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ART EVANS 
Art
Evans has a varied and extensive background. During the fifties, he and
his partner, OCee Ritch, had a public relations and advertising company
that represented the MG Mitten Co., Devin Enterprises, Gough Industries
and other car-related organizations. Evans and another partner, Richard
Sherwin, published the West Coast Sports Car Journal, later the Sports
Car Journal which, for a time, was the official magazine of the
California Sports Car Club. Evans served a term as a director of the Los
Angeles Region of the Sports Car Club of America and was involved in
publishing a number of fifties-era event programs.
Art drove a number of different cars during the fifties. His first race was in an MG-TD at Palm Springs. He soon acquired an MG Special and then a succession of XK120 Jaguars. At the end of the decade, he campaigned the first Devin SS. Evans Industries was the exclusive distributor for Devin cars. In the sixties, Evans turned to education and became an assistant professor and chair of the Photography Department at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. He became a leader in educational media, served as an officer in the Association for Educational Communications and Technology and was the principal investigator for a U.S. Department of Education research grant. Turning to motion pictures during the seventies, including a seven-year stint at Paramount Communications as vice president for production, Art accumulated a large number of credits and awards including the George Washington Medal from the Freedoms Foundation. His still photographs have been featured in numerous shows including a solo exhibition at the Lincoln Center in New York. Evans was educated at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, California State University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and California Western University. He has a bachelor, masters and doctoral degrees plus three California teaching credentials. |
The author of ten books about photography plus others on different subjects, Evans has written numerous articles for photography and automotive magazines as well as professional journals. His first book about motor sports, The Fabulous Fifties, A Decade of Sports Car Racing in Southern California, was published in 2001 to critical acclaim. This book is now out of print and copies are no longer available. In 2002, the second book in The Fabulous Fifties series, Sports Car Races in Southern California, was published. This book, also out of print and not available, describes more than 100 races at 22 venues. His third book, Race Legends of the Fabulous Fifties, published in 2003, is composed of portraits taken by the author and mini-biographies of 50 legends such as Stirling Moss, Phil Hill and Jack Brabham. In 2004, Evans published Ken Miles, described as a biographical scrapbook. In little more than three months, all copies of the first edition had been sold. Torrey Pines Remembered, also published in 2004, continued with the scrapbook idea, then Pebble Beach Remembered followed by Paramount Ranch Remembered. During the eighties, Art began driving in vintage races. In 1985, he promoted a revival of the old Palm Springs Road Races followed by a succession of other vintage events including a vintage section at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and open-road racing in Mexico. In 2004, Evans co-authored a book with John Fitch recounting Fitch’s experiences as a member of the Mercedes-Benz racing team titled, Racing With Mercedes. Starting with the September 2005 edition of Vintage Racecar magazine, Evans became a regular monthly columnist. During 2007, two books were published. Racing Sports Cars, Memories of the Fifties, is about the experiences of top drivers in 50 different makes of dual-purpose cars. The second is Golden Gate Remembered. In 2008, two more Evans books were published: Shelby, the Race Driver and Racing Corvettes, The Early Years. Arthur Evans was born in Santa Barbara, California. He served in the active Army, the California National Guard, the Army Reserve and as a Culver City reserve police officer. He lives in Redondo Beach with his wife, four children and a new grandchild. In retirement Evans pursues pastimes including writing about the fabulous fifties, creating memorabilia and serving as the secretary of The Fabulous Fifties Association. |
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Books (Click on a title to go to that book's page) |
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