THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512130146
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 21 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
JIMMY ADAMS was glad to graduate last May from North Carolina State University. He had a degree in industrial engineering and a good job waiting for him back home in Suffolk at Amadas Industries.
But those weren't the only things responsible for the 23-year-old's grin as he proudly walked across the stage to get his diploma after five years of late-night cram sessions and 20-page term papers. His other dream - driving a race car - was about to be realized.
``I'd been playing around and running some dirt track cars since I was in high school,'' said Adams, a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy graduate who began racing dune buggy-type Honda Odyssey cars on a homemade track on his father's farm at age 14. ``I'd been wanting to run race cars for a long time and the deal was there wasn't going to be any racing until I got finished school.''
The ``deal,'' according to Jimmy's father, Jim, was this: ``I told him, `Look, you go to college, get your degree and I'll buy a car and give you a shot at racing it.' ''
Said Jimmy, ``As far as he was concerned if I started getting into it too heavy, too soon I might not ever finish school, so I went ahead and got finished with it.''
Shortly before graduation at N.C. State, the elder Adams, president of Amadas Industries, made good on his promise. The two got in touch with Steve Mendenhall, a friend of Jim Adams and a Legends race car driver, to order a car. A few weeks later, Jimmy had a sleek, black, blue and bright red Legends car, which reaches speeds of a little over 100 mph and costs close to $15,000.
``I told him we'd have a good car,'' said Jim Adams, who owns another Legends car driven by William ``Bubba'' Strickland. ``It's one of the cheaper classes, so he had about as good a car as you can put on the track (in the Legends class). If he didn't do good, it was his fault. It was his big shot to see if he could do anything.''
It didn't take Jimmy long to get on hard-top tracks and become successful in Raleigh, Hampton, South Boston and Richmond.
He competed in his first race in early June at Wake County Speedway in Raleigh, finishing sixth.
``Once you get out there in the race, you kinda get into a groove and you're not worried about the danger involved,'' said Jimmy, who only ran a few warmup laps before his first race. ``You're just going for it and trying to be competitive.''
Jimmy kept getting better with each race, winning three and taking second and third in several more. Four months and 11 races after his first competition, he became the Eastern Virginia Legends car points champion in his rookie season.
``I feel pretty fortunate to win this regional championship my first year out,'' said Jimmy, one of 31 regional champions to qualify for the Legends national competition at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October. ``It feels good to go ahead and get it right off the bat. Now I don't feel as much pressure for next season.''
Adams, who was eliminated in the semifinals of nationals after winning his first heat, credited his crew - Maynard Gwaltney, Eley Duke, Clifton Harrell, his father, and crew chief John Stauffer - for helping him make a good first impression on the Legends car circuit.
``All of them have been around racing one way or another,'' he said.
Jim Adams added that countless trips around their small dirt track in the backyard helped Jimmy with handling the car.
``It helped him have the feeling for what to do when he starts to slide or lose control,'' Jim said. ``He handles his car well and he's smooth and doesn't get excited. That usually comes with a lot of experience.''
Jimmy's first season wasn't without its on-track incidents. ``I've lost a few fenders,'' he said, adding that his scariest moment came at nationals when another car ran into one of his tires before flipping three times.
``That blew my mind,'' Jimmy said. ``I saw the whole underside of his car come up beside me, and then he rolled end-over-end out of my vision. At that point, I was concerned and didn't know what to do, but I saw two cars pass me so I had to floor the gas pedal and just keep going. It turned out he was OK.''
Jimmy's full-time job at Amadas and his racing schedule - almost one event per week during the season - has left him with little time for anything else.
``Get the car ready and race,'' he said. ``All summer that's what the deal is. I just moved to an apartment in Chesapeake and it feels like I'm never there. I'm (at work in Suffolk) until 6 at night, work on the car until 10, and then go there to sleep and come straight back to work.''
Jimmy, who said he earned around $300 per win, was quick to answer when asked whether he wants to make a career out of racing.
``No, I don't think so. It's too tough to make it as a career,'' he said. ``The major interest in my life is racing and it's a serious hobby, but I guess it's more than that.''
Success can do that to a hobby. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Jimmy Adams races a Legends, which reaches speeds of a little over
100 mph and costs close to $15,000.
Adams promised his father that he wouldn't race until after
college.
by CNB