Scotty Adema has been a pavement sprint car racer for more than 20 years, and he currently competes with the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series.
The native of Fort Meyers, Fla., is a threat to win the feature wherever he competes.
Adema grew up in southeast Florida following the racing career of his father, Jerry Adema, who was a successful asphalt late model driver. The elder Adema won multiple championships at Collier County Speedway and was the inaugural Desoto Speedway late model champion in 1979.
The younger Adema’s move into open-wheel racing was not planned. He got his start in open-wheel modifieds at his home track — Charlotte County Speedway — in Punta Gorda in 1995.
“For a 15-year-old kid that was a good class,” Adema explained. “I didn’t follow the traditional sprint car path of go-karts to quarter midgets, to three-quarter midgets and so on.
“Around 2000 there were several winged Tampa Bay Area Racing Ass’n races a year at Punta Gorda and we started looking at that. When those guys would come in, it caught my attention,” Adema continued. “Larry Tyler, Jim Childers, Dave Pletcher and Wayne Reutimann. It was a who’s who of Florida sprint car drivers. One night we parked next to a sprint car.
“A guy named Kevin Cahill told me to sit in his car and see what it feels like. When I sat in it, I looked over at my dad and had a big ole grin,” Adema recalled. “We started really talking about it and by June 2001, we bought a Hurricane chassis car from Stan Butler.”
Adema’s first sprint car start was on Oct. 27, 2001, at Charlotte County Speedway. Thirty-nine cars signed in, making it a monumental task for a rookie to make the show. However, Adema did just that.
“We wound up making a transfer spot and started in the back because I was a rookie,” Adema said. “I think we started 26th and ended up finishing 10th.”
The plan all along was for Adema to continue running the modified and only race the sprint car when TBARA came to town.
“After that first night I looked over at my dad and said, ‘Sell the modified, I don’t wanna drive that thing anymore,’” Adema said. “It was the last time I ever drove a stock car.”
The following year Adema was impressive in his first full season of competition with the TBARA. He scored two podium finishes and was eighth in the final standings. The following season, he scored his first TBARA feature victory at New Smyrna Speedway on Sept. 20, 2003.
By 2004, the Little 500 caught Adema’s attention. He had no experience driving a non-winged sprint car on pavement. He had planned to run some early season events in Florida in 2004, but rain foiled those attempts so he would head to the Little 500 with no non-winged laps under his belt.
“My first laps at Anderson were literally my first laps without a wing, ever,” he said. “They had over 60 cars that year. I qualified 29th and made the race.”
He finished 22nd in his only Little 500 start to date.
After his Little 500 experience, Adema caught the non-winged pavement sprint car bug. He began competing with the Central Florida Wingless Sprint Car Ass’n and later the Checkered Flag Sprint Series and USA Sprint Series. He has been victorious with all clubs and claimed the 2006 Central Florida Wingless Sprint Car Ass’n championship.
Currently, Adema competes with the winged Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series. He has one career series win and is looking for more.
Adema’s race shop was devastated when Hurricane Ian came ashore in Fort Meyers and left massive flooding.
“We had three cars and four motors in the shop at the town. We had 20 inches of water in the shop and it was salt water. All the motors got dumped under salt water. We’re still finding stuff,” Adema explained. “Every distributor and magneto was fried. All the cars were on jack stands but the water was probably up to the seats.”
His season appeared to be over before it started, but longtime friend Chaz Hambling came to the rescue and offered Adema a chance to run his new car and chase the championship this year.
“We were gonna run the Little 500 and that was it,” Adema offered. “I was gonna concentrate on getting my son Ryan’s car back together because his was pretty much totaled from front to back. It had water in everything. Then, Chaz called and said, ‘Let’s try to make the opener at Auburndale. Why don’t you drive my car.’ Chaz and I played Little League together 35 years ago.”
At age 43, Adema sees no sign of retiring anytime soon despite his son starting his racing career. Driving for Hambling, Adema sees nothing but success for the team in the future.
“I want to keep doing it. I keep working out,” Adema said. “People invest a lot of money in you and you are their guy. I don’t want to be at a point where I’m falling out of the saddle. With the money Chaz is putting into this, I want to give him 110 percent. I think we’re gonna have a good year this year.”
Scotty Adema
Birthday: Aug. 19, 1979
Hometown: Fort Meyers, Fla.
Series: BG Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series
Sponsors: Jerry and Denise Adema, Lauren Adema, Ryan Adema, SWFL Pool Pros, Chaz Hambling,
Charlie Norman Motorsports and Teddy Nelson Racing Engines.
This story appeared in the July 12, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
