Conversation: R. Evernham

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon made a mark in the sport through the 1990s which established them as one of the best crew chief/driver combinations of all time.

After that, Evernham made the move to team ownership as Dodge's flagship program in its return to Cup racing in 2001.

Evernham now has taken the latest step in his career progression, a deal through which he and businessman George Gillett Jr. have formed a partnership to create Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

The new organization's president and CEO, Evernham discusses the partnership and its impact on the race team and its prospects for the future, among other topics.

Ray Evernham's courtship of George Gillett was really about Evernham attempting to apply his best talents to where they are needed most within his organization.

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Q: What are the details of your Aug. 6 announcement?

Ray Evernham: It's something we've been working on for quite some time with the Gillett family. We've been really, really close and worked through the weekend and got it done. It will allow us to go forward and continue to grow the company in a way that we want to.

A partnership with Gillett brings a lot of things for Evernham Motorsports in that it will allow me to concentrate a little bit more on the competition side but it also allows us to be in touch with other professional sports and sports marketing programs and some entertainment and recreational things across the country, across the world that we would never had access to.

Q: Is it hard for you to let go of some of the ownership?

Evernham: You always have mixed emotions when you build something from the ground up. But you also have to look to what you want to accomplish. As the sport changes, the job gets bigger.

I was saying to somebody the other day that all of a sudden you're the world champion plate spinner and it goes from spinning 10 plates to spinning 20 plates. Sometimes you've got to have a little bit of help. My goal is to win the championship. The direction the sport has grown, there's no way I was going to be able to accomplish that on my own.

You'll see in the future that there are very few teams that are owned by a single person. It was a perfect opportunity because George does the things that I need someone else to do. He can open doors for the company that I just couldn't open. It will allow me to focus on the competition side, which he doesn't do.

Q: Will you make all of the racing decisions?

Evernham: We're still trying to work through those things. Right now, nothing's changed. I'm pretty much the CEO of the company and I'm still making a lot of the business decisions. I'm hoping to come up with a system that we decide what George is going to support.

I'm always going to have a pretty big vote in whatever happens, whether it's business or competition. But, I really want to hand off some of the day-to-day business stuff to other people. It's going to be a transition because I've done it all for so long.

There's going to be some good support there but I've still got to bring them up to speed. I'm going to focus as much time as I can on building our new cars and making sure our engines are going in the right direction with this new Dodge R-6 engine and the COT program is on track.

It's certainly not going to cut down on any of the time that I'm spending but eventually it will be bigger as I get some new people trained.

Q: Are mergers such as yours causing older drivers to be pushed aside in favor of the younger guys?

Evernham: I don't think that's got anything to do with the mergers -- I think that's just the way it's going. I've said for years that this sport, the bigger it gets, the more money that comes into it, you're going to see the driver age coming down. It's going to get more and more like Formula One.

There's not going to be guys here anymore at 45 or 46 years of age that are here just because they can make the races. As the cars become more technical and they get more alike, you don't need that information base of being able to go around a racetrack for the past 20 years.

You're going to see that average age coming down. You're going to see the average age of drivers, crew chiefs, crew members coming down because you're not going to stay in this sport for 20 years racing 38 or 40 weekends a year. It just can't happen.

Q: Kyle Busch spoke with you about coming to your race team, but he's announcing other plans. What does that mean for you?

Evernham: We're still business as usual. Again, there's no sense in adding a fourth car until you know you can perform well with it. We're going to focus on making the three that we have, perform.

I hate that we didn't get Kyle, but our performance isn't where it needs to be so I certainly understand why we didn't get a driver, but maybe made a new friend. I've also got a lot of respect for Kyle and learned a lot about him that I hope a lot of other people will learn -- that he's really a good kid and very mature and professional for 22 years old.

Q: What's your focus with Scott Riggs' No. 10 car, now?

Evernham: It's all about points. We've got to get it back up in points. We appreciate Scott being willing to step aside [at Watkins Glen] to maybe having a shot at Patrick maybe finishing a little bit better on the road course than Scott. We'll have Scott certainly right back in there at Michigan.

Our goal is to get that thing in the top 35 in points. We've got to keep building it stronger and stronger. Right now it was the best thing for all of us to do, looking at Scott's history of qualifying and finishing [at Watkins Glen] was to put a road racer in there. Patrick did a great job in Montreal. With George's Montreal connection it was kind of a no-brainer.

