Rick Adams
Home: Fountain Valley, Calif.
Age: 63
Occupation: Retired law enforcement, current longshoreman
Road to the Finals: Finished first and won $900 in the Los Alamitos Regional Handicapping Contest on June 11.
Bio: Adams became interested in racing in a roundabout way, becoming a fan after seeing a movie of "Amish men racing Standard breds" when he was a kid. He beat a huge field of 397 players in Los Alamitos contest, and his $900 first prize ranks up with an exacta box that returned $1,750 as his one of his best payoffs to date. Enjoys flying airplanes, sailing tall ships, and says he has "an awful lot of licenses to a lot of things." When asked about his family, he replied, "I have no family, just a girlfriend half my age, of course."
Photo: Los Alamitos