Nascar has a long and storied history, but it also has a past littered with “What If?” questions. Join author Mike Mackler as he takes a look back at stock car racing’s 100 most-intriguing hypotheticals in “100 Stock Car Racing ‘What Ifs’”, the book available on Amazon in both Paperback and Kindle formats. Here’s a preview of one of the one hundred “What If” questions asked throughout the book:
29. What if Ray Evernham never left Hendrick Motorsports?
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| Nascar's 90's Dream team |
Background: By the end of the 1999 season, Ray Evernham had won three Cup championships as crew chief for Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports. But a new challenge awaited him.
What Actually Happened: The ever-ambitious Evernham was soon tabbed to head Dodge Motorsports’ return to Nascar, starting his own team in Evernham Motorsports to do so.
What Could Have Been the Turning Point: What if Rick Hendrick had made an offer so lucrative to Evernham that it would have been too difficult to leave?
What COULD Have Happened: Jeff Gordon would go on to win the 2001 Cup championship with new crew chief Robbie Loomis, but that would be the last one in his illustrious career. How many more championships would Gordon have won with Evernham still atop the pit box?
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| Dodge's return--led by Ray Evernham |
And if THAT Happened…: On the flip-side, both Gordon and Evernham are hard-driving, demanding people who’ve used their personalities to fuel their successful careers. It remains to be seen if the two could have continued to co-exist without wondering if they could do so without the other—or without driving each other crazy.
What Else Could Have Happened: Would Dodge’s return to Nascar have been as successful without Evernham’s leadership? Possibly, but obviously a major variable would have been who was chosen to be the owner of the lead team. Roger Penske’s teams would surpass Evernham’s for Dodge in the coming years, but it remains to be seen if Dodge could have convinced a top-flight, successful team to partner with them on such a risky venture from the get-go.
Why It Had to Turn Out The Way It Did: Evernham and Gordon both succeeded on their own, and likely had to find out first-hand if they could do so in order to be satisfied professionally.