Ray Evernham - 08/26/1957
Evernham started working for NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki at the end of 1991. Their personalities clashed, and Evernham stayed with Kulwicki for only six weeks before quitting at Daytona. As he was walking out of the garage area and NASCAR, Ford engineers Lee Morse and Preston Miller stopped him. They had worked directly with the Ford teams, including Kulwicki's, and they were impressed with Evernham. They suggested that Ford might find Evernham another assignment outside of NASCAR's top division. Jeff Gordon had just become a Ford driver and he had mentioned that he would like to work with Evernham again. The two had worked briefly together in 1990, when Evernham had worked on some chassis setups for Gordon's Pontiac team. Evernham thought back to that brief time with Gordon, remembering, "From the first day we ever worked together, boom! We hit it off. We had fun, we did good, he was what I wanted, and I was what he wanted." Gordon's owner, Bill Davis Racing, did not want to hire Evernham for their NASCAR Xfinity Series team. "Bill Davis didn't want me," Evernham later recalled. "But Ford paid my salary to go and work for Bill Davis, because Jeff wanted me there so bad." Evernham remained the crew chief for Gordon after he moved up into the Cup from the final race of the 1992 season through 1999. During his time with Gordon, the duo accumulated 47 wins; among those the Daytona 500 (1997 & 1999); Coke 600 (1994 & 1998); Southern 500 (1995, 1996, 1997, & 1998); and the Brickyard 400 (first ever Brickyard in 1994,
and also one in 1998). Evernham left Hendrick Motorsports and Gordon/Evernham Motorsports in 1999 to form his own team, Evernham Motorsports, which in 2000 announced BillElliott would drive for him. The team would also be the cornerstone for Dodge's return to Cup racing in 2001. Before the 2001 Cup season, a Dodge had not raced in the series since Phil Good at the Pocono Raceway in June 1985. Evernham led Dodge's return to NASCAR by fielding two full-time cars in the 2001 season. Bill Elliott was named to drive the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge on March 10, 2000. The driver of the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge was announced to be Casey Atwood. In the last race of the year Bill Elliott claimed Evernham Motorsports first win in the Homestead 400. In 2002, Jeremy Mayfield was added to Evernham's program, taking over the No. 19 Dodge from Atwood. In 2002, Evernham found success with his new program by witnessing Mayfield win the Winston Open, as well as Bill Elliott winning back to back in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono and The Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2003, Elliott ran strong with several 2nd place finishes and won the next to last race at North Carolina Motor Speedway at Rockingham and nearly won the season finale at Homestead, cutting a tire while leading on the last lap, surrendering the lead and win to Bobby Labonte in Elliott's last full time race. In 2004, Kasey Kahne took over the 9 car with Elliott running part time in a third car, number 91 and Mayfield in the 19. In 2006, Jeremy Mayfield was fired for "lack of performance" and for comments detrimental to the team. In August 2006 Elliott Sadler was announced as the new driver of the 19 car. Court documents reveal that Mayfield blamed Evernham's personal life, included a claim that a "close personal relationship" had developed between the then-married Evernham and development driver Erin Crocker, and "sub-par" equipment as the reasons he has not won a race in 2006. Evernham admitted that he had an ongoing relationship with Crocker. Furthermore, he said about Crocker, "The proper thing to do and something her and I would like to do is move her to another race team." Evernham and Crocker eventually were married at a private ceremony in Las Vegas on August 26, 2009. Evernham has dipped into television several times as an analyst. He has worked three separate stints for ESPN/ABC: in 2000, 2008–2010, and 2012–2013. He has worked both race coverage and studio coverage at various points. Evernham also hosted the show AmeriCARna on Velocity. Evernham also worked on NBCSN as a color analyst and is paired up with Ralph Sheheen on broadcasts of the Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
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