Evernham Questions Will Have to Wait Until 2001

Jeff Gordon has already shown that he can win without Ray Evernham. He did it in his first race without the man who had managed his career since they went to NASCAR in 1991.

Evernham will have to wait until 2001 to see if he can win without Gordon.

The man who crewed the No. 24 Chevrolet to 47 Winston Cup victories is now the point man in the return of Dodge to NASCAR after an absence of more than 20 years by Chrysler brands. Dodge will make its debut under Evernham with an Intrepid at the 2001 Daytona 500.

“My goal is to get to Victory Lane and take the Dodge people with me,” said Evernham. “My competitive juices are pumping.”

The NASCAR Intrepid is expected to be unveiled in early 2000 at the Detroit Auto Show. DaimlerChrysler, parent company of Dodge, said it expects to field a two-car team carrying the brand’s bright red colors.

No drivers have been named.

“The guy I’d love to have just signed a lifetime contract,” Evernham said, referring to Gordon’s new pact with Rick Hendrick that makes Gordon part owner of the team.

Gordon, who had often heard that his winning 47 races and three championships had been more because of Evernham’s efforts than his driving, answered by winning the first two races with a new crew chief.

“That ought to answer a few questions,” said Gordon with satisfaction, after Brian Whitesell, the team’s former engineer, called the shots that led to Gordon’s winning at Martinsville, Va.

Evernham said his job will be twofold, to develop a winning team the way he did with Gordon and Chevrolet, and to help develop other Dodge teams in NASCAR.

“It was a difficult decision to leave Gordon and the Hendrick team after all our success, but what intrigued me was the opportunity to start with a clean slate, a clean piece of paper, and see where it led,” Evernham said. “It was a challenge I couldn’t resist.”

Dodge may be an unfamiliar nameplate to recent Winston Cup fans, but to stock car old-timers, it is a return to the past.

Richard Petty’s record 200 wins included 175 in Chrysler brands and he drove to six of his seven championships in Plymouths or Dodges.

The last Dodge win in Winston Cup was by the late Neil Bonnett in the 1977 Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway. The manufacturer dropped out shortly after that and there was no factory support for NASCAR events until Dodge entered the 1995 truck series.

Dennis Setzer is Dodge’s Craftsman Truck series driver and is third in points, only 25 behind Ford driver Greg Biffle and four behind Chevrolet driver Jack Sprague, with one race remaining, the NAPA Auto Parts 200 Saturday at California Speedway.

“We always figured we were sort of Guinea pigs for the Winston Cup project because the Craftsman trucks are really Cup cars with a rear deck,” said Setzer, who has won three races, the most by a Dodge driver in a single season.

Dodge also has shown new strength in the World of Outlaws, where legendary car builder Karl Kinser switched to Mopar engines this season. His son Mark has won 19 races and leads Danny Lasoski by 39 points.

The Outlaws will be at Perris Auto Speedway on Oct. 30 where Mark Kinser has won eight of nine races on the half-mile dirt oval.

DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN?

Greg Ray was in Los Angeles Monday to celebrate having won the Indy Racing League championship and its $1-million Pep Boys bonus on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, but before he got here he had a lesson in the public’s lack of awareness of the IRL.

Ray, a native Texan who lives not far from the speedway, was driving home after the race when he was pulled over for going 72 mph in a 55-mph zone and given a $140 speeding ticket.

That wasn’t as bad, though, as officer Brent Robbins’ comment to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“I didn’t know who he was,” he said. “I follow NASCAR, not Indy.”

Despite such lack of recognition, Ray said he will continue to drive for John Menard in the IRL next year, mainly because it has the Indianapolis 500.

“My whole reason for driving race cars is because I want to win the Indy 500,” Ray said between bites at the House of Blues. “I got into racing at a late age, but when I found I had an aptitude for speed, I set my sights on Indy.

“I could have won this year except for a stupid mistake I made in the pits, so I’m looking forward to getting back there next May. We’ll start testing right away on next year’s package.”

Ray was leading on Lap 120 last May when he collided with Mark Dismore as Dismore was entering and Ray was exiting the pits. The impact sent Ray sideways into the pit wall and out of the race.

“I have a belief that days like this make you stronger,” Ray said at the time. “I’m getting older as a driver, but I feel I’m getting better. I’m not sure what the man upstairs has in mind for me, but he’s certainly made me very introspective. In this business, as with anything in life, you have to earn what you get.”

