TOWNSHIP E – A former champion race car driver who quit the sport in the late 1980s to spend time with his two children died Saturday in a motorcycle accident.

Leland Kangas, 52, was riding his Harley-Davidson on Route 17 in a memorial motorcycle rally when he veered into the opposite lane and hit a Plymouth Voyager van.

Kangas, who lived in Greenwood with his wife of 31 years, Debra, died at the scene. The driver of the van, Lawrence Schissel of Newport, N.H., was not injured.

A stock car racer since he was 17, Kangas was well known at Oxford Plains Speedway, where he won 49 races over the span of his career between 1972 and 1988.

“As a driver, they didn’t get much better than that,” said Bobby Walker, the director of communications for the speedway.

Walker described Kangas as a role model and hero to today’s younger racers.

“His love for the sport never wavered,” Walker said.

However, his priorities did. In recent years, Kangas remained a regular at Oxford Plains Speedway but only as a fan.

He stopped racing in 1988, after winning his fourth champion title, because he wanted time to coach his children’s Little League and other sports teams, Walker said.

“He was a true family man,” said Kangas’ older brother Richard.

When Kangas’ son and daughter were younger, he coached their softball, baseball, soccer and basketball teams. He was the type of guy who didn’t like to sit still, his brother said.

Kangas spent the past decade working for the town of Greenwood as a heavy equipment operator. He also was a member of the town’s volunteer fire department.

On his time off, he liked hunting deer with his older brother.

The two men earned many hunting trophies over the years. But, according to Richard Kangas, winning awards was never the priority.

“The main thing was being out in the woods enjoying nature and each other’s company,” Kangas’ brother said.

Driving a motorcycle was a fairly new hobby for Kangas, according to his brother.

On Saturday, he was one of about 280 riders taking part in a fund-raising rally named for Sandon “Skunk” Morgan.

Morgan, of West Paris, died in an accident in Buckfield in April 2003. Proceeds from the event will fund a scholarship for a student graduating from his alma mater, Telstar Regional High School.

Kangas hit the van at about 11:15 a.m. He was not wearing a helmet, police said.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Sunday that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.