Modified Madmen Evans, Cook Among HOF Nominees

[EDGEnterprises]

Modified Madmen Evans, Cook Among HOF Nominees: On Thursday, the 2010 nominees for the NASACAR Hall of Fame will be announced. As with last year's inaugural list, there again will be 25 names. Twenty will be repeat nominees. Ladies and gentlemen, start your debates. And today, do we ever have a debate for you, in the process giving you a "sneak peek" at the nominees. One guy is a repeat nominee  Richie Evans. The other guy is a first-time nominee  Jerry Cook. These two are, arguably, the greatest NASCAR modified drivers of all-time. Many would say there's no argument, in making that assessment. Perhaps the best way to frame this debate is by reminding you that when these gentlemen competed, they hated each other like poison. Evans died in 1985, or else the bad feelings would probably still linger. Remember, they were from the same town , Rome, N.Y. And they always were chasing the same thing: championships. Evans won a record nine NASCAR modified championships, by the way, including eight consecutively from 1978-85. Cook won six. Evans was a hard-partying, hard-charger. Cook was more conservative, on and off the track. Perhaps that led to Evans' fans labeling Cook as a "stroker," race-speak for a points racer  one of the ultimate insults to hurl at a driver.(NASCAR)(6-29-2010)

Found on Jayski.com

[jeffrey]

''the world made a lot bigger deal out of that rivalry than they did''Steve Hmiel says.they didnt hate each other like a lot of people think they did.it was just tough competition says Jerry Cook."but it was fun"but if they couldn't be great friends,fate seemed to say,why not make them great foes?just think between them Jerry cook and Richie Evans won every nascar national modified championship from 1971-85.it is funny how this can lead to a lot of arguments between those of us here who happened to be involved in racing even to this day.there will never ever be a rivalry like the Richard Ernest Evans and Gerald Ronald Cook.only if we could go back in time.they where both great champions.:wave: