Richie Evans NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction and Press Conference Transcript

MIKE JOY: No one in the history of this sport epitomized the dual virtues of work hard, play hard like Richie Evans. Spectacular driver, skilled chassis designer and builder, partier, prankster. We’re at Martinsville for one of those big double-headers, and on the thin taillight panel of Richie’s Pinto is a mail slot, a brass one with a flap that opens for the postman to put the letters in like the one on your front door, and it’s hooked to a piece of hot air heating duct.

When it was a little quiet, I said, Richie, I don’t know much about aerodynamics, but I know that isn’t going to create a whole lot of downforce; why is it there? He looks around and nobody is near us, and he leans in and he says, “Because when they all walk by looking at that, they’re not looking somewhere else.”

And to this day, 25, 26 years after his passing, everybody in modified racing will tell you that there is not one of those drivers that raced by the grace of God in 600 horsepower near as good as the Rapid Roman, Richie Evans.

BILLY NACEWICZ: I hope everyone is having a good time tonight. I would like to take a moment and congratulate this year’s inductees. Together these five men have won 24 NASCAR championships and close to 1,000 races. What an incredible feat by an outstanding class.

Richie’s induction into the Hall of Fame represents the first driver inductee from outside of NASCAR’s top series. As you’ve heard, Rickie was a nine-time champion, including eight in a row, in NASCAR’s oldest division, the modifieds.

Growing up on his parents’ farm in upstate New York, Richie left the farm to work and eventually owned his own service stations. It was there that he began his racing career.

Building hotrods to drag race at local tracks, Richie lined his service station walls with trophies. I remember his last drag car, a 427 ’54 Ford that was nearly unbeatable. A friend suggested that he try stock car racing at the newly build Utica Rome Speedway where he could race for money instead of just trophies. Taking his advice, he and his friends cut up that old drag car and made a stock car.

Now, having watched him race the first couple years at Utica Rome, I remember mentioning to his friends, it’s too bad he cut that drag car up because he’s never going to take it in stock car racing. Well, we can see where that came out. With hard work and perseverance Richie began winning races.

In 1973, he was noticed by a man who would become his long-time sponsor and friend, Gene DeWitt. Gene would later say that in Richie he saw a diamond in the rough. With Gene’s help, Richie was able to showcase his talents, his diversity, by winning on NASCAR’s biggest tracks like Daytona and Pocono to its smallest ones like Islip, Long Island, and North Carolina’s own Bowman Gray Stadium.

Richie loved the modifieds. With the respect of his competitors and promoters, he became the face of the division. Richie was a person that if you ever met him, he would have left a lasting impression.

As Richie’s crew chief for 11 years, he left me with two lifelong lessons, one, a hard work ethic, and two, to enjoy whatever you’re doing, because he would later say, we’re all just passing through. It is now my honor on this 20th day of January, 2012, to present the Hall of Fame inductee ring and officially induct NASCAR’s greatest modified driver into the Hall of Fame. Accepting his induction, please welcome Richie’s wife, Lynn Evans.

LYNN EVANS: Good evening. Rich, I’ve had to do a lot of things for you over the years, but this time I wish you could be here to accept this honor.

I know you’re here in spirit as the No. 61 appears often in my life, even as I checked into the hotel, the number 61 came up. I’d like to congratulate Dale Inman, Cale Yarborough, Glen Wood and Darrell Waltrip at being inducted in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame class 2012 with Rich. Rich would be so honored and humbled to be included with the inductees, past, present and future. What a great honor.

I’d also like to thank the nominating committee for including Rich. With so many deserving people the task must have been difficult. I’d especially like to thank the Hall of Fame voting panel for stepping outside the box and making Rich the first driver inductee not to have raced in NASCAR’s top series full-time. You have now given hope to thousands of NASCAR competitors throughout the country to maybe someday reach their dream.

I’d like to thank NASCAR for providing a stage for competitors to showcase their talents and for the media for bringing that stage to millions of fans. Every champion driver has a championship team. Rich started with the late Gene DeWitt, his longtime sponsor and friend, who along with the family, Byron, Linda and Jamie, helped fulfill his dream. I’d like to thank them along with crew chief BILLY NACEWICZ and all of Richie’s crews over the years, many whom are here tonight.

Last but not least, I’d like to say thanks to all of his fans who have kept his memory alive. Racing four or five times a week enabled Rich to build a huge fan following. Rich liked nothing better than to share a story with his friends after a race. One of the things he was most proud of was being voted most popular driver nine times while still enjoying success on the track. Thank you again for honoring Rich.

