Evernham/Gillett deal close
08/06/07 Evernham Motorsports is expected to announce George Gillett Jr. as its new majority owner as early as Monday. Ray Evernham said Saturday that the deal is in place. Evernham said he's willing to surrender control of his operation to bring in Gillett's business acumen. The move will enable Evernham to refocus his energies on his strength, the competition side of the industry.
"It's going to be different," said Evernham, who made his mark as Jeff Gordon's crew chief in the 1990s and then left Hendrick Motorsports to begin his partnership with Dodge in October 1999. "I haven't worked for anybody since I worked for Rick Hendrick. I'm still going to have a decent stake, but George will be majority owner."
"There's opportunity going forward for some new sponsorship, and a lot of those things are really getting close," Evernham said. "We're working with Budweiser, and it would be real nice to have them as a sponsor. But until something's done, nothing's done."
08/03/07 Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett told the Times on Thursday there is a "95-percent chance" his purchase into Evernham Motorsports will be final by today or Monday at the latest.
"We've got some fairly novel ideas that Ray's been developing and we've been developing together," Gillett said. "It's fair to say Ray's primary emphasis and time commitment will be on the racing side."
Evernham has referred to Gillett as a friend and "the cavalry" as he tries to compete with mega teams such as Hendrick Motorsports. Still, he said, this deal was not about bailing out a failing business.
"My partnership with Gillett is not about needing money," Evernham said. "It's about growing this company."
07/30/07 George Gillett says he's ready to go NASCAR racing. The owner of the Montreal Canadiens and a co-owner of the Liverpool soccer team confirmed Sunday that his company will close a deal to buy part of Evernham Motorsports in the next two weeks.
"That's our hope," Gillett said in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage. "That's our expectation. We will close within [two weeks]. Yes."
Gillett, whose Booth Creek Management Corp. also owns resorts in Vail, Colo. and an entertainment company, would not say what percentage of the team he would own, but Ray Evernham has indicated that Gillett would be a majority owner.
"It's wonderful being with people who are professionals themselves and you can actually bring something to the party," Gillett said. "Our background and commercial experience can complement what Ray does on the track."
Gillett believes there could be cross-promotion among his sports entities.
"Absolutely," Gillett said. "In Montreal, we have 14 sales people, in Liverpool, we'll have 11 sales folks. They're in the street every day.
"We have 147 clients in Montreal, most of them doing business internationally. There is some cross-promotion, and with our ski areas and all the concerts we put on, we'll touch about seven million people a year in our various businesses." More at Scenedaily.com
07/16/07 Team owner Ray Evernham’s partnership agreement with Canadian investor George Gillett, Jr., is expected to close next week, said a source familiar with the deal. And a whole host of sponsor possibilities are in play on the Evernham Motorsports Nextel Cup cars of Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler, according to multiple sources. Evernham would neither confirm nor deny the merger timetable Sunday morning at Chicagoland Speedway, saying only, “We’re working towards closing the deal." With the sale of Chrysler Group to investment-banking firm Cerberus Capital Partners pending, it would make sense that Evernham Motorsports would seek additional sponsorship for its Nextel Cup operations. Cerberus, an investor known for sharp cost-cutting of the companies it acquires, may be willing to relinquish sponsorship rights to the two Evernham cars next season, something Dodge was unwilling to do last year when a major sponsor approached Evernham about becoming Kahne’s primary sponsor, a deal that ultimately was rejected by the automaker. Evernham said Sunday he has a contract with Dodge through 2010 and confirmed he is one of a half-dozen teams who have talked with Budweiser about taking over the brewing company’s sponsorship deal in 2008, now that Hendrick Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are out of the running. There are other options for Kahne beyond Budweiser. More at SPEEDtv.com