11/25/2004

"RICHIE!" BOOK EXCERPT

Following is an excerpt from "RICHIE!" by Bones Bourcier. It is copyright protected and cannot be altered in any way, by any means, without the written consent of the copyright holder. Permission is granted to Mark Southcott to copy, without change and without keystroking, this excerpt for one-time posting on his website. James Rigney, Coastal 181 Editor 

WINNING 

"One night near the end of my career," says the great Bill Wimble, "I was racing at Albany-Saratoga. It was a long race, a 100-lapper maybe. Early on, in my mirror, I could see Richie coming. Well, he must have tried to pass me for 90 of those 100 laps. We weren't fighting for the lead, but we did battle really hard for probably third position. He never got by, but what impressed me was that he never, ever gave up. I've seen very few drivers as bull-dogged about what they're trying to do as Richie was in that race. And there's one other thing: We never did touch. It was a good, hard, clean, fair race. I remember thinking to myself for the first time that night, 'This guy has got something that most drivers don't have.' I could feel that." 

Wimble pauses. "See, once you've run that close with a guy for that long a time, you can recognize those who are really good and those who maybe aren't as good. I had run with Richie quite a few times by then, of course, and I had watched him race in the lower-division cars before he ever got into modifieds, so I knew that he was good. But I never really recognized just how good he was until that night at Albany-Saratoga." 

Evans's friend and crewman Wilbur Jones recalls a similar epiphany: "I can't say I ever noticed Richie getting better. It was a little bit like watching grass grow; all of a sudden you've got a lawn." 

By the closing years of the 1960s, there was no doubting that Evans had become a terrific driver, one capable of beating the best from time to time. "I remember him winning some of the 100-lappers and some midweek special races [at Albany-Saratoga]," says Robin Pemberton. "You could tell he was good." 

The problem was, Evans only seemed able to win from time to time. There were still too many nights when his car didn't handle, too many nights when the feature ended with his orange coupe in the pits, oil or water or both leaking out as it sat crackling from the battle. 

His was the curse of every talented young racer not born into money: Richie Evans had grown far better than his equipment. He didn't have the technical side of racing - the chassis, the tires - mapped out the way the big winners did, and he didn't have time to learn that stuff because he was always attending to burnt pistons, busted cranks, thrown rods and broken rockers. From the scraps, he would piece together his next engine, and, predictably, the next engine would meet the same smoky end. 

Billy Nacewicz, still a few years away from working with Evans but already a familiar face, says, "I remember Richie praying that he could just get one good, reliable engine. It didn't necessarily have to be the most powerful engine, as long as it would last." 

In time, Evans pulled together enough dough to buy a powerplant from John Clement, a Rochester-area builder who had assembled some winning mills for Merv Treichler and others. "I went and picked it up for him," Fred Ulrich said. "It was a big-block, like everybody ran back then, and it was a hell of a motor." 

Source:  Bones Bourcier, Coastal 181 - James Rigney
Posted:  November 25, 2004