Ray Evernham Discusses His Departure From SRX and How It Changed After He Left

Ray Evernham Discusses His Departure From SRX and How It Changed After He Left | Dale Jr. Download

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4 ай бұрын

Ray Evernham was a pivotal force in bringing SRX to motorsports and racing fans. He intended for the series to be run in support of NASCAR and not try to compete with it.
He opens up about his time there and afterward with Dale Jr. in this video.
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Пікірлер: 122

@oleboy4332 4 ай бұрын

SRX was GREAT! Went to several of these and had tickets for Berlin in August. So disappointed it went away. Whoever was at fault for this, screw you! Haha

@SingerDinger 4 ай бұрын

I was at Berlin last year and the atmosphere could not be beat

@jackielowe2895 4 ай бұрын

Loved these races.

@MLV3645 4 ай бұрын

Was NOT real racing , it’s like wrestling

@carlfrye1566 Ай бұрын

@@MLV3645: Really. And how popular is WWE? SRX wasn't intended to be the best of the best in racing, it was a place for fans to see their favorite drivers from their younger days driving race cars. Fans going to the track to have a good time. They should have let Ray continue to run it.

@jeffreyrose7823 4 ай бұрын

My Opinion Ray did a great job

@bigrig4385 4 ай бұрын

I miss Iroc so much. SRX gone now too. Everything nice in racing gets taken away.

@paullarimore8598 4 ай бұрын

Big respect for Ray!

@eesaylor 4 ай бұрын

The first season had the most variety driver wise. An even mix of retired and semi-retired NASCAR, Indycar, TransAm, Outlaw, RallyCross, plus the local star. It was what IROC used to be in the 80s and 90s. Then, by season 3, it turned into "NASCAR Light" where half the field was current Cup drivers. While that's cool for the fans at the track, the tv viewers got turned off because we see these guys every week already. Ratings were down in season 3, and that's why Camping World pulled out and effectively caused SRX to close up shop.

@DC322 4 ай бұрын

I love SRX with short track and dirt racing. I'm sad that its not gonna run further but I'm glad that Ryan Newman won the last SRX championship.

@ssdandp 4 ай бұрын

Glad to finally here the scoop! Hate to see SRX go for sure! Will certainly be watching when his version of IROC returns!

@jeffreyrose7823 4 ай бұрын

SRX was 'Awesome' wish 'DaleJr' did it!

@djmohab2 4 ай бұрын

Godhardt Jr is not the only person that exists in the racing world

@scylentdeth3198 4 ай бұрын

Can I ask why you’re typing that way? I’m not here to be critical I just genuinely want to know.

@BeanMachine317 4 ай бұрын

Shame cause I really enjoyed SRX live. It was alittle different and that felt like in a good way. That first year at IRP was such a blast too. Great atmosphere, great night of racin. I like to think it's not a coincidence that the Trucks announced they were goin back to IRP about 3 months later. It showed that IRP is still racey af😂, I feel kinda grateful to SRX for that cause anything at IRP is a W

@seangerrity9217 4 ай бұрын

It'd be nice to see the Busch cars race there again too... Probably too much to ask for a Cup race there but if they'd ever fix the horsepower issues, short tracks are the way to go!

@scylentdeth3198 4 ай бұрын

Am I alone in not loving the new “look” of the podcast?

@chaddepew5831 4 ай бұрын

Sponsor pressure to have current drivers and business people wanting to see a quicker return on investment. That's what I'm reading between the lines.

@ghettostreamlabs5724 4 ай бұрын

I thought Paul Tracy took the whole thing down. I guess there was more to it than I thought lol.

@jimbosc 4 ай бұрын

He was a big distraction - f Tracy. The only way it can work with fulltime Indycar and NASCAR guys participating (the model used after Ray stepped out) is sold-out tracks, a favorable TV deal and a title sponsor willing to put up some big $$. SRX lost Camping World after 2023 - that is what killed it.

@oleboy4332 4 ай бұрын

No, he was a ton of fun to watch and the villain we needed. We don’t want to watch a line of cars driving around being friendly. We needed short track racing

@ghettostreamlabs5724 4 ай бұрын

@@oleboy4332 there is a fine line between villain and carnage causer. I think he sailed past that line pretty consistently. Certainly don't mind the villain, but you just can't tear up that much equipment week in and week out.

@user-rx7ns4re9u 4 ай бұрын

I watched it when it was on CBS. Got rid of cable so I didn't watch ESPN

@loviedebiasio8864 4 ай бұрын

did ot like Paul Tracy driving at all He was invited to drive then thought he had to show these Nascar Drivers that he could bump and grind them. He had no respect for the series or the money spent to make the series

@f1sherman52 4 ай бұрын

All excitement I had for SRX instantly dissipated as soon as I heard Danica on the mic.

