Transplanted from Michigan to Riverside, California, when he was a young kid, Walker Evans always had a strong desire to challenge the world of speed. “Motorcycles, cars, drag boats, I tried them all but desert and stadium racing is where I excel,” stated Evans about his background in the sport. He’s an off-road legend and this year, he was recognized by SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) as the newest member in their Hall of Fame.

It all started in 1969 when TV and movie actor, and serious auto racing enthusiast, James Garner teamed up with industrialist John Crean to develop a factory-backed AMC off-road racing program. They had a fleet of ten expertly prepared AIR “SC/Rambler” cars for competition in Baja, Mexico. Walker was a construction contractor in Riverside, California, and he helped build the engines for them at night after his regular job. The team, “American International Race Team”, put Walker in one of the race vehicles when the assigned driver became ill, and he finished in 3rd place. A great start to his career in racing in the rugged terrain of Baja to say the least.

From there, he received help from off-road racing legend Bill Stroppe in building a Ford pickup for the “Class 8” category, which was reserved for 2-wheel-drive trucks. He saw victory in his very first effort! His wins kept racking up through the early 1970s, winning the tortuous Baja 1000 in 1970, ’71 and ’73. He ran Fords until 1975 when he teamed up with Parnelli Jones in a Chevy. In that effort with PJ, Walker won 11 out of 15 races he entered. An true off-road superstar in the making!

“In 1977, I got involved with Goodyear, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the testing and development of their Wrangler radial tires,” he shared while talking about these early days. And it was while he was at the Riverside Off-Road race where Chrysler’s Dick Maxwell approached Walker about the idea of running a 4×4 Dodge pickup with factory sponsorship. Walker thanked him for the offer, said no, and pointed to Rod Hall, suggested to go talk with him. Walker wanted to stay in the 2WD class, period! In a short time frame after that, the Dodge factory came after Walker again with a contract proposal for a 2WD program, which was after they had also signed up Hall for the 4WD Dodge program. 

A key factor in the reason Walker signed the contract with Chrysler was when he learned that part of the deal included that Keith Black Racing Engines would be building and supplying all his powerplants. “When I first got my contract with the Chrysler Corporation, which was Dick Maxwell,” Walker recalled, “it came with an agreement that Keith Black would build all of our motors.” This allowed Walker and crew to concentrate more on the chassis preparation and all the other various required details needed to professionally campaign a race program. “It had all the power you needed, if there was somebody in front of you, if it was clear enough to see, you could run him down, very quickly, go on and get by him. Because it had great horsepower, it was a dream to drive!” 

The Walker Evans 1978 Dodge D-150 race truck featured a 355-cid A-motor fitted with W-2 Direct Connection cylinder heads, and was equipped with the internals that were much like the NASCAR Winston Cup pieces. However, even with all that new-found Keith Black horsepower, many “insiders” from the off-road racing world thought there was no way Walker could continue his winning streak once he switched to Dodge.

However, there was a great amount of development work put into the suspension systems of the Dodge, including factory help from Chrysler engineer Larry Rathgeb, who was Mopar_®‘s NASCAR suspension guru. With guidance from Rathgeb the crew at Walker’s shop in Riverside was able to get as much wheel travel as possible while keeping the front wheels positioned in the right direction. They built a winner.

“The Baja 1000,” walker remembered when reflecting on his very first Dodge race truck, it was a run of 20 hours, 48 minutes, 986 miles to LaPaz. “Bruce Florio and I climbed in that truck real early in the morning, that truck was the very first truck to win overall, beating all the dune buggies, the motorcycles and everybody, for our first place, overall event. Very proud of that!”

The Baja races were long endurance runs, but the short course track at Riverside International Raceway was where Walker really could show his driving skills, and all very close to his Riverside shop in case the truck needed any major revamping work done to it. Mickey Thompson, who ran the SCORE racing organization, had Walker Evans actually design the Riverside Off-Road course in 1975, with instructions of keeping it all in view for the spectators and with lots of action-packed obstacles.

This is where Evans came up with the “Thompson’s Ridge” that became such a fan favorite for the annual crowds. What it consisted of was an area that paralleled the S-section of the road course, and was a quarter-mile high-banked, off-camber dirt stretch of the track, an unforgettable image for anyone who ever attended! Race drivers had to, if they were run on top, maintain a speed in the 80-100-mph range or the hill’s gravitational pull would suck their vehicles downward to the pavement below!   

