Ray Evernham worked with Jeff Gordon for most of the 1990s. The duo became one of the most dominant driver-crew chief partnerships in the sport by taking advantage of each other’s unparalleled skill sets. The chemistry they shared is what led to three Cup Series championships. Long after the days when they ran riot on the race track, Evernham is still in awe over Gordon’s ability to connect with a racecar.
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The chief spoke about the champion in a recent interview and looked back at the time when Andy Petree had called him to help with guiding Gordon. It was back in the early 90s when the world was still unaware about the driver who would go on to become the face of American motorsports.
The story about how a young Gordon’s briefcase was filled with a Nintendo Gameboy, gum, a racing magazine, and peanuts is only well-known. But what impressed him most was Gordon’s talent in communicating every little detail about the car’s character on the track. They were all at Charlotte for the test session, and Gordon was to drive a Pontiac with a Chevrolet engine.
Former champion Chuck Bown had been there as well, and in just two sessions with the car, Gordon surpassed Bown’s speed. Evernham said, “Just talking to Jeff in the car and listening to his comments on the radio, I was like, ‘There’s no way that can be experience! He’s too young and he has really driven only one of these cars!’ He had such an incredible feel for the race car.”
Gordon had always been able to break things down for Evernham and explain what was going on exactly. And this made the crew chief’s job incredibly easy. Witnessing this also led Evernham to repeat at many junctures that if a crew chief can’t work with Jeff Gordon, then they shouldn’t be anywhere near a toolbox. The driver gives the answers instead of just handing them problems. What more can one ask for?
Evernham continued, “Back then, he had a really uncanny ability to pick out exactly what the car was doing. Didn’t know how to fix it. I mean, you would never want to give Jeff a wrench.
“He didn’t know the difference between a track bar and a sway bar at that time. He could tell you, and we just hit it off immediately that first time, and we’ve been like brothers ever since.”
Evernham was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. He currently spends much of his time working towards the relaunch of IROC (International Race of Champions). He also serves as a consultant to various Fortune 500 companies and shares lessons on leadership with them.
