Roger Walker Evans (born December 3, 1938) is an American former professional off road racing driver and member of the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame. He was also a driver and owner in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

. Nicknamed "The Legend", he is the father of off-road racer Evan Evans.Biography
at the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame He resides in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

Racing career

Off-road

Born in Cedar Lake,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, Evans began his off-road career in cross-country events in

SCORE International SCORE International (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) is an off-road racing sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE International was purchased from Sal Fish in late 2012. and is run b ...

events, including the premier event: the

Baja 500 The Baja 500 is a Mexican off-road motorsport race on the Baja California Peninsula that is sanctioned by SCORE International. The course has remained relatively the same over the years with the majority of events being a loop race starting and fi ...

. His first sample of racing was in 1969, when he drove a

Rambler American The Rambler American is a compact car that was manufactured by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) between 1958 and 1969. The American was the second incarnation of AMC forerunner Nash Motors' compact Rambler that was introduced in 1950 a ...

for the

American Motors American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

and actor

James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy ...

sponsored team to a third-place finish in the

. 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. He won the Baja 1000 five times. He has 142 total victories and 21 championship titles in off-road desert and short course racing. He has multiple overall wins in the

, Baja 1000, Fireworks 250,

Mint 400 The Mint 400 is an annual American desert off-road race which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was resumed in 2008 after a 20-year hiatus. The race was for both motorcycles, until 1977, and four-wheel vehicles ( buggies, cars and trucks) s ...

, and Parker 400. He added the

Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group The Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG) was a sanctioning body for an American short course off-road racing series that took place inside stadiums. Some events were televised, including on TNN and ESPN. History Mickey Thompson raced desert ...

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 first

SODA Soda or SODA may refer to: Chemistry * Some chemical compounds containing sodium ** Sodium carbonate, washing soda or soda ash ** Sodium bicarbonate, baking soda ** Sodium hydroxide, caustic soda ** Sodium oxide, an alkali metal oxide * Sod ...

race in 1986 at the

Lake Geneva Raceway Lake Geneva Raceway (also LGR) was a motocross, demolition derby, off-road racing, stock car, and kart racing racetrack in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, US. It was billed as "Wisconsin's Busiest Racetrack." The track closed on December 31, 2006, and ...

in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He won the 1994 and 1995 Class-8 (two-wheel drive) championships in SODA. He met fellow competitor Brendan Gaughan during his SODA days. He moved to CORR 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. 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 to Moab.

NASCAR

Racing

Evans decided to try his hand as a driver/owner in the newly formed

SuperTruck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based Stock Car, stock cars. The s ...

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.

Team ownership

He continued his Walker Evans Racing team after his retirement. He hired former

and CORR competitor Brendan 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.

Halls of Fame

Evans was inducted in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2015, he was inducted in the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, ...

.Walker Evans
at the

In 2022, he was inducted into the SEMA Hall Of Fame.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

¹ Ineligible for series points

References

External links

Official team website
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Walker 1938 births NASCAR drivers NASCAR team owners Living people Racing drivers from Michigan Off-road racing drivers