Q: Do you still need to sign Scott's contract?

Evernham: Scott and I are still talking. We've got some options and we've not closed anything yet. I want Scott to be a part of our program next year. We've got to bring up overall performance as a big part that's on my shoulders. He can help us do that. As the thing grows, I want Scott to be part of it.

Q: Are you a hockey fan, as well?

Evernham: It's not that I'm not a hockey fan but I don't really follow a lot of professional sports. All I ever really followed is racing. I'm starting to learn a little bit about hockey. I've been to the Bell Centre now and been to a Canadiens game. The one thing you do learn is that hockey players are much bigger and in much better shape than you think they are.

Q: Are you any closer to announcing sponsors for next season?

Evernham: Not closer. It's like the Gillett deal; there are just so many things. Obviously we're talking to some people. We'd like things to happen. There are a lot of things that have to fall into line perfectly for something to happen.

Without trying to dance around like I was on the George deal, when it's the hands and going back and forth you never know if there's an insurmountable hurdle or not. Right now it still looks like we're shooting for the next two or three weeks to be able to talk about where we're headed with sponsorship.

But you don't know if that could turn into five or six weeks with one swipe of the pen. I think that's on both ends. It has to work out perfectly --- it has to be a good deal for everybody on both ends.

Q: How is your organization coming along with the Car of Tomorrow?

Evernham: I think it will even things out. I think it will eventually stop us from spending more money. I think we started out good with it but got spread a little bit thin. I think we've got a good plan right now to go get us competitive going forward.

Right now, you hate to go 'This year's kind of shot' but we're going to be rebuilding and moving a lot of people around this year. We're building a bunch of new COTs and a bunch of new engines and we're going to take a different path than we've been on. The one good thing about the COT is that once your figure one out you can build them all the same.

Q: How much does it hurt a driver like Jeff Gordon to have his crew chief absent, as Steve Letarte was for the last six races?

Evernham: It doesn't look like it's bothering him a lot. That's one good thing about Jeff -- he can carry the deal on his own. The Hendrick organization has a ton of depth, but when you've got a driver that's as good as Jeff he can guide a young crew chief to make the right decisions. That's invaluable to a guy. It always was to me.

There are some really good drivers in the garage area, but not a lot of them can really help you get that car set up and Jeff Gordon was always one of the best at that. There are some others that I certainly haven't worked with. I'm sure that Tony [Stewart] is, and there some good guys like Kurt and Kyle Busch, guys that can really help you get the car set up right. I think Jeff can really help a young crew chief.

Q: How did you feel about Kasey Kahne running at Knoxville?

Evernham: I don't always feel super about him being in a Sprint Car but he's a racer. We've not had a great year and if it helps his attitude and helps him do some things, it's just not fair to keep a guy from doing what he wants.

I know you have responsibility to sponsors and know that you have responsibilities but he's a racer. Those are the things that got him here. This year we haven't given him a lot to cheer about so hopefully that made him happy.

Q: Who might be a favorite going into the Chase for the Nextel Cup?

Evernham: That Chase really throws a good thing into the mix. If you look historically, there's people who have really turned it on at the end of the year and other guys in the middle of the year. Jeff [Gordon] seems to be on his game and when Jeff's on his game he's tough to beat.

Tony's [Stewart] strong and who knows? I have to tell you that I haven't really looked that much at the people up there because we've been looking so hard at our own problems. If my guys can't win it, then I'd love to see Jeff win his fifth.

Q: What do you think about the Chase format?

Evernham: It's no different than the way it used to be with people winning the championship without winning a race. You know what the points system is going in and you know what the rules are going in and that's just the way it is now, the same as it was under the other points system. You just live with it.

There was some value to the old points system and there's some value to the new points system. I think the new points system in the Chase does add excitement at the end of the year. Everybody knows that TV ratings have to be up because that's what drives the real estate up on these cars. If the real estate is not up on these cars, then we can't afford to do it anyway.

Q: Did you take anything away from last year's Chase?

Evernham: That seems like so long ago. We thought we had learned enough. We thought we were going into this year better than we were last year. We tested harder, we worked on the proper things, we thought we had been prepared. This year we're not even close to making the Chase, we're just trying to get back up to able to run consistently in the top 10 and the top five.