NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Blake Alexander was going over the burnout procedure in the Head Inc. Funny Car pit, looking just as much at home as he does in his own pit. The newest Funny Car team owner is filling in for Jonnie Lindberg for the weekend at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, missing a vacation in New York to do what he enjoys best: racing. 

"I'm supposed to be in New York this weekend, but I moved that trip to August and now I'm here this weekend," said Alexander, who will be back in his Pronto Auto Services Funny Car at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals next weekend in Norwalk. "Jim called me two days ago and I was home for about a day, so it all came together pretty quickly."

Jeff Arend filled in for Lindberg, who is in the process of obtaining his green card, at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals and helped the team pick up a round win. That won't help as far as standings are concerned (points are attached to the driver and not to the car) and, for what it's worth, the team isn't running full-time anyway. That means these points will go into Alexander's account. The racer is also not running full-time, so that's also likely a bonus to getting to drive a solid Funny Car. 

“Bristol is an exciting race for me because I had some success here early in my professional career,” said Alexander, who grew up a couple hours away from Bristol Dragway in the Roanoke, Va. area. “Plus, I used to race Jr. Dragsters here, so it’s definitely a track I enjoy coming back to whenever I get the opportunity.”

The first Funny Car session begins at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time and can be watched on NHRA.tv. The second session will be live on FS1 at 7:30 p.m..