Ray came back after Indy to win three races and when he finished third at the Mall.com 500 last Sunday, he had won the Pep Boys Million, the series championship, by 37 points over defending IRL champion Kenny Brack, who also won this year’s Indy 500.

Brack is leaving the IRL next year to drive for Bobby Rahal in a CART champ car, but Ray said that loss will be offset by the coming to the IRL of two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr.

“Everyone in the IRL is excited that Al Jr. is coming back to run with Rick Galles’ team,” said Ray. “He will be another top quality driver in our series. With a good, established name, it should bring us a lot more exposure.”

But does Officer Robbins know who he is?

NO TRIP TO HAWAII

What you read here three weeks ago became official this week when CART announced cancellation of the Hawaiian Super Prix, an end-of-the-year road race in Honolulu that was supposed to pay $5 million to the winner. The end came, said CART chairman Andrew Craig, when the race promoter was unable to raise sufficient funds.

“It’s completely embarrassing for them,” said Kristen Magel, a vice president of national broadcasting for DeWitt Media. “They’ve pitched the product and haven’t come through.”

Originally, the Super Prix was to be sold on pay-per-view TV, but when that plan fizzled, promoters unsuccessfully tried to sell it to cable networks.

WINNING AND LOSING

Being a lame-duck driver can work both ways.

After NASCAR’s Joe Nemechek and CART’s Bryan Herta lost their rides for 2000, they went out and won one to be remembered by, Nemechek for Felix Sabates and Herta for Rahal.

Not so fortunate have been Greg Moore and Gil de Ferran. Since Roger Penske announced that they would drive for him next year, both have gone into tailspins. DeFerran has two sixth-place finishes in seven races for Derrick Walker, and Moore has finished 15th or worse in his last five races with Gerald Forsythe.

Unser, dropped by Penske to make room for his new drivers, has been even worse. Little Al has not finished better than 22nd in four of his last five starts.

LAST LAPS

Jason Leffler, who scored a double win in U.S. Auto Club midget and Silver Bullet main events last Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway, will try for a more difficult double this weekend. He will race for Joe Gibbs’ team in the Memphis 250, a Busch Grand National, on Saturday and the USAC midget main event Sunday at Winchester Speedway in Indiana.

Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath will try his hand at truck racing Saturday night at Irwindale when he drives in the Mechanix Wear Speed Truck Challenge 50-lap race. McGrath decided to race after getting a $500 challenge from Dave Damron, president of Chaparral Motorsports, McGrath’s team owner.

Four CART pit crews will battle for $50,000 Thursday at California Speedway in the Craftsman Pit Crew Challenge. Through the first 19 rounds of the CART season, crews have accumulated points based on time spent in the pits. The four quickest, with drivers Max Papis, Paul Tracy, Juan Montoya and Michael Andretti, will compete for the purse by changing all four tires in a minimum of two pit stops.

This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP, Pop Secret 400

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 11 a.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 6:30 a.m.; Sunday, race (TNN, 9:30 a.m.)

* Where: North Carolina Speedway (tri-oval, 1.017 miles, 22 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 25 degrees in turns 3-4), Rockingham, N.C.

* Race distance: 399.641 miles, 393 laps.

* Last year: Jeff Gordon became the youngest three-time Winston Cup champion, clinching his second straight title with a victory in Rockingham. The win was Gordon’s 12th of the season. Dale Jarrett finished second.

* Next race: Dura Lube 500, Nov. 7, Phoenix.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL, Kmart 200

* When: Today, qualifying, 9:45 a.m.; Saturday, race (TNN, 11 a.m.)

* Where: North Carolina Speedway (tri-oval, 1.017 miles, 22 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 25 degrees in turns 3-4), Rockingham, N.C.

* Race distance: 200.349 miles, 197 laps.

* Last year: Elliott Sadler beat Kevin Lepage by 3.263 seconds. Sadler moved up to Winston Cup this year after posting two Busch victories last season and five overall.

* Next race: Memphis 250, Oct. 31, Memphis, Tenn.

NHRA, Revell Nationals

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 11:30 a.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.); Sunday, final eliminations, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 2 p.m.).

* Where: Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas.

* Last year: Gary Scelzi won the Top Fuel title with a record quarter-mile run of 4.525 seconds in qualifying. John Force won the Funny Car competition, and Warren Johnson raced to his ninth Pro Stock victory of the year.

* Next race: Matco Tools Supernationals, Oct. 28-31, Houston.