{"id":8049,"date":"2014-09-19T15:38:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T22:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=8049"},"modified":"2014-09-19T15:38:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T22:38:28","slug":"henry-adamson-passes-away-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/henry-adamson-passes-away-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry Adamson Passes Away in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vintage Sports Car Drivers Assoc. has reported the passing of Henry Adamson. He was one of the founders of VSCDA and was often referred to as \u201cthe face and the soul of VSCDA.\u201d While not a racer himself, Adamson gave a tremendous amount of his time, energy and knowledge to the vintage racing fraternity.<\/p>\n

In addition to having been a board member since the VSCDA\u2019s inception and its president, Adamson was for many years the editor of the award-winning VSCDA Newsletter. His fascinating and informative articles, always tinged with Henry\u2019s unique sense of humor, were something readers looked forward to.<\/p>\n

Adamson was the announcer at the VSCDA events, adding his encyclopedic knowledge to each racing weekend. \u201cNo matter how much we thought we knew, we could always learn something new from Henry,\u201d said one VSCDA member.<\/p>\n

Adamson laughed a lot when I interviewed him in the announcer\u2019s booth at Road America, in Elkhart Lake. Wis. in July 2013. His gentle, rolling laugh suggested that his mental hard drive had started searching for a witty comeback to a question I asked.<\/p>\n

Adamson laughed when told that people call him the \u201cVoice of Road America.\u201d He laughed when asked if he really lives up to the title \u201cDonald Davidson of Elkhart Lake.\u201d When asked about rumors he was going to retire from the Road America announcer\u2019s booth, Adamson chuckled. \u201cNo one told me that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, maybe somebody wants me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a Druid, I live by my memory,\u201d Adamson joked. \u201cI went to some races, but the races I really wanted to be at were long since over by the time I was old enough to learn about them. I got into vintage racing in 1978.\u201d Adamson immersed himself in facts, figures and people who were vintage racing.<\/p>\n

In 1988, when it became clear that vintage racing fans needed a \u201csupport group,\u201d Adamson became a founding member of the Vintage Motorsports Council (VMC). This organization was created to serve as a council for all vintage racing organizations. He was VMC president from 1990 until 1992 and has won various VMC honors such as the prestigious Dewey Dellinger Award.<\/p>\n

Adamson also developed a devotion to the Vintage Sports Car Driver\u2019s Association (VSCDA). \u201cI\u2019m one of the group\u2019s earliest members,\u201d said the gas pedal guru \u201cI\u2019ve held almost every VSCDA office that one person can hold. I\u2019ve been a director since 1980 and now I\u2019m a Director Emeritus, which means that I still get to put my oar in the water, but no one ever has to vote for me again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vision problems and walking with a cane didn\u2019t keep Adamson away from racetracks. \u201cI go to as many of our (VSCDA) races as I can,\u201d he pointed out \u201cI don\u2019t usually go to the driver\u2019s school at GingerMan and Meadowdale, although I\u2019ve been to GingerMan and driven there; I\u2019ve been to IRP and driven there; and Blackhawk of course. I\u2019ve been to Waterford and worked there a couple of times. And I did an event at the Milwaukee Mile for the Harry A. Miller Club. I own a bunch of old cars too; I can\u2019t drive them, but I still own them and work on them.<\/p>\n

Adamson\u2019s main interest was American racing in the original era of the \u201820s and \u201830s, up through the \u201850s\u2014and the \u201860s to a lesser degree. \u201cI like the metal,\u201d Adamson stressed. \u201cI like the variety there used to be and that isn\u2019t there anymore. The idea that the Indy guys are all running the same engine and chassis (today) just drives me nuts. When you look back at the fields of the 1920s and 1930s\u2014and even into the 1960s, the variety was so wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adamson earned his college degree in Classical Greek studies. He worked as a musician for a time and dabbled in casting reproduction parts for vintage cars However, it was the enjoyment of being an announcer at vintage races and classic car venues that Henry Adamson liked most and did with unmatched eloquence and class.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttention in the paddock,\u201d Adamson says into his mike. \u201cDuring the noon hour\u2014and this is not bounded by the fact that we\u2019re in kind of a candid schedule here because of our long clean-up\u2014Doug Waddle will be giving a talk south of the St. John\u2019s the Baptist food booth. This is something you\u2019d pay for at Skip Barber; Doug is our distinguished professor of racecraft. Partake of his wisdom gained over many years. He gives it freely for love of the game\u2014so go learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adamson\u2019s passion extended to the track he was linked closest to\u2014Road America. He says George Bruggenthies\u2014another founding member of VMC\u2014has transformed RA. \u201cIt has more strings to its bow than it ever had before.\u201d Adamson also served as announcer at the annual Millers in Milwaukee event and at numerous car shows.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Henry Adamson took a rare break from his role as the \u201cVoice of Road America\u201d to reflect back on how he became the track\u2019s anointed announcer.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHenry was seen at the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival with collector and author Colin Comer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vintage Sports Car Drivers Assoc. has reported the passing of Henry Adamson.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470],"tags":[1342,1343,1341],"class_list":["post-8049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-henry-adamson","tag-obituary","tag-vintage-sports-car-drivers-association"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/RJ59-Henry-01.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-25P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8049"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8054,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8049\/revisions\/8054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}