

"We trade a lot of stuff," he said. "You have to know that all the guys are busy, and that's why we wanted to do something where everybody didn't have to show up. They can just send their cars. The demands on people's time are pretty tough. Our charity stuff isn't as big as some of the others, but I thought that guys could easily send a car or motorcycle and help support it."

Racing for a Reason, like Evernham said, was founded to support research into cancer, and "80 percent of the money goes directly to the organizations.

"We help a lot of small, different groups, but mostly it's for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America, blood-related cancers," he said. "We also support a lot of local groups, like high schools, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. We helped build some schools and that sort of thing."

It's the desire to give back that differentiates NASCAR from other professional sports, he said.

"That's something that's always impressed me about NASCAR people," he mused. "That's something I'm happy to be associated with because of that. You do find more people from the NASCAR side who are working hard at trying to do things for charity."

There's also that built-in networking that allows young up-and-comers access to top levels, simply by virtue of how the sport thinks, collectively.

"Motorsports is like that," Evernham said. "Networking is the same in any business, but the one thing about motorsports business that I appreciate is, most people who have gotten to the top positions have worked real hard to get there, and they don't forget that. They look back and realize that there were other people who sacrificed for them, so they are more apt to lend a hand to someone coming up."

The event gears up from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. Event festivities will include vehicle displays, appearances by numerous NASCAR celebrities, opportunities for photos with top drivers, a silent auction for autographed memorabilia, race tickets, a Gillett Evernham Motorsports Experience, and a custom painted trash can by Perewitz, a legendary bike builder.

A number of NASCAR drivers and celebrities will appear at the Custom Bike and Auto Show on Wednesday afternoon and evening, including Evernham, Kahne, Biffle, Sadler, Helton, Kyle Petty and Kyle Busch. Perewitz also will appear.

A complete schedule of events is available at http://www.racingforareason.org/event/. Event tickets may be purchased ($5 in advance, $10 day of show, children 12 and under free) at the box office at the Cabarrus Arena or by calling (704) 920-3976. Visit www.cabarrusarena.com for directions.