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Jared, a couple of things that you are probably forgetting. First, although I can't remember where I seen or heard this, but Bill France supposedly made the comment along the lines that Chevy teams did one of the best sandbagging jobs in 1995 when they first introduced the new Monte Carlo. Guess who lead the new Monte Carlo effort then? Ray Evernham and Hendrick motorsports. Seems like old times huh?
Secondly, in my opinion, Ray Evernham is a pure genius and I would put his technical wizardry up with the best in the world of motorsports. In the tight constraints of NASCAR's rules, he virtually dominated a sport that is designed not to be dominated. This is one reason why I was peeved that Autosport left Ray out of their Hall of Fame for the 50th anniversary issue. Evernham has proven more to me than Adrian Newey since he didn't have a budget the size of some country's GNP to work with or the use of exotic compounds.
Remember what he told Jack Roush regarding the "tiregate" scandel? "Its all air Jack!" Evernham is way ahead of the game, has the right decisions made before they rear their head and can do more with simple air pressure changes. He is the elite category of motorsports personnel. Note Jeff Gordon hasn't been the same without him.
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