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Blaise Alexander killed in ARCA race
October 5, 2001 1:17 PM EDT (1717 GMT) CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Blaise Alexander, the 25-year-old ARCA driver who also competed on NASCAR's Busch Series, was killed Thursday night in a wreck at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Blaise Alexander made 65 career Busch Series starts. Alexander had just passed Kerry Earnhardt for the lead with four laps to go in the EasyCare 100 when his car pulled in too close in front of Earnhardt's after the pass. Earnhardt caught Alexander's rear bumper, sending both cars into a spin coming out of turn 4. Alexander's car, already running close to the outside wall, cut right and the Pontiac slammed into the concrete at an almost head-first angle. His car then hit Earnhardt's again, flipping it and sending Earnhardt's Chevrolet hurtling down the track on its roof with flames shooting out from under the hood. Alexander's car came to a rest on the infield grass. The 1996 ARCA rookie of the year had to be cut out of the car, was placed on a stretcher and rushed to the infield car center. He was pronounced dead from severe head injuries at 10:20 p.m. In 2000, Alexander ran the full Busch Series for Felix Sabates. "It is with great sadness that we must report that Blaise Alexander died as a result of his injuries in tonight's accident," track spokesman Jerry Gappens said. "It was a severe head injury. Our emergency technicians went to the car and found him unconscious, unresponsive and with no vital signs. They worked on him for 25 minutes and got no response." Alexander's father, Blaise Sr., and brother were in the pits at the time of the accident. Alexander drove the No. 8 Chevy in six Busch races in 2001. "Obviously what we had was a violent deceleration here on the frontstretch," ARCA president Ron Drager said. "It was pretty plain to see." Alexander was not wearing any type of head and neck restraint system, but Drager said ARCA requires its driver to wear a neck collar generally referred to as a "horse collar." Alexander was wearing one, which was made by Simpson Performance Products, and Drager said on initial inspection it did not appear damaged. Alexander's death is the 14th at Lowe's, the seventh involving a stock car driver. The last previous driver to die at the track was Russell Phillips in 1995. He also died from head injuries. Alexander in 2000 Alexander, from Montoursville, Pa., had three career ARCA wins, including one this year at Michigan Speedway. He also was running a limited schedule on the Busch Grand National Series, with a best finish of 11th at the same track. Earnhardt, eldest son of the late Dale Earnhardt, was not injured in the wreck. His car came to a stop near the start/finish line and he was able to climb out and run from it as the flames intensified. The race was called four laps short of the 67-lap completion, with Earnhardt declared the winner. There was no Victory Lane celebration. "It was a wild ride, something I never experienced before," Earnhardt said. "Blaise came up on me and turned in on me and knocked me upside down. It's just crazy out there, that's all I can say." ARCA is generally considered a feeder system for NASCAR and uses cars similar to the ones raced in the Winston Cup series. NASCAR has had four fatal injuries since May 2000, including the one that killed Dale Earnhardt in the Feb. 18 season-opening Daytona 500. Adam Petty was killed in a May 2000 wreck during practice at New Hampshire International Speedway and Kenny Irwin was killed in the same place two months later. Tony Roper, a Truck series driver, was killed in an accident last year at Texas Motor Speedway.
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Spencer announces exit, then wins Charlotte pole
October 5, 2001 CONCORD, N.C. -- Jimmy Spencer, who announced earlier Thursday that he will not return to Haas-Carter Motorsports in 2002, earned his second pole of the year Thursday night when he took the top spot for Sunday's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I might not leave now," the eternally quotable Spencer said. "Nothing's in concrete." Todd Bodine, Spencer's teammate at Haas-Carter, will start on the outside of the front row. It is the second time this season that those teammates have started up front. The other time, at Chicago in July, it was Bodine who had the top spot. "Todd did a great job at Chicago and sat on the pole," Spencer said, "and I got second; that was pretty neat for Carl [Haas]. Then we come here to Charlotte and we've reversed the roles. I'm pretty proud of Todd's outside pole, and this is pretty neat for Carl Haas and Travis Carter's motor sports program." Kenny Wallace, driving in place of the injured Steve Park, will start third. Ryan Newman, easily the fastest in the afternoon practice and the young man whom most assumed would take the pole, in fact will have to settle for fourth on the grid. "I had predicted he'd run a 28.86," Wallace said of Newman. "He can be real fast." Newman said it was his own fault that he wasn't faster. "I didn't hit it perfect," he said. "There's no doubt about that." As good as things were for Haas-Carter, they were that bad for Richard Childress Racing. Though rookie Kevin Harvick will start 14th Sunday, both Jeff Green and Robby Gordon missed the race. "I feel bad for those guys," Harvick said. "We're going to have to do our best to pump 'em up." Still two other drivers, Stuart Kirby and Carl Long, won't need any additional pumping up. The mere fact that they made the race should be enough to sustain them for at least a few days. Not only are each of them as pure a definition of "long shot" as one could hope to find -- inexperienced and under financed to the highest degree -- but each actually qualified well. Kirby will start 22nd, ahead of drivers such as Rusty Wallace (24th) and Dale Jarrett (the injured Jarrett will start 25th); Long starts 30th, in front of Matt Kenseth (32nd) and Bobby Hamilton. Kyle Petty, meanwhile, missed his 11th race of the season.
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Burton bags Bud Pole for Little Trees 300
October 5, 2001 CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Burton might just shed the "poor qualifier" label after all. Burton, who has long suffered qualifying woes, nabbed his first Bud Pole of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series season Friday afternoon at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, rounding the 1.5-mile oval in a track-record 30.886 seconds at 179.485 mph. The former record was set last season by Matt Kenseth at 178.956 mph. “We were fast this morning right off the bat, right off the truck,” said Burton, who had never started higher than fourth previously in a Busch race at Charlotte. “It slowed down with some of the changes we made. We tried to work on race setup, but that pushed us back from getting another qualifying run in. The changes we made were correct. “I got help from a cloud, too. I came in about 10 cars before I went out and stuck around a while. It cooled the track down for period of time. That was almost as fast as I ran in my Cup car (Thursday). I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not.” Michael Waltrip fell a half-second off Burton’s blistering pace, but will start on the outside of the front row for the first time this year. He hasn’t started in the top five previously in 2001. “I was kinda disappointed, we need a lower gear,” Waltrip said. “I missed Turn 1 on both laps, totally overshot the corner both times. I assumed my tires weren’t ready yet on the first lap. "I went down in there on the second lap and looked over said, ‘Uh, I’m supposed to be over there.’ I think if I had done a little better job there and had a different gear, we may have gotten the pole.” Starting third will be Greg Biffle, followed by Ward Burton, who placed Tommy Baldwin’s No. 5 Chevrolet in fourth position for its Busch Series debut. Speaking of debuts, Todd Bodine made his in the No. 11 Chevrolet and promptly placed it fifth on the grid. Jeff Green qualified the No. 10 Ford sixth, while points leader Kevin Harvick, who finished 38th last week, will roll off ninth.
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