Veteran Florida pavement sprint car driver Scotty Adema is yet another entrant who has confirmed he will be a participant in the “Children’s Dream Fund 50” on March 2.
The Citrus County Speedway event will pay $10,000 to win and will be co-sanctioned between the Must See Racing Sprint Series presented by Perfit-Parts and the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series.
Adema will be driving for Charlie Norman Motorsports and will be a teammate with Troy DeCaire.
When Adema heard the announcement that MSR would be co-sanctioning with the SSSS, it was music to his ears, as he already had plans to compete with MSR in 2024.
“Actually, when I heard the announcement, I was pretty excited,” explained Adema. “It would be good practice. Charlie Norman Motorsports, Chaz Hambling and Danielle Webb had planned to go up north and run MSR maybe five to six shows this year.
“Our only apprehension was running the American Racer Tire. That problem got solved when the Southern Sprints switched to the American Racer. So we were gonna get some experience on that. I’ve known Jim Hanks, the owner of Must See Racing, for years.
“I’ve had a good rapport with him. It was kind of a good deal. Everything just came together for our future plans of racing with some of those guys. We plan on running the MSR season opener at Sandusky.
“My son Ryan was originally gonna run this race, making it a three-car effort. But he’ll probably sit this one out. He’s still a little hurt from his big wreck at Showtime. It kinda knocked the wind out of him. He’s still gonna be there helping us.
“We definitely appreciate the Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series, Must See Racing, Citrus County Speedway and especially JJ Dutton for giving us the chance to race for this kind of money. The last time we raced for a purse like this was probably the 2007 Florida 400.
“I think we showed we can run up front at Citrus County during the Sandi DeCaire Classic in November. We were fighting fuel pick up issues. We had zero practice. We went able to tinker with the car over two days of practice. We threw everything at it but the kitchen sink. We started fourteenth in the feature. Up until the last restart we running as high as fourth or fifth.
“We wound up sixth. That was a stacked field for down here.
“A lot of these guys that are coming down for this race I’ve run with before. Some of the older ones I’ve raced with twenty years ago. Its gonna be interesting. Usually, it’s us driving out of state to run places they frequent. They know their tracks inside and out. Now it’s kind of a reverse role here. Now we have a track with a lot of quirks.
“I’m not gonna get into what those quirks are, because that’s the Florida guy’s advantage. It will be interesting to see that role reversal.
“I think a lot of the northern guys are gonna bring a lot of speed. But down here, we don’t have any grip. I’ve raced at some of the tracks up north that they say don’t have grip. They don’t know what no grip means until they get down to Florida. It will be interesting to see that dynamic of what they consider no grip.
“You couldn’t ask for a better cause to race for. The best thing about it is that it affects the children. I’m a big supporter of the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and their system. This kind of follows along that same line. What even makes it a double bonus is we have a racer in the field (JJ Dutton) who necessitated this charity and knows it.
“It shows the racing community how we band together,” concluded Adema.