| Walker Evans | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Evans in 2019 | |||||||
| Born | (1938-12-03)December 3, 1938 Cedar Lake, Michigan, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | August 2, 2025(2025-08-02) (aged 86) | ||||||
| Achievements | 21Offroad Racing Championships, includingSODA andCORR 9Baja 1000 class wins | ||||||
| Awards | Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame (2004) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America[1] (2015) West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame (2017) | ||||||
| NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 41 races run over 2 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 14th (1995) | ||||||
| First race | 1995Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic (Phoenix) | ||||||
| Last race | 1996GM Goodwrench / AC Delco 300 (Phoenix) | ||||||
| |||||||
Roger Walker Evans (December 3, 1938 – August 2, 2025) was an American professionaloff road racing driver and member of theOff-road Motorsports Hall of Fame. He was also a driver and owner in theNASCARCraftsman Truck Series. Nicknamed "The Legend", he was the father of off-road racerEvan Evans.[2]
Born inCedar Lake, Michigan, Evans began his off-road career in cross-country events inSCORE International events, including the premier event: theBaja 500. His first sample of racing was in 1969, when he drove aRambler American for theAmerican Motors and actorJames Garner sponsored team to a third-place finish in theBaja 500.[2] His first purpose built race truck was Ford F-100 donated by Marion Beaver at Parker Motor Company and built by Bill Stroppe. The truck won 16 of 17 races.[citation needed] He won theBaja 1000 nine times.[3]
He had 142 total victories and 21 championship titles in off-road desert and short course racing.[2] He had multiple overall wins in theBaja 500,Baja 1000,Fireworks 250,Mint 400, andParker 400.
He added theMickey Thompson Entertainment Group Stadium Series events to his schedule to enhance his horizons. The series featured indoor races inside a stadium. The Walker Evans Racing Team won the MTEG Grand National Championship in 1999.He won his firstSODA race in 1986 at theLake Geneva Raceway inLake Geneva, Wisconsin. He won the 1994 and 1995 Class-8 (two-wheel drive) championships in SODA. He met fellow competitorBrendan Gaughan during his SODA days. He moved toCORR when most of the SODA drivers switched series. He finished with his SODA career with three overall victories and 31 class wins. He was champion of CORR's highest division, Pro-4, in 1999.[4] He won three races and the CORR Pro-4 championship in 2000 in his final full-time season in CORR before retirement from short-track off-road racing.
Around 1999 he began entering rock crawling events after a promotional trip toMoab.
Evans decided to try his hand as adriver/owner in the newly formedNASCARSuperTruck Series in 1995. He had one Top 10 finish in 18 races, and he finished 14th in the final points standings. He had three Top 10 finishes in 23 events in 1996, and he finished 17th in the overall points standings.[5]
He continued his Walker Evans Racing team after his retirement. He hired formerSODA andCORR competitorBrendan Gaughan to race for him in 2002. Gaughan won twice, on his way to the Rookie of the Year title. In 2003, Gaughan was the CTS points leader going into the final race, but was crashed out.
Evans died on August 2, 2025, at the age of 86.[6][7]
Evans was inducted in theOff-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2004.[2] In 2015, he was inducted in theMotorsports Hall of Fame of America.[1] In 2022, he was inducted into the SEMA Hall Of Fame.[8]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| NASCARCraftsman Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | NCTS | Pts | Ref | ||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Walker Evans Racing | 20 | Dodge | PHO 29 | TUS 18 | SGS 21 | MMR 27 | POR 23 | EVG 28 | I70 22 | LVL | BRI 12 | MLW 16 | CNS 10 | HPT 17 | IRP 16 | FLM | RCH 37 | MAR 34 | NWS 28 | SON 13 | MMR 23 | PHO 23 | 14th | 1744 | [9] | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | HOM 28 | PHO 36 | POR 18 | EVG 23 | TUS 18 | CNS 18 | HPT 16 | BRI 10 | NZH 32 | MLW 30 | LVL 26 | I70 24 | IRP 27 | FLM 20 | GLN 10 | NSV 17 | RCH 30 | NHA 14 | MAR 30 | NWS 26 | SON 24 | MMR 9 | PHO 31 | LVS DNQ | 17th | 2224 | [10] | |||||||||||||||||
1 Ineligible for series points