By Michael Moore, 2008

With the granting of a drivers license in 1961 it took John little time in getting into racing. Within three years he had built an injected flathead ‘51 Meteor gasser and was racing at Arlington and Mission. By 1969, a front-engined dragster had replaced the Meteor and this was campaigned through ’74 when John joined the rear-engined revolution with a new car running in various classes.

In ’78 pressing business forced John to sell his racecar however he kept in touch with the sport with sponsorship of local racers through his speed shop Street and Strip Engineering. Always wanting to return to racing but without the funds to do it the way he wished, John’s brother George approached the Vancouver based rock group LOVERBOY. In 1984, the biggest dollar west coast sportsman sponsorship agreement and the first with a headlining rock group was signed. Over the next three years John and his wife Darlene and crew members met their sponsor’s expectations traveling coast to coast across Canada and the US competing at all the NHRA National events. During this period one of John’s greatest accomplishments happened when he made it to the semi finals at the Grandnational Molson at Sanair, Quebec. John was the top divisional driver in 1979, ’80,’81 and ’84. It was in this time period that John also purchased G &M Trailers as his next business venture, which remains to this day and is a co-sponsor of the racing. In 1993, Pennzoil signed a five year exclusive with Evans Racing enabling a new car to be built for the 8.90 Super Comp class. Over the next three years the team met with great success winning 60% of their races and a championship. In 1998 John added his brother Bill’s 9.90 S/G Chevy II to the team with Bill doing double duty, driving and crew-chiefing the dragster. A year later the Chevy II was damaged beyond repair however Bill stayed on as crew chief for a couple of more years. By 2003, a new challenge of running consistent seven second passes in NHRA Top Comp interested John so a new 240 car came off the

jig fitted with the Evans standard sb Chev but now supercharged. The driving of the 8.90 car was contracted out.

In 2006, Lucas Oil became Evans Racing’s major sponsor and brother George returned to the team as business manager and driver of the supercharged car resulting in two race wins and a solid finish in the division. For 2008, John has stepped up to six second passes as a new fuel system has been added with one win in early June.. The old supercharged car was sold at the end of 2007 and replaced with a longer chassis for George. Lucas Oil has extended as main sponsor allowing Evans Racing to continue racing in the Pacific Northwest for some time to come.

To do all this for 40 years required (besides money) four other important elements Evans stated: “my partner and wife Darlene, supportive sponsors, my brothers and a great crew”.

Above: Darlene and John