It’s a quiet night in Glenburn, Maine.
The air is still, disturbed only by the wake of the occasional car speeding down Broadway. At first glance, the Alexander household looks like any other, particularly when cruising by.
Look a little closer, and you’ll see a gray tarp covering a car sitting in front of the garage.
This is no ordinary car — it’s wide and low to the ground.
The rear quarter of the car is uncovered, exposing a Goodyear slick tire and a number of decals and a spoiler.
This is the home of the Alexanders, a racing family.
Tucked into the right side of the garage is a black trailer, in which the championship car of 18-year-old DC Alexander sits. He took the crown in the sportsman class on Sept. 27 at Speedway 95 in Hermon, the first championship for his family in 40 years and three generations of racing.
The family started racing in 1966, when then 17-year-old Don Alexander Sr. and his brother started bringing their Ford Fairlane to the track — a track where there was no pavement, no real barriers, no real safety.
“Things were different back then,” Alexander Sr. said.
“This is where it all starts,” Don Alexander Jr. said while gesturing to the open garage where a stripped-down silver Honda, owned by his nephew, Brad Dolan, sits on jacks.
An electric green rollcage and interior provides is a stark contrast to the silver body panels. Recently spray painted suspension and brake parts sit on a cardboard mat next to the disassembled car. Like an orchestra awaiting the appearance of its conductor, the various parts and pieces will remain ready but idle until the custom-built engine arrives.
Alexander Jr., a 45-year-old Casella truck driver, is a lifelong resident of Glenburn and lives with his parents, Don Alexander Sr. and Roberta. Since the opening of Speedway 95, the family has either attended or competed in every Saturday night feature race since 1966.
Even with the prospect of a new project in front of him, there is an air of solemnity in Don’s Alexander’s voice as he realizes he will not be able to work on the project with his son, DC.
“I always told DC, ‘If anyone’s gonna drive my car, it’ll be you. I’ll be the owner, you be the driver.’ Now (that) he’s gone, it’s like, do I really want to do it or not?” Alexander said.
DC Alexander is in Mooresville, North Carolina, taking part in a 13-month mechanics program at the NASCAR Technical Institute. He has also secured an internship working at JR Motorsports, the race team owned by popular NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Don Alexander’s sadness is surpassed by a father’s pride, seeing his son flourish in ways he never dreamed possible.
“I told DC the other day, I was like, ‘You know what? After 40 years, racing has finally paid off for us.’
“Mom and dad struggled. Me and [DC’s] mom struggled. We went our separate ways. It’s hard on a family. It causes a lot of problems and stuff. I even told his mother, I was like, ‘Everything that’s happened in the last 29 years with us, it all came down to this year being worth it.’ To see him win a few races, win a championship and go down to North Carolina to be a part of JR Motorsports, it’s worth everything that I’ve ever sacrificed,” Don Alexander said.
Between the entry fee, gas and tires, the average cost of a race weekend is about $300, according to Don Alexander, and that’s if nothing breaks. The car can cost upward of $10,000 without replacement parts. Some of these costs are compensated by sponsorship dollars, but much of it comes out of pocket.
In the end, racers feel it’s worth it, despite the speed and the risk.
“I guess we’re all crazy,” Don Alexander said.
As a child, DC Alexander showed no interest in driving. Instead, he wanted to be the flag man. To be the one in control of the race was a grand position, he thought.
He eventually took an interest in driving. After entering the children’s league at Speedway 95 at age 12, he never looked back.
“Usually right before the race I’m quiet,” he says. “Once I get in the car I’m really jittery, I’ve got butterflies. I’ll say my prayers and wait. But once I get on the track, the butterflies are gone. It’s like, once I roll out of the pits and hit that track, everything just goes away and I’m in my zone.”
Watching from the sidelines is equally as intense for Roberta Alexander, who for the last 40 years has watched on the sidelines while her husband, her son and now her grandson race wheel-to-wheel on oval courses.
“I pray a lot,” she said.
“I’ve spent many nights watching. [Donnie] rolled over one night — scared the living daylights out of me. His son was with me. I think DC was about 3 years old, and he started crying: ‘Nana, is my daddy OK? Is my daddy OK?’”
She has seen the men in her family compete and feared for their lives, not knowing why they did it or where it could possibly lead. Now with the opportunity DC has seized, it has all become clear.
“I can remember him saying to me, ‘Nanny, when I make it big, I’m gonna buy you a house.’ Back then, hearing a 3-year-old coming to me and saying that, [I’d say] ‘that’s nice DC,’ not believing that it was really going to happen,” she said.
After a recent visit to see his son in North Carolina, Don Alexander is confident of his ability and drive to pursue his dream of driving among NASCAR’s elite in the Sprint Cup series. He wanted his son to escape, to find something better.
“It’s his time,” he said.
DC Alexander is hoping school and work in North Carolina will be stepping stones to a race seat in the highest category of American motorsports. He has been scouting tracks, attending races and getting a feel for the level of competition. His plan is to race his father’s late-model stock car. Given the logistics, however, he is willing to settle for any vehicle he can find.
He will return to Maine on Saturday to claim his trophy at Speedway 95’s awards banquet. He also plans on talking to representatives and managers for Casella and other businesses about sponsoring a race operation in North Carolina.
DC’s drive to rise to the top and win is relentless, and he wants to bring his home state along with him.
“There’s nothing that you can compare to winning a race,” he said. “When I took that checkered flag, it went all through my head at once — all the hard work my grandfather puts in, all the hard work my father puts in. He kills himself working on this car. My mom supporting me every single day to get me here. The whole family. It’s everyone that takes their time to believe in me. … It’s the best feeling. I’m on top of the world when I win a race.”