KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE SINCE 1999
Richie Evans
23/7/1941 - 24/10/1985
Probably the greatest modified driver in history, Richie Evans won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. He was killed in a crash at Martinsville Speedway while practicing for the Winn-Dixie 500 Tripleheader in late 1985. He had already secured the inaugural Winston Modified Tour Championship.
Richie Evans died 36 years ago, he was 44 , He would have been 80.
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Richard Ernest Evans, The 'Rapid Roman', 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".Evans left his family's farm at age 16 to work at a local garage. After he found early success in street racing, then became a winner in drag racing, an associate 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 Modifieds, the premier division, in 1965, winning his first feature in the season's final night.
In 1973, Evans became the NASCAR National Modified Champion. In 1978 he 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 was killed 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 fatal crash, Evans had clinched the inaugural Winston Modified Tour (now known as Whelen Modified Tour) championship.
Evans' crash, along with other drivers' fatal crashes in the late 1980s, led to questions about car rigidity with Tour Modifieds and safety changes. In particular, straight frame rails were phased out, with new chassis required to have a step which could bend in hard impacts rather than passing the force to the driver.
The number 61 was officially retired in both NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour divisions out of respect for the late driver.
Evans' son Richie Jr. has raced Modifieds in the Northeast, but in recent years he has raced sporadically, frequently carrying the number 61JR.
Evans' signature orange Modified paint scheme was replicated in 2003 on a Busch Series car driven by New Jersey native Martin Truex, Jr. in his first year on the series driving for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s Chance 2 Motorsports.
wikipedia.org
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Asser Wallenius 1902 - 1971 -
Tony Dean 1932 - 2008 -
John Cordts 1935 -
Jim Hall 1935 -
Dave MacDonald 1936 - 1964
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Ronnie Bucknum 1936 - 1992
Ronnie Bucknum was a Formula One driver who participated in 11 Grands Prix, debuting on August 2, 1964 driving for Honda. After Formula One, Bucknum drove in the USAC Championship Car series, racing between 1967-1970 with 23 starts. He had one win, the 1968 Michigan 500. He also drove a Carroll Shelby GT40 to third place at Le Mans in 1966. He died from complications from diabetes. -
Jim Hall 1935
A former F1 driver, Jim Hall was the owner and driving force of Chaparral Cars. An early adopter of aerodynamics applied to race cars, he was the leading proponent of that technology for an entire decade. He dominated sports car racing in the USA in 1965 winning 16 races. -
Peter Revson 1939 - 1974
Revson was heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune. He was one of the best American sports car drivers of the 1960s. He raced in F1 for McLaren winning the British and Canadian Grands Prix in 1973. He was killed in testing for the 1974 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. -
Derek Bell 1941
A former Formula One driver from England who raced for the Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees and Tecno. Bell is best know for his sportscar racing, winning Le Mans five times and the Daytona 24 hour race, three times. -
Bob Bondurant 1933
Bob Bondurant was a Formula 1 driver who raced for the Ferrari, Lotus, BRM and Eagle teams. Now famous for his racing schools where he continues to teach, time permitting, and race in select vintage racing events.