In 1983, magazine writer Jean Lindamood from Car and Driver had the opportunity to ride shotgun with Walker at that year’s Frontier 250, held outside of Sloan, Nevada. She described it as “another installment of Insane Things We Do on Purpose.”

In her report, she mentioned that she had had some general warnings about going on that ride in that race truck, but she was going to do it no matter what anyone said. “The person I really should have listened to was Dick Maxwell, Chrysler’s Direct Connection head honcho. I saw him the day after he’d ridden to victory with Walker at the Baja 1000, and he didn’t look very good. The truck, Maxwell said, had caught on fire during the race. ‘Lindamood, I’m getting too old for this shit,’ he added.”

Walker told her before the race the following: “If you throw up or pee your pants, I ain’t stopping.” In her yarn about the event, she adds: “As we leave, I realize that I’ve forgotten to go to the bathroom.” Once running and experiencing what the rough and tumble world of off-road racing is all about, she adds this: “We are charging blindly through a dust storm that lasts the length of the dry lake bed. I look at the tach: 5800 rpm. Good God! That’s over 110 miles per hour, and we don’t have a clue what’s in here with us.” They won the race. 

After my times photographing off-road races, both in desert and stadium competitions, Walker Evans Racing went on to continue to race the Dodge Ram Trucks, including with the newly designed V-10 powered machines. Brian Stewart won the 1994 winning at the Baja 1000 with it. Walker Evans continued to race off-road, winning all the way to 1999 and picking up the CORR Championship. Over the course of his off-road racing career, he’d driven in USA (California, Nevada, Wisconsin primarily), Mexico, Canada, plus Guam. Space doesn’t allow listing all his wins and racing accomplishments! In total, 142 victories, 21 championships. He also raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for a brief while as a pioneering builder in the new division.

Walker retired from full-time off-road racing in 2000 and one way to accurately summarize his career on the dirt is as follows: He had the uncanny ability to drive his expertly prepared race vehicles over the toughest terrains – and at an incredible rate of speed, while preventing the machine from self-destructing!

After active off-road competition, he couldn’t stay away from the rocks, mud and dirt, and immediately got involved in extreme rock-crawling in places like Johnson Valley, California, and also made his way to Moab, Utah, for trail and safari activities. Today, he and his long-time Team Manager Randy Anderson are in the business of manufacturing off-road racing shock absorbers and racing wheels for the O.E. industry and aftermarket. Each year, these products are represented at the Annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas. With that, he remains highly involved in the off-road community and makes numerous public appearances at gatherings and events. A true living legend who did lots to successfully race and promote Dodge trucks through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s! www.walkerevansracing.com

Over the years, Walker Evans Racing competed in these off-road racing organizations:

• SCORE (Short Course Off-Road Enthusiasts)
• SCORE-International (Southern California Off-Road Enterprises)
• MTEG (Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group)
• HDRA (High Desert Racing Association)
• NORRA (National Off-Road Racing Association)
• SODA (Short-Course Off-Road Drivers Association)
• CORR (Championship Off-Road Racing)

Author: James Maxwell

Of all the things Walker Evans had accomplished in off-road racing over the years, the visual of his big powerful Dodge Ram flying through the air best summarizes his legacy.

One’s got to hand it to the ad agency! Someone or by committee, certainly had some creative and daring fun in wordsmithing the headline for this full-page magazine ad from 1983. Talk about really telling it like it is!

Running the short-wheelbase Dodge Ram D-150 stepside truck, albeit heavily modified for off-road competition, here’s a shot from the Famous Riverside Off-Road Championships circa 1983. Rough Country was among his long-time sponsors, and up from on each side there’s four re-buildable “B-MK.V” inverted shocks, 12-inch travel. State-of-the-art at the time!

This Pennzoil GT Performance Oil magazine ad from 1984 highlighted both Walker’s Class 8 (2-Wheel-Drive) race vehicle and his “pre-runner” vehicle, which he used to pre-run the race course in places like Baja, Mexico. The pre-runner was set up with similar equipment as the race machine but with room for passengers (was fitted with three Recaro seats), a cooler and with air conditioning!

