ALEXANDER EAGER TO RE-LAUNCH FUNNY CAR CAREER

By Susan Wade    Sun, 2019-02-24 17:24

 

Blake Alexander, the toast of the Top Fuel team last year for his two victories and one semifinal finish in the first six of only 11 starts, is driving a Funny Car this season. After skipping the preseason PRO Winter Warm-up at Wild Horse Motorsports Park and the schedule-opening Winternationals, then working with his crew for 10 hours in the chilly rain here Thursday, Alexander was more than ready to make his first laps in the Funny Car.

The rain delay and the time track-prep officials took to ensure the sand trap was safe didn’t bother Alexander. He said the crew needed a little more time before heading to the starting line.

But he had to wait even further to make his on-track return to Funny Car. An apparent mechanical problem forced the Daniel Wilkerson-led crew to push the car from the starting line in the fuel cars’ only Friday session. The NHRA canceled the day’s action around 4:30 p.m. Mountain Time because of incoming rainstorms, without the Pro Stock class making a showing.

Alexander did not receive a time, and Gary Densham and Terry Haddock didn’t make an attempt Friday. So the three of them had two more chances Saturday to fight over the two remaining positions in the order. The field has 17 cars, one more than a full grid. In Saturday’s opening session, Alexander got into the line-up with a 4.035-second elapsed time at 270.54-mph run, while Densham and Haddock didn’t finish their passes under power.

Finally, Alexander got to put numbers on the scoreboard, particularly satisfying after all he did to lay a strong foundation when leaving Bob Vandergriff Racing.

“I sold my [masonry] business in Charlotte, and I had some of the financial means together to get this going, and then I had an individual that gave me the rest of the money over the off-season,” Alexander said. “I called Bob as soon as I secured all of it and told him. I owned this team within a few weeks, and we’ve been working our butts of ever since, trying to get ready for this point and getting ready to go make a run right now. So, we’ll see how it goes.

“I own a business that does marketing for small companies, but it’s not like anything as big as what I was doing before,” he said. “We’re just working to make all this happen. [Primary sponsor] Pronto believes in me, and we’ve got a new sponsor, C2C, who’s on board this weekend. They’re here hanging out with us, so we’re going to try and put on a good show for everyone.”

Alexander said his switch from a dragster back to a Funny Car and the move from Bob Vandergriff Racing to his own operation “has everything to do with just bettering my family and creating an opportunity for myself and my sponsors to take things into our own hands.

“We’re excited about this year. Not much is going to really change other than the car’s shorter. We’re going to try to run good. There’s nowhere to go but up after working for 10 hours in the rain yesterday – and the cold. That wasn’t the best first day,” Alexander said.

Curiously, Alexander’s display of skill proved that it’s possible to run a part-time schedule and be competitive among the class’ elite. Had he not skipped the Seattle and Brainerd races and kept his momentum going, he might have qualified for the Countdown. Even before that, he had skipped the Pomona Winternationals, the Gatornationals, the Las Vegas and Charlotte four-wide races, Houston, Topeka, Richmond, Bristol, and Epping. Had he entered a few of those, say, one-third of those, he surely would have made the playoffs and put himself in contention for the championship.  

But Alexander said he has no regrets about the team’s decision.

“If I had made the Countdown, Steve Torrence still would have won the championship. So it really doesn’t make a difference if I wasted money and went to a couple races that we didn’t have money for,” he said.

Unfortunately for Alexander, his race weekend ended in the first round with a loss to Bob Tasca III.

 

 

 

 
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