Q: Which drivers surprised you the most? Who do you think really benefited from competing?
EVERNHAM: It’s hard to say. I’d be watching practice like, “Wow, that guy’s really quick right off the bat. It’s really surprising,” or “Oh, this guy is fast.” Then, you’re like, “Duh, they’re all superstars. That’s why they’re here.”
I was impressed with how fast Helio Castroneves was everywhere we went. Helio is a guy that I find really impressive. He’s such a nice guy — very outgoing, very personable, but he’s very intense in a race car. He has an incredible amount of car control.
Paul Tracy was quick. But when you look at Ernie Francis, I’ve had my eye on him for a long time. I knew that kid was going to be good. I hope he benefits from it. I hope that people now realize the kind of talent this young man has.
And, I think it was good for Marco (Andretti) to get out and show something other than in IndyCar. He’s been in IndyCar forever. People have high expectations because of his Andretti name, you know, and he came back and won (at Slinger Speedway). When I look back at everybody we had, including guys like Luke Fenhaus, Doug Coby and Kody Swanson, Brian Brown, Scott Bloomquist, our Grassroots All-Stars were pretty impressive. And, again, that just reinforces how much talent is out there on a weekly short track.
Q: What format changes, if any, are you considering for next year?
EVERNHAM: Right now, we’re reviewing everything. It takes so much time and work to put it together, and then go on the road, so we haven’t had a break. And it’s going to take time for us to really sit down and look at all the data. You know, there are certain things, obviously, that we think we could do better or more efficiently: Financially, logistically, things like that. But ultimately, I want to get some feedback from the fans and drivers and race tracks and see what they thought.
Q: What venues are you looking at for next year?
EVERNHAM: We don’t know all of the data yet, but we’re definitely going to run some dirt tracks. We’re definitely going to run some paved ovals. I really want to find a minimum of one right-left, brake, gas, steer — I don’t want to say “road course” — it may or may not be a full road course. It may be a course we make up. Who knows? It may be half dirt, half pavement.
Q: Can we expect more than six races in future seasons?
EVERNHAM: What we’re doing will largely be controlled by television and sponsors. That’s really the key, right? Television ratings and sponsorship dollars kind of drive what you want to do. And, you know, hopefully that falls in line with fan support. So, we’ll see.
Q: What were your thoughts on the partnership with CBS?
EVERNHAM: CBS did an amazing job. They set the bar much higher with motorsports coverage. They proved that we could do a lot of different things that have not been done. CBS did a phenomenal job producing that show week after week. I mean, they brought Super Bowl-level production every Saturday night.
Q: Was there ever a point when you thought, “You know, I’d kind of like to go out there and run one race myself”?
EVERNHAM: I wouldn’t want to run a race. I mean, that, to me, would really bring down the level of the series. Tony Stewart wanted me to go out and practice with him. He wanted to have a little race at Eldora one night. And I thought to myself, “Man, I would love to do that. And I just, I can’t. I’ve really got to think about the big picture.” The hardest thing that I’ve ever had to do, as far as racing’s concerned, is tell Tony Stewart I couldn’t do that that night. There’s lots of things I can do, but the one thing that I will guarantee you aren’t going to do, is beat Tony Stewart at Eldora.
Q: Speaking of drivers, what goes into the lineup choices? Last year, you had more interest from drivers than you had seats.
EVERNHAM: We’ve just got to figure out again, what will be best for the fans and the tracks? Maybe you’ll see only eight full-time guys and we’ll rotate four, rather than 10 (full time) and two (part time). We’ll see. We want to make sure that we expose the fans to as much entertainment as we can. There’s a lot of driver personalities out there.
Q: Could you imagine an SRX race with Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Dale Earnhardt, what that would have been like?
EVERNHAM: We’d have some torn-up fiberglass, but the fans definitely would have been on their feet for the whole race.
Q: How do you plan on slowing down Tony Stewart next year?
EVERNHAM: I don’t know that we want to slow down Tony Stewart. He’s going to be tough on the dirt tracks. But, you know, we may have a couple of dirt ringers that may come in for a show. Kody Swanson almost got him last time. You never know. n