Evans Karts

[Darvin Jahnke]

I've been doing some research on the Evans Karts using ads in old magazines.In Dec. of 60 I found an ad for Evans Supply Co.,Highland Park,IL. It shows an Evans Special with scrub brakes. In July 61 there is an ad for the Special and the Flyweight,both with disc brakes. The address is still Highland Park. In Nov. 61 there is an ad for Evans International Raceway,home of the Evans Flyweight,with a picture of a race track and it says Evans Supply Co.,main office,plant and competition track,9600 Higgins Rd,Chicago. This is a different address from previous listings. In Sept. 62 an ad saying Evans Kart dealerships available,Mid City Kart Center 222 S. Jefferson,Chicago. I don't find anything after 62. Was the Special discontinued? Was the Kart business sold? Can anyone add to this info or fill in some blanks? Thanks Darv.

[Rod Hytonen]

I've been doing some research on the Evans Karts using ads in old magazines.In Dec. of 60 I found an ad for Evans Supply Co.,Highland Park,IL. It shows an Evans Special with scrub brakes. In July 61 there is an ad for the Special and the Flyweight,both with disc brakes. The address is still Highland Park. In Nov. 61 there is an ad for Evans International Raceway,home of the Evans Flyweight,with a picture of a race track and it says Evans Supply Co.,main office,plant and competition track,9600 Higgins Rd,Chicago. This is a different address from previous listings. In Sept. 62 an ad saying Evans Kart dealerships available,Mid City Kart Center 222 S. Jefferson,Chicago. I don't find anything after 62. Was the Special discontinued? Was the Kart business sold? Can anyone add to this info or fill in some blanks? Thanks Darv.

Hi Darvin -

Try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._C._Evans
and
http://rwatts.cdyn.com/download/Evans%2 ... evices.pdf

H.C. Evans was originally an early 1900's company that made a wide array of honest -and intentionally dishonest- carnival, game, and gambling devices like marked cards, magnetic dice and controllers, etc. Later they also sold juke boxes and pinball machines. Selling karts for concession use fit in with this "carny" orientation and clientele. There was only one model of kart, shown in the catalog. They also had some very streamlined looking bumper cars.

Scroll down in this catalog to see the first Evans kart, called the "Herby".
It was a concession kart, their only model - incidentally with classic auto and quarter midget style 'nerf bars,' as opposed to today's misuse of the term to mean any shape or style of bumper. But it had all of the racing parts and features of what we know as the Evans Flyweight and Special - the cast teardrop pedals, H&H brake, aluminum (probably HandS) wheels, live axle, and swing mount (though it was for a possum motor!)

I think the racing karts may have been made and sold when they became or dealt with the Evans Supply Corp.,
apparently before their last H.C. Evans catalog in 1961. Or perhaps the Supply Corp. was either a spinoff or a supplier started exclusively to service H.C. Evans - anyone know?

HTH,
Rod

[Tom Smith]

Evans story kind of goes thusly, two brothers built the Evans Karts, Herb and his older brother Walt Strange. According to Herb a salesman came into their Evans Pet and Garden Supply business and tried to interest them in selling a line of karts along with the lawnmowers and other items they carried. I think Herb said that they took a couple of the guys karts just to see if there would be any interest in the karts. No. Ok then, lets take these things out to a parking lot somewhere and try them out for ourselves. Big Mistake #1! Herb relates that these karts had dead axles, I think they may have been Fox Go Boy Karts, and he could see that they were not all that good when the rear wheel lifted of the pavement. Since Herb had a bit of knowledge about how midget race cars used a live rear axle to drive both rear wheels, he went home convinced he could build something that would work better than the dead axle karts did. He was right and the first Evans Kart Herb built had a live rear axle. Next they went back to the local parking lot kart roundup with the new Evans Kart and kicked all the dead axle karts asses. That's just the beginning of the Evans Special story, but that's the way it started.
The first kart I owned was a 1959 Evans Special that had a direct drive West
Bend 580 motor and a Palmini tank. The kart cost $255.00. The Palmini tank was considered optional racing equipment which set me back another $6.00 and the Palmini tuned exhaust header nailed me for $5.95 more. I think I still owe my grandmother for all of it.