Mike Alexander (born July 31, 1957) was an American racing driver. He won the NASCAR Weekly Series national championship in 1983.<ref name="StarsBorn_Alexander">Schaefer, Paul. Where Stars Are Born: Celebrating 25 Years of NASCAR Weekly Racing. Coastal 181, Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA, 2006. ISBN 0-9789261-0-2. pp. 11-15.</ref> He also raced in Winston Cup and in the Busch Series.
Career prior to national racing
Alexander was the 1978 and 1992 track champion at the historic Nashville International Raceway, now known as Nashville Speedway USA.
In 1983, driving Late Models on paved tracks for car owner Bobby Ray Jones, he won the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national championship, and won the NASCAR Grand American Stock Car championship in its final year. Alexander won 31 of the 56 races that he entered. Most were at Nashville, Tennessee or Birmingham, Alabama (where he won the track championship), but some ranged as far as South Carolina or Florida.<ref name="StarsBorn_Alexander" />
NASCAR Winston Cup career
Mike began his national-level racing career in the Winston Cup series. He made the field in the Music City 420 in 1980 and didn't do that badly, finishing tenth. He ran part of the 1981 season for Bob Rogers. Most of his finishes in 1981 were in the Top 15 (if he was running). He ran most of the first 22 races in 1984 for car owner Dave Marcis with limited success. In 1985 he ran a partial schedule for Sims Brothers and Sadler Brothers. He drove for the Stavola Brothers for the final 16 races in 1988, substituting for the injured Bobby Allison.<ref name="StarsBorn_Alexander" /> He had his greatest success in 1988, with six top-ten finishes in 18 starts, including a career best 3rd place finish at the season finale at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. In 1989, Alexander drove the Stavola Brothers car at Daytona, but he was hampered by the effects of an injury in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL the previous December, and resigned from the ride.<ref name="StarsBorn_Alexander" /> His final stint in Cup was the first 7 races for Bobby Allison Motorsports in 1990.
NASCAR Busch Series career
He ran a partial season in the Busch Series in 1986. He ran full-time in 1987 and 1988, and had a win in both seasons (1987 Langley Speedway (Virginia)) and (1988 Hickory Motor Speedway). He had three career poles. He had 31 Top 10 finishes in his 71 Busch starts.
References
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