Blaise Alexander | |||||||
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Born |
Montoursville, Pennsylvania |
March 26, 1976||||||
Died | October 4, 2001 Lowe's Motor Speedway Concord, North Carolina |
(aged 25)||||||
Cause of death | Basilar skull fracture from crash during 2001 ARCA EasyCare 100 | ||||||
Awards | 1996 ARCA Rookie of the Year | ||||||
NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
65 races run over 5 years | |||||||
Best finish | 25th (2000) | ||||||
First race | 1997 Kenwood Home & Car Audio 300 (California) | ||||||
Last race | 2001 MBNA.com 200 (Dover) | ||||||
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
2 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 53rd (1997) | ||||||
First race | 1997 Loadhandler 200 (Bristol) | ||||||
Last race | 1997 Parts America 150 (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
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Blaise Robert Alexander, Jr. (March 26, 1976 – October 4, 2001) was a stock car racer from Montoursville, Pennsylvania. He began racing at the age of 12 in go-karts, winning the coveted World Karting Association East Regional championship in 1992. In 1995, he moved south to Mooresville, North Carolina and drove in the ARCA Racing Series. Named ARCA's rookie of the year in 1996, Alexander was a regular driver in that series while also driving in both the NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
On October 4, 2001, during the ARCA EasyCare 100 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Alexander's car crashed into the outside retaining wall nearly head-on. He died from a basilar skull fracture, the fifth driver death from rapid-deceleration head-and-neck movements in 17 months, convincing NASCAR to mandate the HANS or Hutchens devices for all drivers, despite the accident happening in ARCA.
Alexander was born on March 26, 1976 in Montoursville, Pennsylvania. He began his stock car career at age 12 in the World Karting Association and was the champion of the East Series in 1992. From that point, Alexander moved onto the Micro-Sprint racing series at tracks in different states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, posting a total of 48 wins in the series. In 1995, Alexander moved from Montoursville to Mooresville, North Carolina to pursue a racing career.