Evernham wants to get back to racing side of sport

CONCORD, N.C. -- It's almost as if Ray Evernham is an older version of Marty McFly and George Gillett is his potential Dr. Emmett Brown, to borrow a couple of characters from the old Back to the Future movie.

In other words, to get to a more profitable and productive future, Evernham, owner of Evernham Motorsports, believes that he has to make a return to his past. And he's hoping potential business partner Gillett can provide him with the resources to get there.

"What I really want is a business partner who can make some of those business-to-business connections, take some of business responsibility off of me, and let me worry about things like seven-post [shakers] and working on the cars. That's what I'm good at -- and for the past two or three years, I have been pulled far off of the car stuff to do business stuff," Evernham said.

For the record, the seven-post shaker is the latest hot technological toy that the top NASCAR teams utilize to analyze mountains of simulation data. They cost between $1.5 million and $2 million, and then it takes a year or more before teams get them up and running to where they can actually apply what they learn and translate it into better results at racetracks.

Hendrick Motorsports has one. So does Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and even upstart but apparently deep-pocketed Ginn Racing.

Evernham Motorsports does not. Like most of the teams struggling to keep up with the aforementioned NASCAR powerhouses, Evernham has to fork out around $15,000 per day every time he wants to rent one -- and it's not the same has having one right at his own shop.

But Evernham's courtship of Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League and a former minority owner of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, is about more than seven-post shakers. It's really about Evernham attempting to apply his best talents to where they are needed most within his organization. (Continued)