NASCAR's newest owner is a sports fan at heart, but ...
NASCAR's newest owner is a sports fan at heart, but ...
Gillett all business; Evernham to focus on competition
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
August 6, 2007
05:48 PM EDT
Every time Ray Evernham talks to his new business partner, he says with a laugh, it seems George Gillett is 30,000 feet in the air, jetting off to oversee another outpost of his far-flung empire. And what an empire it is -- Gillett's varied portfolio contains everything from an NHL franchise, an English Premier League soccer club, and a collection of Western ski resorts to 14 car dealerships and the second-largest meat packing company in the world.
And now, NASCAR. A deal that's been months in the making finally became a reality Monday, when Evernham sold majority ownership in his race team to Gillett. Evernham will retain a substantial ownership stake in the Dodge team he founded, as well as the title of chief executive officer. The new team will be called Gillett Evernham Motorsports, and known by the acronym GEM.
It's just the latest in a series of mergers within the sport, a movement that's also seen the Roush team pair with the Fenway Sports Group, Dale Earnhardt Inc. buy the former Ginn Racing, and Robert Yates Racing partner with the Newman/Haas/Lanigan open-wheel team. But, Evernham cautions, all those mergers are not the same.
"Some of these deals are fire sales, where someone's got big problems. Our deal is not like that," Evernham said as the deal was reaching its conclusion. "Our program is much stronger. Our program is more like the Roush Fenway deal. It's not a fire sale. We don't need to sell any part of this company. We don't need to do any of those things. But I need a partner that can help me from the business side, and while I'm working on the competition, he can be out identifying sponsors and making connections."
The performance of Evernham's team, which placed one driver in the Chase in each of the last three years, fell precipitously after the former champion crew chief turned the competition end of his business over to others. Evernham divulged two weeks ago in Indianapolis that flawed information was used to build most of his team's cars for this season, a deficiency that's reflected in the point standings, where Elliott Sadler is 23rd, Kasey Kahne is 27th and Scott Riggs is 36th. Two weeks ago at Indianapolis, Evernham began using 2006 model Chargers for all non-Car of Tomorrow events.
Issues like sponsor deals for next season -- such as an anticipated marriage between Kahne and Budweiser -- have been placed on hold as Evernham worked to bring his team back up to speed on the racetrack. With Gillett on board, the plan is for Evernham to turn his full focus to the competition side, and allow his new partner to handle sponsorships and the business end of the organization.
"With the business acumen of the Gillett family and its sports brands, we've greatly expanded our reach," Evernham said. "This will allow me to focus on our racing operations and team performance, while the Gillett family will focus on our business operations. It certainly allows us to capitalize on our strengths and position GEM or long-term success both on and off the track."
Evernham was introduced to Gillett through an intermediary, and as negotiations progressed the two became friends. Gillett, a 68-year-old native of Racine, Wis., could be seen often at the racetrack as a guest of Evernham as talks between the two sides went on. He's dabbled in motorsports before, having backed cars from the local level to the Indianapolis 500, and been an organizer of the short-lived Grand Prix of Denver Champ Car event. He told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times that he's had an interest in getting involved in NASCAR since 1976, and began actively pursuing a partnership about three-and-a-half years ago.
"Racing is in my blood," he said.
By all accounts, Gillett is a business mogul but a sports fan at heart. In 2001 he purchased the Montreal Canadians of the National Hockey League, a once-great but then-moribund franchise which has since made the playoffs in three of five. He and Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks own Liverpool of the English Premier League, which this year reached the final of the European championship. He helped turn Vail., Colo., into a world-renowned tourist destination before his involvement with junk bonds forced him into bankruptcy in 1991.
He climbed back to the top, and is now worth an estimated $250 million. His fervor for sports led to him to buy a minority stake in the NFL's Miami Dolphins as a 27-year-old, led him to make a run at the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets three decades later, and led him to make his initial foray into NASCAR ownership on Monday.
"He will bring a different perspective," said Don Hinchey, vice president of The Bonham Group, a sports and entertainment marketing firm based in Denver. "But at the same time, I think he has demonstrated in the past that when he steps into a new arena, he is able to quickly grasp what the essential ingredients for success are in that arena. By blending what he has learned from other areas into the new one, he's going to find a profitable formula."