Alexander Confident in Gates Auto Car at Indy

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion

CLERMONT, IN – Funny Car rookie Blake Alexander is one of 25 cars entered for this weekend’s prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Following promising results at his last race in Norwalk, Blake is confident that his Gates Auto Funny Car will be one of the 16 cars racing on Labor Day Monday. The atmosphere surrounding the legendary event doesn’t affect his game plan for the weekend.

“Indy is obviously a big deal, but I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing all year, doing my best for my sponsors. The things I’ve learned all year will be applied, but the way I’ve tried to do things won’t change,” said the college student/300 mph Funny Car pilot.

Conditions at the Labor Day tradition have been known to go from hot and slick to cool air capable of record performances. This will give tuner Paul Smith the chance to work on his tune-ups for an array of conditions.

“We have a really good hot track tune-up, but we need to work on the set-up for night conditions where the Funny Cars can fly. If we can make a good run at night and stick in the Top 12, we’ll have a better chance at a favorable match-up in the first round on Monday,” Blake quoted.

Alexander pointed out the progress made at Norwalk and how it will help this weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway. “We ran our fastest to the 330 (feet) at Norwalk in the heat. It just didn’t stick in the left lane because the traction was questionable. There’s no question about the traction at Indy. Hopefully the combination and the things we learned at Norwalk will show up on-track at Indy.”

This weekend also marks Blake’s first race with a new associate sponsor. “This is our first weekend with Spy Optics on the car. I’m very excited to have them on board, along with Gates, Auto Service Plus, Auto Plus, Monroe, Exide, and Valvoline,” Blake said. “Their action lifestyle image fits in perfectly in the fast-paced world of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing.”