Richard Ernest Evans (July 23, 1941[1] – October 24, 1985), was an American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists this achievement as "one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports".[2] Evans won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including winning the Race of Champions three times.[1] Evans was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on June 14, 2011. As one of the Class of 2012, Evans was one of the Hall's first 15 inductees, and was the first Hall of Famer from outside the now NASCAR Cup Series.
Early career
Evans left his family's farm in Westernville, New York at age 16[3] to work at a local garage in Rome, New York. After he found early success in street racing, then became a winner in drag racing, a local stock car racer, Chuck Mahoney, suggested he try building a car to race at the nearby Utica-Rome Speedway. He ran his first oval-track car, a 1954 Ford Hobby Stock, numbered PT-109 (after John F. Kennedy's torpedo boat in World War II), in 1962. He advanced to the Modified division, the premier short track division. In 1965, winning his first feature in the season's final night.[4]
National championships
In 1973, Evans became the NASCAR National Modified Champion. In 1978, the "Rapid Roman" won a second title and did not relinquish his crown during the next seven years. Evans took over four hundred feature race wins at racetracks from Quebec to Florida before he died in a crash at Martinsville Speedway while practicing for the Winn-Dixie 500 tripleheader in late 1985 (three races in one day—a 200-lap Modified race, a 200-lap Busch Series race, and a 100-lap Late Model race). Before his crash, Evans had clinched NASCAR's inaugural Winston Modified Tour (now known as Whelen Modified Tour) championship a week earlier at Thompson, Connecticut.
Regional championships
In 1982, NASCAR created the Whelen All-American Series, then known as the Winston Racing Series, to reward successful short-track racers and to provide incentives for them to support their local weekly short tracks, known now as NASCAR Home Tracks.
He was Holland Speedway's first NASCAR champion (1982). Evans won the Northeast Region championship all four years that he competed in it, from 1982 through 1985, but did not win the national championship.[5]
Fatal crash and legacy
On October 24, 1985, Evans, who had clinched the 1985 National Modified title the week before at Thompson, was practicing for the Winn-Dixie 500 Modified race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia (the races featured 200-lap Modified and Busch Grand National, and a 100-lap Late Model feature). He crashed heavily into the concrete retaining wall in Turn 3, and perished in the accident.
Evans' signature paint scheme, truck fleet color Swamp Holly Orange, began with "borrowed" paint from the local highway department garage.
NASCAR named him as one of the sports' 50 Greatest Drivers during its 50th anniversary year in 1998. On January 20, 2012, Evans was inducted into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame.
He is survived by wife Lynn and six children: Jodi Lynn (Evans) Meola, Janelle Ralaine (Evans) Walda, Jill Ann Evans, Jacqueline Marie (Evans) Williams, Richard Edwin Evans (who has raced under the moniker "Richie Evans Jr.") and Tara Denise (Evans) Farrell.
Awards and honors
Track championships
(30 championships at 11 tracks in 4 states. All were in the Modified division on paved tracks.)[4]
NASCAR Winston Racing Series Northeast Region Champion (1982–1985)
New Smyrna World Series of Racing Modified Champion (1977, 1979–1981, 1983–1984)
2-time Daytona International Speedway Modified Race winner (1979–1980)
3-time Modified Race of Champions winner
1973 – Trenton (NJ) Speedway (1.50 mile track)
1979 – Pocono (PA) Raceway (2.50 mile track)
1980 – Pocono (PA) Raceway (0.75 mile track)
Feature race victories
(518 feature wins known = 516 in Modifieds, 1 in Limited Sportsmen, and 1 in Supermodifieds, at 40 tracks in 12 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces).[4]
^ abcdefghBourcier, Bones. RICHIE!: The Fast Life and Times of NASCAR's Greatest Modified Driver (1st ed., 2004). Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA: Coastal 181. ISBN0-9709854-6-0.
^Schaefer, Paul. Where Stars Are Born: Celebrating 25 Years of NASCAR Weekly Racing. Coastal 181, Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA, 2006. pp. 8, 14–15, 20–22, 27–28.
^Hall of Fame page of FOAR Score (Friends of Auto Racing) website "FOAR SCORE HALL OF FAME". Archived from the original on 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2007-04-10., retrieved 16 April 2007.
^Schaefer, Paul. Where Stars Are Born: Celebrating 25 Years of NASCAR Weekly Racing. Coastal 181, Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA, 2006. pp. 163–170.
