Cintas is the official uniform supplier and safety supplier to the three-car NASCAR Sprint Cup team including Kasey Kahne, driver of the #9 Budweiser car, Patrick Carpentier, driver of the #10 Valvoline car, and Elliott Sadler, driver of the #19 Best Buy car. Cintas supplies the Gillett Evernham team with their shop uniforms and keep their facility safe and clean with floor mats, shop towels, SafeWasher parts cleaning service, and first aid and safety supplies.
Cintas is proud to be a sponsoring partner of the Gillett Evernham team through 2009. We are very excited about the opportunities this sponsorship will create for our partners, customers, and prospects through "lifetime experiences" on and off the track.
To learn more about Gillett Evernham Motorsports, please visit their website at http://www.evernhammotorsports.com/
George Gillett Jr.
George N. Gillett, Jr., is founder and chairman of Booth Creek Management Corp., which oversees the Gillett family interests in diverse businesses including resorts, meat packing, car dealerships and professional sports. He is the owner of the Montreal Canadians National Hockey League team, and has recently acquired Liverpool Football Club.
In addition to serving as chairman and director of most of these companies, George is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Hockey League and a board member of CHC Helicopter Corporation.
George started his career in marketing and management consulting, initially with McKinsey & Company. A sports enthusiast since childhood, by the mid-1960s George was business manager and minority partner of the Miami Dolphins. A year later, he became owner and CEO of the Harlem Globetrotters. He established Globetrotter Communications, a national broadcasting group that launched Saturday morning cartoon shows featuring the Harlem Globetrotters.
When George Gillett bought Vail and Beaver Creek in 1985, it was George's wife, Rose, and their four boys who cast the deciding votes for him to do so. That strong sense of family would permeate everything the Gilletts did at the resorts over the next seven years.
Avid skiers and longtime visitors to Vail, the Gilletts knew what worked for a family on the slopes. Applying his business acumen and a focus on customer service, Gillett set out to create the ultimate family winter escape. Among his innovations: massive installation of high-speed detachable chairlifts and additional groomed slopes. He also introduced a “one-stop-shopping” approach for the skiing experience: a centralized reservations service offering lodging, lift tickets and airfare from a central source.
A true entrepreneur, Gillett formed Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. in 1995. Booth Creek is the fourth largest ski resort operator in the country, consisting of six resorts across North America. In 1999, Ski magazine voted Gillett as one of the "100 Most Influential Skiers of All Time." Now owner and operator of Grand Targhee Resort in Wyoming, the Gillett family is again redefining the ski experience.
Back home in Colorado, Gillett is a director and member of the executive committee of the Vail Valley Foundation and the Steadman Hawkins Research Foundation. He fostered the idea that a ski town can excel in the arenas of education, culture and healthcare. His innovative thinking and commitment to the ski community at large have left a lasting mark on Colorado.
Gillett attended Amherst (Mass.) College and graduated from Dominican College in Racine, WI., in 1961. He was born in Racine, is 68 years old and is married with children.
Ray Evernham
Driven by a passion for automobiles, Ray Evernham climbed behind the wheel of a race car in 1979 and never looked back.
His drive to succeed behind the wheel created opportunities in the auto racing and technology industries.
In 1983, a call from legendary car owner Roger Penske challenged Evernham to resurrect the International Race of Champions (IROC) Series. The opportunity offered Evernham the chance to work with the world’s best racers, including Johnny Rutherford, A.J. Foyt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Darrell Waltrip, and Bill Elliott. The experience taught Evernham, as team manager, the value of team success and priceless lessons in the business of racing.
By 1990, those in the NASCAR community took notice of Evernham’s unique leadership abilities and success. Evernham was offered the opportunity to team with up-and-coming driver Jeff Gordon as his crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, where Evernham would first impact the sport at NASCAR’s highest level of competition.
He seized his opportunity at Hendrick Motorsports, revolutionizing the crew chief role as leader of the Rainbow Warriors in the 1990s.
During his tenure with Gordon, he earned three championships and 47 wins in 216 starts, including two Daytona 500 victories and the inaugural Brickyard 400. His success earned him Crew Chief of the Decade honors in 2000 and his innovative work with pit crews continues to set the performance standard and his thumbprint remains on engineering systems now used throughout the industry.
In 2000, Evernham’s quest for personal growth and challenge drove him to take the ultimate risk--team ownership. Relying on his own unique experiences as driver and leader and his self prescribed "20 Points for Success", his goal was not only to build a championship caliber race team but a performance and technology based organization to transform the industry.
Teamed up with DaimlerChrysler’s performance brand Dodge, Evernham spearheaded the unproven manufacturer’s re-entry to NASCAR racing from start to finish. In less than 500 days Evernham Motorsports was a reality. A historic Daytona 500 pole at the team’s 2001 debut set the tone for the organization.
Today, Gillett Evernham is in his seventh full season at the helm of one of NASCAR’s premier racing organizations, fielding cars in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, as well as ARCA. With more than 300 employees and four separate facilities – including Advanced Engine Technology (AET) in the United Kingdom – Gillett Evernham Motorsports has grown dramatically from its early days, all under his steady guidance and leadership.
Technology and innovation are the foundation of Evernham’s success. Gillett Evernham Motorsports designs and produces its own chassis for NASCAR competition. Its engine program has proven both powerful and reliable, and again in 2008, other Dodge teams such as Petty Enterprises and BAM Racing will rely on Evernham Engines. Gillett Evernham’s lineup includes driver Elliott Sadler in the No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger and 2006’s winningest driver Kasey Kahne in the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger. Through his partnership in Valvoline Evernham Racing, he fields the No. 10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge Charger. In the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Evernham fields the No. 9 Ultimate Charger Dodge. In addition, Evernham fields the No. 98 Dodge for driver Erin Crocker in the ARCA Series.
Ray Evernham is looking to the future by promoting driver development. In 2007, Evernham announced the signing of 17-year old Kevin Swindell (son of sprint car legend Sammy Swindell) to a driver development program that will include driving races for Kasey Kahne Racing and Gillett Evernham Motorsports.
In 2006, the media voted Evernham the Greatest Crew Chief of All Time. An honor Evernham believes to be his highest recognition to date.
In the past six seasons, Evernham Motorsports has blazed a new trail in performance. By creating an environment where technology and racing are co-dependent, Evernham has set a new standard in the industry beyond the race track.
His journey may have started as a driver with an impassioned desire to succeed, but it has been his ability to take calculated risks and passion for leading edge performance that continues to put Ray Evernham in the winner’s circle.
