Blaise Alexander dies in ARCA crash
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
October 7, 2001
1:51 PM EDT (1751 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. - NASCAR Busch Series driver Blaise Alexander died of massive head injuries caused by a crash during the ARCA Series race at Lowes Motor Speedway on Thursday night.
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Blaise Alexander made 31 Busch starts for Felix Sabates in 2000.
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Alexander, a native of Montoursville, Pa., was 25 years old.
The fatal accident occurred with just four laps remaining in the Easy Care Vehicle Service Contract 100 with Alexander and eventual race winner Kerry Earnhardt engaging in a fierce door-to-door battle exiting Turn 4 and into the the frontstretch.
As they entered the tri-oval, Alexander slid under Earnhardt and the two made slight contact. Alexander’s car then veared hard to the right, slamming the outside retaining wall and making a severe right-frontal impact.
Earnhardt’s car rolled over and slid on its roof to the end of pit road. He climbed out of the overturned and flaming car uninjured.
Alexander’s car came to rest in front of the latter part of the tri-oval.
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Alexander ran six Busch events in 2001 with a best finish of 11th.
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Alexander was unconcious and unresponsive when emergency medical crews arrived at his car. After being cut from the car and transported to the infield medical center, the trauma team worked on Alexander for another 25 minutes before pronoucing him dead at 10:20 p.m.
“The initial report is that he died of a severe head injury,” said Jerry Gappens, vice president of communications for the track. “Our emergency technicians and doctors were at the scene. He was unconscious, unresponsive and had no pulse.
“There was no spontaneous respiration. Advanced cardiac life support was performed and extensive CPR. Again, there was no response and life signs.”
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Alexander's career best finish came in 2000, when he was seventh in Atlanta.
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This is the seventh stock car fatality at LMS since 1960, and the 14th overall death at the track. The last on-track fatality was Russell Phillips, who died of head injuries in a Sportsman race here in 1995.
Alexander's father, Blaise Alexander Sr., and brother Adam, were both in his pit stall. His mother was at home in Pennsylvania. They immediately flew home to be with her.
Alexander was not wearing a HANS or a Hutchens device like many in the Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Trusck Series do. He was wearing a ARCA mandated neck collar, which was found to be intact after inspection by safety and track officials.
“Blaise started racing in our series in 1996 with a lot of success,” said Ron Drager, president of ARCA. “From there, he moved into the Busch Series and came back to race with us for a few races.”
Following the accident, the race was brought to a red flag stoppage while emergency crews attended to the scene. The race was then called with Earnhardt declared the winner due to his having led the last completed lap.
Alexander competed in the NASCAR Busch Series full time for Team SABCO during the 2000 campaign while also attempting a handful of Winston Cup events.
Alexander was the ARCA rookie of the year in 1996 and finished fifth in points. He had two series wins in 1999.
He began his racing career in Go-Karts in 1989-92 and was the WKA champion in for the Eastern Regional Series in 1992. From 1992-94 he raced Micro Sprints winning 48 races at tracks in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.
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