OVID, Mich. — After a 14-year absence, Donnie Adams Jr. is set to return to Must See Racing Presented by Perfit-Parts.Com competition this weekend at Owosso Speedway.
Adams will join the tour for the two-day weekend of racing capped off by the $10,000-to-win Saturday finale.
Adams last competed with MSR in 2011. The Alexandria, Indiana native is slowly returning to competition after a several year absence to focus on his family and job. He returned to racing action in late 2023. He has been primarily competing in non-winged events but looks to lengthen his racing schedule by now adding a few winged events to his activities.
“My initial involvement with winged racing didn’t go as I had hoped” explained Adams. “The issue was with my car. It didn’t handle like the Diablos did. They were narrow and stiff. Mine was an old small, tubed Beast and it flexed. You would make a spring change, and it would not react to the change. I actually cut off all the wing tabs and said I’m gonna stick to non-wing. Only problem was there was no non-winged stuff other than the Little 500.”
A crash at Winchester Speedway during a 500 Sprint Car Tour race in late June set up the return to winged racing by chance.
“After we junked the car at Winchester, I needed to quickly get a car before the next race. Nick Bohanan had a brand-new car at Beast. He said, ‘I haven’t picked it up yet but if you want it, you can have it’. It’s a winged Beast. It’s got the raised rail and wing tabs and spuds. That’s what peaked by interest to begin with.
“We just ran Owosso with the 500SCT earlier this month. That place is amazing. I knew Must See Racing was coming there at the end of the month for a two-day show. I mentioned it to my mom. She is my biggest race fan and my sponsor through our family business,” Adams added. “She said why don’t you get a wing. My dad raced wings forever and she loved it. Everything just kind of fell into place so it looks like we’re gonna do it.”
His father, Donnie Adams Sr., was a force to be reckoned with in pavement sprint car competition in the 1990s. He was a Little 500 polesitter and USAC National Sprint Car Series feature winner. He transitioned to winged pavement sprint car racing toward the end of his career. That was where he found his true calling in open-wheel racing.
The younger Adams is already making a name for himself. At only 38 years of age, he is a past Little 500 polesitter and podium finisher.
“I don’t know what to expect in my return to winged racing this weekend,” Adams said. “I know there are some tough guys up there. A top ten going into it would be great. but I know I have a lot to learn. There’s a difference between getting around the track and being competitive. I have good equipment. Bobby Santos has been the guy in my corner, especially with non-winged stuff, and getting back into it. I kinda picked his brain on wing baseline stuff. Plus, I have my old notes so I think I should be OK.”