An Interview With Lynn Evans and Billy Nacewicz

THE MODERATOR: We have two special people up here that are representing a very unique inductee, and that is the late Richie Evans. We have Lynn Evans, his wife, and his crew chief, Billy Nacewicz. Congratulations, and thank you for joining us here tonight. Lynn, you gave quite an eloquent talk up there this evening talking about Rich and maybe what he might be thinking from above. Just talk about maybe your thoughts here today and the last few days, having seen the culmination of him being able to come into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. What’s your thoughts about that?

LYNN EVANS: I mean, we’re just — I’m speechless. Not that he didn’t work hard, not that he shouldn’t be here, but it just happened so soon. There’s so many other greats that we figured maybe sometime down the road he definitely would, but not this soon, and we’re just thrilled and honored. He worked hard. He would be so proud of himself. And I thank, as I said in my speech tonight, news media, you helped so much, favorably quite about him, and he loved it. He was the first to pick up that magazine or the newspaper and read about himself. So I want to thank you all.

THE MODERATOR: Billy, I know you were very close to him and worked as his crew chief for 11 years. What are some of the things as you look back being able to work alongside now a Hall of Famer? What are some of the things that you remember most working with Richie Evans?

BILLY NACEWICZ: One of the things is as he would say in his previous video that he was at the shop just about every minute that his guys were there working at it. He was that dedicated. He wasn’t one to stay home and come in three or four hours later or leave early. He was there from when the shop opened until the shop closed at night. Like he said, if I can do that, my guys will be dedicated and they’ll try to — that’s where I learned that work ethic, from him.

It was a pleasure working with him. You could learn a lot. He was a very practical — had a lot of common sense, which some people seem to lack, especially in our government, sometimes. He was one that had a lot of common sense, and you could learn from him if you just listened.

Q. For Lynn, you went out of your way in your speech and kind of stepped outside the box. When you first heard about this NASCAR Hall of Fame, before today it had been so much directed towards the national series. Did you think Richie would have an opportunity to be a part of it?

LYNN EVANS: You can only hope and pray. I hoped that someday he would. He certainly deserved to be, accomplished nine championships and nine most popular drivers, numerous track championships, so I thought that maybe someday down the road he would, but I never expected it to be this soon. In fact, we often talked, and I thought, I’d be in my grave — in fact, I told my children, your dad may get in someday but I may not be here to see it, so you’re going to have to step up to the plate and accept his award.

Q. This is for Billy. As you’re sitting there tonight listening to them talk about Dale Inman, the winningest crew chief of all time on the Cup side with 193 wins, just what was it like to be racing that much to be as dominant as you guys were?

BILLY NACEWICZ: It was a lot of fun, for one thing. It’s always fun when you’re winning. When you get to the top of your profession, which Richie was at that point, things seem to go a little easier for you, you’re not struggling as much, so it can become a fun time.

Winning is always fun. I was with him probably for, I don’t know, close to 400 wins, somewhere in the 350 to 400 range of those wins. You know, it’s tough to lose. I don’t know how other to explain it, but it was a very enjoyable time.

Q. Did having him behind the wheel help overcome some of the times when the car wasn’t that fast?

BILLY NACEWICZ: Yeah, he was a driver’s driver, and if we happened to miss the setup, he was somebody that could make up for it, to a certain degree. I drove the car once in a test session, and just to be out there all by myself, I thought, you’ve got to be kidding me. These guys — Richie started like 24th or 18th because they did reverse starts up north, and you got 30 laps or 50 laps to get to the front with 25, 30 other drivers out there. I says, you’ve got to be kidding me; how do they do this? It’s incredible. I was out there by myself and couldn’t hardly keep it on the track.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your local fans and all the support they’ve brought over the years to you?

LYNN EVANS: Well, of course, I met Rich in 1970. I kind of laugh because I actually kind of was into motorcycles, and so when he told me or I had heard that he was a race car driver, I just thought, from Rome, New York? I think he did have a following then. They were very proud of him. He was racing Utica Rome speedway on Fulton, and those people are here tonight, that small group of people are here tonight. Charily Houseman, we used to go over Sunday night and play cards with he and his wife and about three or four other couples before Richie’s racing schedule got so busy, so we’ve been friends a long time.

THE MODERATOR: Lynn and Billy, thank you so much for being here, and again, congratulations on this honor, and all the best of rest of this year.