RICHARD ERNEST "RICHIE" EVANS - 07/23/1941 - 10/24/1985
Evans left his family's farm in Westernville, New York at age 16 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, 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, 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. He 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 won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including winning the Race of Champions three times. On October 24,1985, Evans, who had clinched the 1985 National Modified title the week before at Thompson, was practicing for the Dogwood 500 event at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, when he crashed heavily in turn 3. The 44-year-old perished in the accident. The racing world was devastated by the loss of Richie, but his devoted fans have done much to keep his memory alive. Years later other deaths came in the Whelen Modifieds including Charlie Jarzombek at Martinsville in 1987, Corky Cookman at Thompson in 1987, Don Pratt at the Pocono R.o.C. in 1989, Tony Jankowiak at Stafford in 1990, Tom
Baldwin, Sr. at Thompson in 2004, and John Blewett III at Thompson in 2007. As a result, officials made more safety features. Evans' crash, along with other fatal crashes in the late 1980s, led to questions about excessive frame rigidity of the Tour Modifieds, and safety changes resulted. In particular, straight frame rails were phased out, with new chassis required to have a step-up which could bend in hard impacts rather than transmitting all its impact force to the driver. Though not recognized at the time, many racing safety experts have concluded that Evans' death resulted from the same type of "head-whip" injury and resultant Basil skull fracture, which also claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. On June 14, 2011, Evans was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He is the first driver who competed primarily in Modified-type cars to be elected
to the Hall Of Fame. Evans was the father of 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. Some info from Wikipedia
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