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 playing to each other’s unparalleled skill sets and strengths. And the chemistry they shared led to three Cup Series championships.
Advertisement
Even though it has been years since they ran riot on the race track, Evernham is still in awe of Gordon’s ability to connect with a racecar. In a recent interview, the chief spoke about the champion, reminiscing about the time when Andy Petree had called him to help guide Gordon.
It was back in the early ’90s when the world was still unaware of Gordon, 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 well-known. But Evernham was bowled over by the young prodigy’s other talents.
The crew chief was impressed most by 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 was also present for testing. But in just two sessions with the car, Gordon surpassed Bown’s speed.
“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 [an] 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,” said Evernham.
Gordon had this uncanny ability to break things down for Evernham and explain what was going on exactly. And this made the crew chief’s job incredibly easy.
This led Evernham to repeat on many occasions over the years that if a crew chief can’t work with 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?
“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,” Evernham said.
“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,” he added.
Evernham was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018. He currently spends much of his time working toward 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.