@tnrodgers 4 ай бұрын

Gotta love Ray. He is always a straight shooter.

@Glen7000 4 ай бұрын

I went to the 2022 SRX season finale at Sharon Speedway and it was excellent.

@jeremymiller2340 4 ай бұрын

SRX got me back into watching the racing on tv always ups and downs since the intimidator left us....nascar has gone downhill ' this series was the bee's knees!! What racing was ment to be!!!

@Fisha695 4 ай бұрын

You have to think that SRX was supposed to be the stockcar version of what SST is and yet here we are with SRX barely lasting 3 years while Robbys SST series is going strong around the world a decade later...

@seangerrity9217 4 ай бұрын

Maybe they should've jumped the cars instead of just having PT wreck em all!

@polycube868 4 ай бұрын

Sad it went away, I would have loved to have went to a race had they came to a Kentucky track.

@greendayray 4 ай бұрын

I think it needed more drivers who could do all 6 races so the “championship” actually meant something

@marcgendron6745 4 ай бұрын

Was a fun run ! Miss it.

@bullittboost6046 4 ай бұрын

One of the most successful crew chiefs in Nascar History. Evernham key figure in bringing Dodge back to Nascar. So why SRX investors didn’t listen to his vision, see the final results.

@jeremymiller2340 4 ай бұрын

Facts. I totally forgot about the Dodge situation

@thsbulldawg82 4 ай бұрын

SRX was infinitely more enjoyable than NASCAR is for me these days

@BeautifulAngelBlossom 4 ай бұрын

i got SRX game cause i loved the Srx

@bighand1530 4 ай бұрын

What system?

@jeffreyrose7823 4 ай бұрын

Please 🙏 do something like that Again

@scotcoon1186 4 ай бұрын

It felt like watching nascar with all the active nascar drivers in it last year. I watched part of a race, and it wasn't as good as the year before. I just regret i trusted a shop that "does good work" to get my car ready for a long trip and missed the race at Knoxville.

@AustinOgonoski 4 ай бұрын

I remember a few years ago I got into a pissing match with Marcus on Twitter (camping world guy) about his commitment to racing. I remember saying it was sus that he was wanting to do all these crazy things like put a camping world store at North Wilkesboro, sponsor NHRA, sponsor SRX, that sorta thing. I get RVing is big, but that aggressive expansion is something only energy drinks and tobacco can typically sustain. Glad to see I was onto something.

@NeedsLessWedge 4 ай бұрын

Maybe NASCAR should have heeded too instead of aggressive expansion away from it's bread and butter and core fans...just saying

@mikedw6748 4 ай бұрын

So basically Camping World kicked Ray out and Camping World drove SRX to the ground because corporate is corporate and greedy.

@djh3_88hinskey5 4 ай бұрын

I liked it the first year. But once they started makinbg it a Cup driver show, it wasnt all that great. Missed the "local" aspect too.

@lilolme69 4 ай бұрын

I am not a fan of Ray's but he should know... partnerships usually end up like this one did. Raise money but stay in 100% control if you are the one with the plan. I refuse partnerships about once a month. Give me the money and I'll run it my way or no deal.

@johnathanjohnson5367 4 ай бұрын

It would be nice to have booth series

@johnathanjohnson5367 4 ай бұрын

I hope if the IROC series will run on actual tracks like short tracks, dirt tracks and road courses i do agree with Ray these drivers don't need to race at a high speed tracks like super speedways and michigan

@dlawsonlawson1582 4 ай бұрын

Loved srx

@bighand1530 4 ай бұрын

Same

@erikdexter3100 4 ай бұрын

Srx was great …it came to my tiny town and was a big hit ….prob too big of a hit …packed and everyone having great time ….prob is nascar prob wasnt getting big enough cut and their stadiums are 1/2 full

@Mycarisloose 4 ай бұрын

1/2 full is extremely dramatic 😂 first 2 races this season stands were packed. Every race I’ve been to last 3 seasons have been sold out(over 15 races) y’all so dramatic in these comments 😂 reminds me of women

@erikdexter3100 4 ай бұрын

@@Mycarisloose they have decreased seating and the speedweeks are speedweekends …its called shrinkflation it tends to fool the less observant …your prob busy and unaware

@robertgoulet1961 4 ай бұрын

I liked watching SRX being a short track Modified driver I really liked the series, plus running a current local racer was a great idea, of course the locals would back their local driver, Stafford Speedway one of my local short tracks was packed everytime!!!!😊

@user-bt8vn3dj6o 4 ай бұрын

I like the Cars Tour. Lots of fun.

