Standing atop the podium at Crandon International Raceway in 2019, RJ Anderson was certain that nothing would ever top his first Red Bull Crandon World Cup win.
After all, it was the 50th anniversary of the Crandon World Championships and also a record-breaking year for fan attendance, with an estimated 80,000 people filing through the gates of the historic Wisconsin facility.
And, as Anderson will eagerly point out, Kid Rock was there.
“It was the milestone win,” Anderson said. “I thought there was never going to be a way to top that, because there were just so many things that came together for that one.”
That sentiment remained true the next year, when the California native collected his second consecutive Cup victory during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As he puts it, “it just didn’t have the same feel.”
But this year, on the final night of the 56th running of the Polaris Crandon Off-Road World Championships, that all changed.
Wheeling the No. 37 Pro 4 truck, Anderson caught up to early race leader Ryan Beat with three laps to go and made the pass on Beat’s No. 51 Pro 2 entry. It was nothing but clean air for Anderson in the final laps as he soared to a third career Crandon World Cup win.
So, what exactly made the three-peat so special?
From a competition perspective, the contact between Anderson and Beat – which subsequently took the No. 51 out of the race – certainly made for a high-stakes finish. And on a personal note, having his baby daughter there for the first time made the post-race celebration a core family memory for the Anderson’s.
But what took the win to the next level wasn’t about who was there to see it happen. Rather, it was about the one face that was missing from the crowd.
“This one was special because one of my mentors, Walker Evans, just passed away. He was who I originally went to Crandon to watch as a young kid,” Anderson explained.
His father, Randy Anderson, and Evans were also longtime business partners, which had connected the two families throughout the years. Evans was 86 years old when he died in early August.
“We did a custom livery and painted my truck like his in honor of him,” Anderson added, referring to the iconic Walker Evans Racing paint scheme.
Over Labor Day weekend, the only race in which Anderson ran the throwback livery was during the Crandon World Cup, giving him just one shot to pull off a win with Evans’ colors riding alongside him.
“Walker had literally won everything — the Mint 400, the Baja 1000. He’d won everything but a Crandon World Cup. It was just cool because it was my last time running that body to honor him and it was kind of like he did finally get that win,” Anderson said.
Evans’ wife and son were present at the race, further increasing the meaning and magnitude of the moment.
“It was a once in a lifetime win,” Anderson said.