Rough Weekend In Crandon

8-5-06 The 2006 World Championship Off-Road Races in Crandon are in their 37th year. The entire city of Crandon, population 1,980, gets revved up for the big weekend. Kicking off the 3 day event is a parade in downtown Crandon. All the truck & buggies are lined up along the main street, following the parade all are escorted back to the Crandon International Raceway. Once there the trucks competing in the BorgWarner Shootout start their time trials for their starting position.

Evan and his crew parked his truck in front the county courthouse with fellow Forest County Potawatomi team-mates of Jeff Kinciad and his #1 Pro-Lite, Johnny Greaves and his #22 Pro4 and Ben Wandahsega and his Sportsman 2 truck. After the great parade Evan headed back to the track for the BorgWarner Shootout time trials. On the first lap Evan’s sway bar broke and didn’t record a lap time and had to start in the back of the pack for the shootout. Back in the pits the crew was busy fixing the truck for the next days race.

Saturday’s races got off to a bad start with Jeff Vernig’s Light Buggy crashing in turn one, resulting in a red flag and total race restart. Turn one would prove to be a tough one all weekend for all classes of racers. Trucks again got tangled on turn one in the Pro2 race right in front of Evan and contact bent his A-arm. Evan got going again in 12th place. He was quick to move up to 9th in the first lap. In the second, lap two trucks got tangled near the start/finish line and Evan was able to go around them and move up to 7th. He was able to work his way up to 6th when contact with Carl Renezeder pushed Evan into a rut that broke the sway bar (again). Evan was able to finish in 9th place with not much control over the truck but was happy to finish, “That’s better than a DNF!”.

Sunday Evan got off to a great start and worked his way up tp 3rd place on the second lap. He did a perfect spin by the sky boxes, but by the time the truck was pointing the right way again, he had lost 4 positions. Not slowing a bit or allowing Dan Vandenhuevel a pass, Evan started pulling away. Then, in the “Toyo Tire Chicane” Evan lost the ring & pinion gear and was out of the race.

The big race of the weekend was the Borg Warner Shootout that awards the winner a $125,000 cup, big prize money and bragging rights for the entire year. Not having a qualifying time, Evan had to start in the back of the pack, behind past winner Johnny Greaves. The first turn proved to be troublesome once again as Johnny Greaves came into the turn on two wheels and rolled and flipped across the track. Spotters and fans were expecting a red flag and a restart of the race, but that didn’t happen. On the white flag lap Evan was in 14th place when a 14" boulder hit the drive line and he wasn’t able to finish the race, but did come in 6th in the Pro2 trucks. Evan said “the track was rougher than ever before”.

It’s back to his California shop to get ready for the last two weekend of the CORR season, racing at Chula Vista, CA.