With absolutely no fanfare, Travis Adams, a five-time track champion at Oxford Plains Speedway, has left racing.

“I’m going to be camping with my young boys,” Adams said. “They’re a little young to go into the pits. For the next couple of years, we’ll be camping a little, here and there.”

Adams, 33, began to pull back from racing two years ago, saying he wanted to spend more time with his two sons, now ages 6 and 3.

This year, he’s made a clean break of it.

“I’ve sold all of my equipment,” said Adams, who lives in Canton. “My car is sitting in my garage, and it’s for sale, too.”

For the past 11 seasons, Adams, who works as a machinist for Northeast Precision in Rumford, raced in Late Models, the top division at OPS. Before that, he spent six seasons racing Go-Karts.

“My family is my No. 1 priority,” said Adams, who is also building a house in Canton. “It would be different if I was a professional, but children grow up way too quick to have a hobby like auto racing.”

Adams’ decision to stop racing didn’t come as a surprise to speedway owner Bill Ryan.

“There are guys who will run for 40 years, and then there are guys who will run for 15 years and back off when their kids are young,” he said. “A lot of them come back to racing when their kids get older.”

Adams, who won 30 feature races during his career to rank sixth on the speedway’s all-time list, didn’t rule out a return to racing. But he doesn’t expect to sit in a cockpit again steering a race car around a track.

“To tell you the truth,” he said, “the next time I get involved with racing, it probably will be with Go-Karts with my sons.”

RAIN WIPED out the slate of races at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway last Saturday night, so fans can get a double dose of it this Saturday night at the Scarborough track.

In addition to the regular schedule of races on the 3/8-mile track, three long-distance races are on tap.

“For a regular Saturday weekly show, I think this is the most (laps) we’ve done that I recall in the history of this place,” said track owner Andy Cusack. “We may have done (two) 100-lap races in the ’70s, but even then we didn’t have all these other races.”

Nearly 400 laps of racing, including 100-lap features in both the Pro Series and Sports Series and a 50-lap feature in the Wildcats, are scheduled. The Pro Series and Wildcat races were postponed from last Saturday night.

“It’s a full plate to run that many laps in one night, but it’s just extra laps and our staff is used to it, and our drivers know what to do,” Cusack said. “For the drivers, it makes it a little bit more relaxed out there. The extra laps give them a little bit more time to work toward the front.”

Because of the expanded race card, cost of a seat in the grand stand will be $12, instead of the customary $10 charge.

LAST SATURDAY NIGHT’S program at Oxford Plains Speedway also was washed out by rain, but that race date will not be made up.

The Motor Mayhem event scheduled for this Saturday night at the speedway will go on as planned, and racing in the speedway’s top four divisions will resume June 25.

“It’s been ugly with weather, but not ugly enough that we have to double up,” Ryan said.

Racing in the OPS’ Strictly Stocks, Mini-Stocks and Outlaw divisions will resume the same night as the track hosts an American Canadian Tour 150-lap race for Late Models.

“I expect a good percentage of our late models will run with the tour,” Ryan said.

On June 4, Jeff White, an OPS regular from Winthrop, led all but three laps while winning ACT’s Big Jab 150 at the speedway.

A BUSY WEEKEND is planned at Unity Raceway.

In addition to the regular Saturday night program, the track will host an expanded racing program on Father’s Day.

On Saturday, every one of the track’s divisions except for Super Streets will race, with qualifying heats starting at 6 p.m.

Sunday’s program, which starts at 1 p.m., will feature a 100-lap race for Late Models, a 75-lap race for Super Streets and a 50-lap race for Wildcats.

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 

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