Handed out at the 1982 SEMA Show, the new 1983 Direct Connection parts catalog featured Walker’s flying Step-Side on the cover and inside featured the various “go fast” engine components (including W-2 cylinder heads) that end-users could purchase to increase their Dodge trucks.

Carroll Shelby was brought in to Chrysler with Lee Iacocca’s blessings during this time frame and his name was featured on the cover of this 1983 booklet. Inside the pages, both Walker Evans and Rod Hall provided off-road tips on building up a Dodge truck for the Baja. 

The “Buy Now…Play Later” Direct Connection poster featured (besides Claudia!) Walker’s flyin’ stepside Class 8 Dodge Ram.

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With Walker’s association with Chrysler, he also gained sponsorship (for a brief timeframe from “Hamm’s Beer” in 1981 as seen in this ad slick from Rough Country). Note the RC yellow leaf springs, made with experimental composite material, they did not survive the severities of off-road racing.

The August 1985 edition of Off-Road Advertiser features the stepside, now with “Barbary Coast” side markings, which became a long-time sponsor. Note the long-travel shocks peeking through the hood.

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The pit action was intense during this Mint 400 Nevada event I traveled to in 1985, the big Dodge Ram storming into and out of the remote pit area with tire changing and quick, cool refreshments for Walker and co-driver. Sure, some front end damage, all part of the grueling race in which Walker had won in 1973, ’77, ’78, ’80, ’81, ’83, ’84 and ’86! 

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“The guys say that in the Baja you can hear Walker before you can see him, and all the Mexican kids holler, ‘Walk-air! Walk-air!’ as he comes flying past.” From the Car and Driver 4/84 story on “Off-Road with Walker Evans.” 

This action shot shows the newly-installed air conditioning system, which included plexiglas side windows installed as the way to pressurize the cab, and keep Walker and co-driver clean and cool throughout the race.

Off-road racing enthusiasts always wanted to show the colors of their favorite teams, here’s Walker with team members (including Vicki Hall to his right, Daughter Kelli to his left) with the available golf shirts, jerseys, T-shirts, tank tops, caps and visors. Without question one of the most popular teams in the sport.

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In addition to running the big Class 8 machines, the factory also wanted to make a presence in the then-immensely-popular mini-truck category, which were designated as “Class 7” trucks in off-road competition. Here’s the “Ram 50” that at the time was imported from Mitsubishi, from the 1984 and ’86 running of the Riverside Off-Road World Championship.

This 1987 shot has an updated “Ram 50” with Walker battling for position with Sherman Balch in the Electramotive Nissan. 

Always experimenting and innovating, the Walker Evans Racing shop, with Randy Anderson as crew chief, fabricated a cooling system this year, 1985, which relocated the engine radiator to the roll cage supports in the bed, thus moving weight to the back and keeping it out of harm’s way in the event of any serious front end crash damages. 

1986 saw this national Pennzoil GT Performance Oil advertisement in popular car magazines, Walker Evans artwork with the notation: Class 8 S.C.O.R.E. Champion, Class 8 HDRA Champion.

During a hot and heavy “practice” run which all participants took very seriously, here’s the Keith Black-powered Dodge out in front. Walker dominated the session, Riverside was his playground!

On the stretch of the famous “Thompson’s Ridge” section of the Riverside off-road course that he designed for Mickey Thompson, here’s the Fleetside Dodge Ram flying the Direct Connection markings at wide-open-throttle “full chat” high-up on the track!

With wife, Phyllis, on board, Walker is out on the “parade lap” prior to the 1986 “Hungus Heavy Metal Challenge” which he won…

And on the last lap of that ’86 feature main event at Riverside, it clearly showed evidence that this can be a “contact sport!” The banging of doors, the bump-and-crash nature of the close racing is definitely part of what it takes take to win. This was his 10th world title in Class 8 competition.

Fall Enterprises, who put together the Rough Country advertising, came up with this colorful ad for the trade publications, complete with his “pre-runner” Dodge Ramcharger with his daughter in a more glamorous setting than what he’s normally used to while running all-out in the wilds of the Baja.

“An American Performance Revolution” were the advertising buzzwords of the day for Dodge consumer advertising, circa 1986, this one featuring Walker’s truck with him and 4WD Dodge racer Rod Hall featured. The copy read: “Over the last eight years, Dodge has won more off-road truck championships than any other manufacturer around.”

