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With Short-Track Legends in His Hauler, Alexander Eyes Victory at Rubber and Specialties 100

By Chuck Corder

Clay Alexander has always been a young driver to watch.

With a short-track bloodline that would rival any of his rivals, the Franklin, Tenn., native commands respect from his peers before his white No. 84 Super Late Model pulls onto tracks throughout the southeast.

But the 21 year old is beginning to carve out his own name and he served notice of that at the last Blizzard Series race at Five Flags Speedway in April.

Alexander sits seventh in the Blizzard standings and hopes to continue his march in the Rubber and Specialties 100 on Friday at Pensacola’s high banks.

Super Stocks, Sportsmen and Bombers join the Super Late Models at the famed half-mile, asphalt oval when the gates open at 5 p.m. Friday.

Admission to the grandstands is as follows: $15 adults, $14 seniors, $12 military/students (ages 12 thru 17), $5 children ages 6 to 11 and free for kids under 6. Pit passes are $25.

“If we keep putting ourselves in position to win some races, like we are, the points will come,� said Alexander, whose dad Mike was a legendary short tracker three decades ago. “Win races and the other stuff will follow. We wanna be locked in the top 10 before the Snowball (Derby) and I don’t see that being a problem.�

At the Papa John’s 100 last month, Alexander was first out to qualify and turned in a blistering time of 16.750 seconds, which turned plenty of heads.

Only one of the 29 other cars was able to top that time. Bubba Pollard, who set the track record at last year’s Snowball, barely edged Alexander’s fast lap with a 16.713-second lap.

While the race itself provided frustrations, Alexander knew his revamped team that includes crew chief Ronnie Sanders has hit on something.

“I give all the credit to (Sanders) and Billy Folsom right now,� Alexander said. “Me and my dad had been doing it and we’ve done well, but I’m learning now what makes us go fast. They’ve done more for me than I could have ever imagined.

“The longer we work together, the better the communication will be. It’s a blessing to work with them.�

Sanders came aboard after the three-year partnership with Pollard soured in the offseason. His influence has paid immediate dividends for Alexander.

That’s why the youngster is considered by many to be a legitimate threat in Friday’s field that includes defending Snowball champ Chase Elliott, Pollard, Augie Grill and Mike Garvey, whose season caught fire when he won the Blizzard race in April.

“We’ve run better this year than we have in the past,� Alexander said. “I’m very happy with the way it’s gone. We aren’t having the best of luck right now, but it’s coming for sure.�

A win Friday could do wonders for him to step beyond the long shadows that his father’s esteemed career casted.

Many considered Mike Alexander to be the Jeff Gordon of his time. An up-and-coming driver in the late 1970s and early-80s, Mike Alexander parlayed short-track success into NASCAR opportunities, posting then-Busch Series wins in 1987 and ’88.

Driving in place of NASCAR legend Bobby Allison, who was injured at the time, at the 1988 season-ending Winston Cup race in Atlanta, Mike Alexander drove to an eye-popping third-place finish.

The next week his career, and life for that matter, nearly ended at the Snowball Derby with a horrific crash that folks still vividly remember today.

The outside wall had yet to be built before the 1988 Snowball and Mike Alexander’s car flew over turn Nos. 3 and 4 and hit the end of an embankment.

He tried racing at Daytona a few months later, but lingering dizzy spells from the Snowball incident made driving difficult.

Clay was born a year later.

“When I was younger, it put a lotta pressure on me,� Clay Alexander said of following in his father’s driving footsteps.�There’s a lotta pressure with driving no matter what your background is, though. But my dad did not put any excess pressure on me. Just stressful sports.

“Shoot, he’s my dad. It’s neat going to some of these racetacks with him. It’s a blessing for me, He’s won a lotta races at the places we’re going to now. That motivates the whole team and we’re digging hard.�

Alexander would love to validate both his past and his present with a checkered flag Friday.

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