@DC322 4 ай бұрын

I agree. Dale Jr., Happy and The Mayor running the series.

@mikemiller5281 4 ай бұрын

I hope iroc comes back 🙏

@jimbosc 4 ай бұрын

I didn't hear it would. Historic event of some kind this year with maybe track time for historic IROC cars (at a road course - not an oval). They might go to something more organized in future years (like an IROC division in SVRA) - again that is road courses only. Which makes sense for historic cars you don't want to tear up. A full blown IROC series with new race cars? Much bigger leap - didn't hear anything that tells me that will happen any time soon.

@randydudley 4 ай бұрын

Seems every time I watch a NASCAR race now it reminds me of the IROC series with them all looking pretty much the same...

@tMatt5M 4 ай бұрын

The current drivers made things way too expensive.

@jimbosc 4 ай бұрын

Certain drivers that have fat appearance fees - yes (aka anyone full time in Indycar or NASCAR)

@Ka_Gg 4 ай бұрын

Yeah I didn't find it too interesting when there would be like six full-time current cup drivers versus guys that haven't raced in 20 years. I did like having the local guy race. He would often win or run very well which shows that there are a lot of local guys that have the same type of talent as the guys at the cup level

@erronflynn8766 4 ай бұрын

👍🏻

@Jon_Flys_RC 4 ай бұрын

SRX dumped a huge liability on my local track when the event was rained out last year and all the tickets were to be honored for the rescheduled date this summer. The track is now left holding the bag to sort out the mess.

@Jumbo_Jimbo_in_Limbo 4 ай бұрын

Thunder Road in Barre, VT definitely got screwed over with SRX shutting down. They spent a bunch on infrastructure, floods in the state got it postponed, was garuanteed a race following year, series was then shut down in off season, effing them over.

@mrwinston_thepug 4 ай бұрын

I thought Tony Stewart was the creator of SRX . Too bad egos got in the way because it was fun to watch the drivers come back and race.

@joshuareece9951 4 ай бұрын

There is some serious trepidation in this part of the interview. Something went sour bad

@stinkybeagle 4 ай бұрын

But at least he was frank and did not avaoid the topic. And he may have other plans in the works. And you never know if he might need some SRX people for the next thing. So don't burn bridges. Just don't use the bridge but have it there if needed....?

@joshuareece9951 4 ай бұрын

@@stinkybeagle very true

@rvegasguy_5216 4 ай бұрын

New Iroc need to include the grass roots tracks and maybe atlanta or daytona. Also need former or current F1 drivers like Kimi Rikionan or Lewis Hamilton

@lananavan1885 4 ай бұрын

Greed definitely comes to everyone’s mind, when it comes to SRX business people actually don’t care about the fans,funny how he can’t get the word greed out of his mouth,,,

@bigrig4385 4 ай бұрын

Typical politician.

@MrBearcaaat 4 ай бұрын

He is correct, the fans were the losers, this was a great series and had a place in racing. We were at Sharon Speedway for the Blaney’s race. Too bad Paul Tracy screwed it up.

@loviedebiasio8864 4 ай бұрын

Sad the series went away. Clearly someone thinking they knew better then one of the partners. Ray was smart to move on.

@ensignstephens6307 4 ай бұрын

So what happened?

@Jumbo_Jimbo_in_Limbo 4 ай бұрын

Where were all these current Cup guys in SRX? Only saw a couple at ea race. Most were retired drivers mixed with a couple Xfinity and truck drivers and the ones from other series. There's another side to this story that needs to be told. Something sounds fishy in Everham's story.

@roadrunner40 4 ай бұрын

"Made for TV." Exactly. Not cable/streaming

@delbertlayman3693 4 ай бұрын

I was hoping they would blow out nascar to b honest

@paullarimore8598 4 ай бұрын

🤣 Yeah, maybe I did a little bit too!

@jasondhearn 4 ай бұрын

Tony Stewart being bipolar 🤣🤣

@youfillmylifewithjello6661 4 ай бұрын

Shocker

@NeedsLessWedge 4 ай бұрын

I never agreed with Tony racing in his own series. It just looks bad all around when the promoter wins his own races and own championships with his house cars

@lamoorelinkous9177 4 ай бұрын

He wasn't the only partner ... others were involved.

