It was during his time in Washington DC 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, then raced in the Can-Am Series and &lt;a href="Formula%205000"&gt;Formula A/Formula 5000&lt;/a&gt;, 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-Offy 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.