Travis and Peggy Camp, of Spokane, have bought the assets of Dicks Suzuki Inc., a longtime Spokane Valley motor-sports dealership, from founders Dick and Pat Ascol for an undisclosed sum.


Travis Camp is the son of longtime Spokane auto dealer Phil Camp and formerly worked at Camp Automotive Inc., but left about a year after publicly owned Lithia Motors Inc., of Medford, Ore., bought that company in 1998.


Of his decision to become a motor-sports dealer, he says, This has always been my passion, so I decided to get into this market.


Dicks Suzuki, located at 5701 E. Sprague, sells Suzuki motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, Arctic Cat snowmobiles, and related supplies, accessories, and apparel. It also operates a service shop. The business employs six people, counting the new owners.


Ill be a working owner, and my wife, Peggy, is going to be a sometimes helper, Camp says.


The Camps bought the dealerships assets through a Spokane company theyve formed called Trapper Investments LLC. The transaction didnt include the 12,000-square-foot building that houses the dealership or the roughly half-acre site that the building sits on, just south of the Home Depot Inc. store on East Sprague. The Ascols are leasing the property to Trapper.


Camp says he doesnt plan to change the name of the dealership or make other significant changes in the operation.


Pat Ascol says she and her husband decided to sell the business for health-related reasons. She says she will stay on at Dicks Suzuki for a period of time to help with the ownership transition, but after that, she adds, Dick and I are just going to relax, travel, and see how it goes.


The Ascols, both of whom are motorcycle and snowmobile riders, have operated the business together, with Pat handling general manager responsibilities and Dick overseeing the service department. They started the business in 1971 as Dicks Cycle Supply, selling dirt bikes and motorcycling accessories. It became an Arctic Cat snowmobile dealer in 1973 and a Suzuki dealer in 1977, with the Ascols changing its name to Dicks Suzuki.


Dicks Suzuki is the second motor-sports dealership here to change hands recently. Last month, Scott and Carolyn Schmidtman, of Spokane, bought the assets of the big Westside MotorSports dealership on the West Plains from longtime owner Ken Wimer. They, too, are continuing to operate that multibrand dealership under its longtime name.