@jasondhearn 4 ай бұрын

Yea I was pretty much just talking about when people wrecked he thru fits because he had to fix the cars.

@quentinkutrich8299 4 ай бұрын

I'd like to say that I thought SRX was a good idea because I think some NASCAR drivers even though they want to don't want to go through the rigmarole of racing a full season that they wouldn't mind racing a race for fun closet would bring the core base of the fan by going to short tracks I have the last 3 years and I live in Mid-Ohio and I have watched three short tracks disappear

@1400hpnextgen7 4 ай бұрын

I watched srx and the funny flags got old after a while

@badgumby9544 4 ай бұрын

It's always about money. No matter what they say on camera.

@SilverSylphide 4 ай бұрын

SRX was ruined when it just became all current cup guys.

@thearmourboy3254 4 ай бұрын

As usual wanting to make money fast rather than building something sustainable killed something enjoyable off.

@swgilkey 4 ай бұрын

Sounds similar to Gillette-Evernham deal.

@joshstrickland3886 4 ай бұрын

Get Martin Truex Jr. Back please sir. Enjoy the full video's Jr.

@daren32909 4 ай бұрын

Did they finally get rid of the other guy?

@johnwhitter 4 ай бұрын

For people like me that self cancelled NASCAR in June of 2020 the SRX series was a god send…a total shame that it’s gone. I can’t find an un-woke race series to throw my money at anymore.

@jarrod1766 4 ай бұрын

Racing is better without losers like you

@chuckg6039 4 ай бұрын

Try High Limits or World of Outlaws. Both dirt sprints

@johnwhitter 4 ай бұрын

Will do, thanks!

@billycook-rm3xu 4 ай бұрын

NASCAR doesn't want competition

@mikecomerford1986 4 ай бұрын

SRX crapped out not just because of certain visions and directions but thanks to Leah Pruitt... HELLO NHRA

@susanmckinney3007 4 ай бұрын

He is the reason why there is no superstar racing this summer

@jimbosc 4 ай бұрын

In what way - he had nothing to do with it the last 2 years - Ray has 0% input on the decision to cancel 2024 SRX. After 2021 the partners wanted more tracks, more "name" drivers and to take it a different direction than what Ray wanted. Essentially they bought him out because he felt it would fail if they did that. I don't blame Smoke either - I think he just wanted it to succeed in whatever form it took - it just so happens without a title sponsor it was too expensive to pull off what they had planned for 2024. Hell - they sold out every track and the TV ratings were pretty good for what SRX is all 3 seasons. But when you have to pay fat appearance fees for Kyle Busch and other NASCAR guys to race - it just is not financial viable.

@1400hpnextgen7 4 ай бұрын

@@jimboscso Kyle Busch making an appearance put them out of business?

@jimbosc 4 ай бұрын

@@1400hpnextgen7 essentially yes

@jesuschrist69 4 ай бұрын

@@jimbosc I doubt appearance fees or anything had anything to do with it. Camping World pulled out and they were unable to find another title sponsor, so they cancelled the season. The series could cost $0 to run, they were not going to run a season without a title sponsor money coming in.

@MLV3645 4 ай бұрын

STX is NOT Racing , it’s Wrestling

@Rowdy_2469 4 ай бұрын

Srx died the night when there was a lighting near the speedway at Stafford they waited until the storm hit the track thunder and lightning and rain was hitting the track unlike NASCAR they stop the race if there's lighting within a Mile of the track

@samuelrock5809 4 ай бұрын

Sounds like somebody did somebody wrong and somebody's butt hurt

@jamesstig1832 4 ай бұрын

Much respect Ray and what he has contributed to the American racing environment. Hated the entire aspect of SRX, it's butt ugly cars , shoddy television exposure to watch has-been, neve-was wreck and bad mouth each other!

@markherring3513 4 ай бұрын

He designed the cars.

@scotcoon1186 2 ай бұрын

They may have been ugly, but they were built to be easily repaired, and safe.

@DarrenABailey 4 ай бұрын

Unpopular opinion but to me ray came off as difficult to work with. It seems it’s either his way or the highway and he doesn’t care about the opinions of his partners.

@beckyumphrey2626 4 ай бұрын

Leah got involved...........

@joesmithguide 4 ай бұрын

SRX was a clown show.

@brianbond7754 4 ай бұрын

Tony was a little bit.h . But will give him credit because he got in my face as I am 50 .if it was 48 I would have owned cry babys teeth . It was ok racing glad they got rid of it . Iroc is more of the thing needed.

@lamoorelinkous9177 4 ай бұрын

Yeah, okay.....🤣🤣🤣