The Dodge Motorsports press kit folder done up with a creative eye, complete with a vintage shot of Walker with his scrambler competition motorcycle! 

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The Dakota was a wild, almost too powerful monster at Riverside in 1987! The switch to a “mid-size” pickup was exciting, plus it had a big surprise under the hood, 452 cubic inches of Dave Koffel “B-1” big-block wedge power. Venolia pistons, Crower rods. All other tech specs were secret!

The suspension of the Dakota included hand-built gas-charged shocks, 17 inches of travel in the front, 34 inches of travel in the rear. The thing flew! 

The refined 1988 version of the Dodge Dakota race truck was total state-of-the-art in every area. Watching Walker run it around the Riverside course at high speeds was a display of high-horsepower, engineered suspension and precision driving all in one off-road package, a potent Mopar package! 

At this point in time, Walker, at age 53, was the oldest in the MTEG Series and had the physical stamina of drivers half his age, with his hard-charging driving style others sought to emulate. His Dodge Team won the 1991 series championship.

The Dakota stadium trucks ran a fuel-injected 3000cc 2V six-cylinder engine, which developed 325 horsepower. A one-speed racing transmission was incorporated, as was a Dana 60 rear with 4.10:1 gearing. It ran on a 114-inch wheelbase and was well engineered.

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After the Dodge Dakota team had taken second place in the Manufacturers and Driver’s Championships two years in a row, and won the 1991 titles. “It is go-for-it 100-percent,” said Walker after winning.

The LA Memorial Coliseum was the birthplace of off-road stadium racing back in 1979, and over the years a fan favorite – the double Peristyle jumps a major part of the reason! The unique “dual lane” layout offers drivers two separate ways up and around that upper section, one longer and faster, the other shorter and but slower.  

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In order to provide Dodge a true “Team Effort”, Walker Evans brought in other capable drivers, including Brian Stewart, Ivan Stewart’s son. Very talented behind the wheel, he also at the time was a stunt driver for the TV industry.

The Dakota was a “unique” fit for Dodge in off-road racing, it was small enough to race in the stadium events and big enough to race in the big Class 8 category in the desert. How? With a six-cylinder for MTEG and with V8 power for the long endurance races.

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Part of his contract with Chrysler included taking on the task of building and driving Jeep_® Comanche race trucks. He was, as a result, a big part of the Jeep Motorsports program of the day. And he won with them!

The “Dodge Ram” of Walker Evans Racing with the Blue and White paint, rainbow stripes and large “Goodyear” logo on the front fenders was a familiar sight on off-roading for decades, it did lots to promote the brand as a rugged, tough “Baja Beating” line of pickups. 

While Walker was racing in the unlimited Class 1 category, Class 8 driving duties went to team member Brian Stewart, shown here storming through the Baja at the 1992 Baja 500.

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Here’s the big Dodge Ram after another finish at a Baja race, Walker knew the terrain and what it took to survive it, and win!

This action shot of the Class 1 version shows the extreme amount of wheel travel built into the suspension from and rear. By this stage, the shock absorbers were totally purpose-built and specifically designed for all-out punishment … then rebuilt after the event.

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San Diego-based Scott Douglas took over the Dakota truck for Walker Evans Racing and ran in Class 7, and promptly won the 1992 HDRA Championship! 

Back when Walker was doing shock absorber R&D work circa the late 1970s, and being sponsored by Rough Country, the top customers were rewarded with a specially designed bronze belt bucket depicting Walker’s stepside Dodge. “Rough Country” lettering appeared on his trucks for many years.

Even with his hustling business of shock absorbers and racing wheels, Walker still enjoys sharing about the “glory days” of dominating with the various Dodge Ram trucks he campaigned “back in the day.”

Today. he’s into the rock crawling scene and a number of enthusiasts in that community run the bead-lock wheels he and Randy Anderson manufacture. www.walkerevansracing.com 

Conquering the Baja, early days with the Dodge D-150 before the switch to the “rainbow” two-tone blue and white paint scheme.

Walker at Riverside in 1979 on Thompson’s Ridge, early on with the Dodge, prior to the factory marketing name change to “Dodge Ram.”