Anthony Peter Adamowicz (May 2, 1941 – October 10, 2016) was an American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, active from 1963 until his death. He won the Under 2-Liter class of the 1968 Trans-Am Championship and the 1969 SCCA Continental Championship.

Early life

Adamowicz was born in 1941 to Polish immigrants in

Moriah, New York Moriah is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. Lying within the Adirondack Park, it is situated in the eastern part of the county, by road south-sou ...

, and raised in

Port Henry, New York Port Henry is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet (and census-designated place) in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2010 census. Port Henry lies on the eastern side of the town of Moriah, New York, Moriah and is app ...

. He began his career with the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and worked as a communications staffer at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

during the late 1950s and 1960s.

Racing career

It was during his time in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, that Adamowicz took up auto racing. He started racing with a Volvo PV 544 in neighbouring Maryland in 1963. He later contested the Under 2-Liter class of the 1968 Trans-Am Championship in a

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

, then raced in the

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974, and again from 1977 to 1987. The Can-Am rules were deliberately simple and placed few limits on the entries. This led to a wide variet ...

Series and Formula A/Formula 5000, winning the 1969 SCCA Continental Championship. He had an opportunity to race in the 1970 Indianapolis 500, but during the first lap of his qualifying attempt in his

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

Offy The Offenhauser Racing Engine, or Offy, is a racing engine design that dominated American open wheel racing for more than 50 years and is still popular among vintage sprint and midget car racers. History The Offenhauser engine, familiarly ...

the yellow light was shown and Adamowicz slowed. However, the yellow was an error and Adamowicz was ordered to continue with the other 3 laps. The first lap, slower than his others, dragged down his average to a point where he was bumped from the field. He got in another car but crashed in practice before having a chance to requalify. Adamowicz returned to sports cars, racing TransAm in an Autodynamics

Dodge Challenger The Dodge Challenger is the name of three generations of automobiles produced by the American automobile manufacturer Dodge. However, the first use of the Challenger name by Dodge dates back to 1959 for marketing a "value version" of the full- ...

as teammate to

Sam Posey Samuel Felton Posey (born May 26, 1944) is an American former racing driver and sports broadcast journalist. Early life and driving career Posey's father, Lt. (j.g.) Samuel Felton Posey, was killed in the Battle of Okinawa when a kamikaze struck ...

, achieving second place in the 1971 24 Hours of Daytona in a Ferrari 512S, shared with

Ronnie Bucknum Ronald James Bucknum (April 5, 1936 – April 23, 1992) was an American race car driver, born in Alhambra, California. Bucknum participated in 11 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on August 2, 1964. He scored a total of two ...

, and third place in the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans with

in a 512M Also in September 1971 Adamowicz won 12 Horas Marlboro in Yahuarcocha Ecuador in a Ferrari 512S. After the decline of the Can Am and F5000 formulas, he moved to

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

series and won the 1979 GTU championship in an Electramotive Nissan 280ZX and 1982 GTO championship in an Electramotive 280ZX-T. He returned to prototypes in 1984 but had little success at that level and retired after the 1989

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

. He then competed in select vintage races in the same 1969-model Eagle racing car in which he won the 1969 SCCA Continental Championship. The car is now owned by Doug Magnon, the founder of the Riverside International Automotive Museum, and prepared by mechanic Bill Losee. It bears the identical livery it carried back in 1969. As the Eagle had been parked immediately after the 1969 season, and was not run again until following its restoration in 2008, Adamowicz remained the only driver to actually have driven this car. Adamowicz was inducted into the

National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and Museum was founded in 1973. The mission of the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame is to recognize and preserve outstanding achievement by individuals of Polish heritage in the field o ...

in 2016.

Personal life and death

Early in 2015, Adamowicz was diagnosed with brain cancer,

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain, and has a very poor prognosis for survival. Initial signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nons ...

. He died on October 10, 2016, at the age of 75.Tony Adamowicz, 1941-2016
, ''Racer'', October 10, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2016.

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

( key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

a2z racer
- website devoted to Tony Adamowicz

- ''MyF5000.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Adamowicz, Tony 1941 births 2016 deaths People from Port Henry, New York Racing drivers from New York (state) 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Trans-Am Series drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants Jaguar Racing drivers American people of Polish descent