We often get used to seeing the most popular names get the most attention on any given race day. JGR and Venturini are just a couple of examples of teams that we constantly witness dominating the field in the ARCA Menards Series. It’s no surprise that the teams with the most money usually secure the drivers who are the most sought after at this level of racing. We have also heard stories about those drivers a hundred times.

In my experience, the best stories exist beyond those drivers who grow up in the limelight. The stories are about the drivers who fight and claw to put a car together in time to qualify at a track that is 2,000 miles away from home. The drivers who trade in a steering wheel for a set of truck keys and work boots the day after a race. The self-made, self-funded teams who are facing the goliaths of modern motorsports and telling them, “I ain’t scared of you!”

Alex Clubb can truly be described as your average, midwestern father and husband. If you were to see him filling up his truck at the gas station, you probably wouldn’t think he has ever strapped into a race car against drivers like Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, and Christian Eckes, but he has done that, and a lot more. Fueled by his grandfather and father’s passion for racing, Clubb officially began his career in the year 2000 at the age of eight. Turning laps at Jules Raceway, a true relic that sits on the banks of the Des Plaines River to this day. His first car? A go-cart that dad bought him after he proved his talents circling the family’s backyard daily….for four years.

That initial opportunity soon blossomed into greater opportunities to race in bigger and better equipment as he grew up. “I went from that to four cylinders. I ran street stocks; I ran sportsman cars; I ran super late…Really, the only thing I haven’t ran is a dirt super late model.” said Clubb. His extensive racing background is something that has undoubtedly fueled his confidence and the progression of his career. “It’s not like I’m some kid that popped up one day and said I want to do this…It’s the career path we kind of took because we were winning a lot with the dirt street stock.”

Around the same time that the local racing scene ran its course with Clubb, a racing miracle happened, and ARCA team owner Roger Carter took notice of Alex’s talents on the dirt. Given Clubb’s background, Carter tapped Clubb to drive his “Carter 2 Motorsports” equipment in both of the ARCA Menards Series dirt-track races in 2015: The Dutch Boy 100 and the Southern Illinois 100. Clubb seized the opportunity and finished seventeenth and twenty-sixth between the two races.

“In 2015, he offered me to do the two dirt races because I’m a dirt guy… I mean, I couldn’t pass up the deal he gave me, and then basically from that day forward, since 2015, we’ve been all-in with trying to do the ARCA stuff.” Clubb continued, “It’s been a lot of building to get to this point, but finally, after 8 years, we’re able to do it full-time.” News of full-time racing was something Clubb Racing was excited to share with the public in November 2023, making 2024 a year of brand-new goals.

The 03 machine of Clubb Racing Inc. currently sits seventh in the 2024 ARCA Menards Series points standings. A position he said exceeds any expectations they had entering the season. “We honestly had no expectations for Daytona because we just were hoping to get a provisional. My dad and I built that car from the ground up. It took us two months to build that car.” said, Clubb. “We kind of gave it the old college try, and we were decent, but we learned from watching it on-track and looking back at photos and videos what we missed.”

Position	Driver	Car #	Avg Start	Avg Finish	Points
1st	Greg Van Alst	35	19th	8th	73
2nd	Christian Rose	32	15th	10th	68
3rd	Andres Perez	2	8th	10th	68
4th	Amber Balcaen	22	21st	12th	64
5th	Lavar Scott	6	20th	12th	63
6th	Andy Jankowiak	73	23rd	12th	51
7th	Alex Clubb	03	38th	19th	50

Two problems that often plague smaller, self-funded teams are a lack of equipment and a lack of personnel. In the case of Clubb Racing, there is no fancy corporate office, there are not engineers working tirelessly to put their pride and joy on the pole position. No, these guys do it the old-fashioned way, operating directly out of Clubb’s father’s three-car garage in small-town Illinois.

“We call ourselves Hillbilly engineers.” Clubb said with a chuckle, “We work out of a three-car garage…My Grandpa, before he passed away, he used to call us sledgehammer mechanics.” The bond between Clubb and his family is strong, so when I asked him about budgeting and the desire to keep the operation at his parent’s house, his answer didn’t surprise me. “We have just always worked out of the garage. The big teams run on a one-million-dollar-plus budget, but we’re trying to do it on a hundred thousand to two hundred thousand dollars budget. Really, we need about a three hundred thousand dollar budget to be top five competitive.”

That has never squashed Clubb’s dreams of racing in the higher series. “I definitely would like to run a truck race, I’d like to run an Xfinity race, and I’d like to run a Cup race. That’s what I want to do. When I was a kid, all I wanted to run was Cup, that’s all I wanted to do.” said Clubb. Aside from his desire to run with better equipment and his motivation to keep striving for greatness, Clubb also has a realistic view of how well he can perform and where to draw the line on expectations.

“As you grow up and you see how things work, and you learn that it ain’t gonna work out. I have gotten to the point that I can do the ARCA stuff, and with the schedule, I can do that.” “Even doing the truck schedule with more races and farther places, it just doesn’t really work out for me….I have had offers to drive Crafstman Trucks and drive Xfinity cars, but when you’re looking at (paying) thirty to fifty thousand dollars to either DNQ or run thirtieth or thirty-fifth, it’s not, as a thirty-two-year-old guy, too appealing.”

With the success Clubb has been able to achieve over his career, he was able to give me some sound advice for up-and-coming racers who may be in a similar position as him while chasing their own dreams. “Get experience, get with a team, get your own car. Even if it’s a Crown Vic or a 4-cylinder, just something to get laps. Learn how to work on your own car. Because at the end of the day, if you get to a point that you can get to this level, if you don’t have the money to pay somebody to drive, but you have the knowledge and the know-how to work on cars, you can do your own deal.” Clubb Continued, “I’m just your everyday, blue collar guy that owns a lawn care business. I’m nothing special. I’m not smarter than anybody. I just put in the work and put in the time. It’s been an eight-year grind to get to this point.”

Clubb is a racecar driver and team owner who knows how to keep a humble view of not only what’s important in the shop and on the track but also what’s important in life. He credits his success to the powerful love and unwavering support of his family. His wife, Ashlee, their children, Parker and Kennedy, and of course, his mother and father, Lisa and Brian. All helping keep the car and team operating in their own very special way. Clubb also speaks very highly of his two main sponsors for this season, Race Parts Liquidators and Yavapai Bottle Gas. Their support is what keeps the car competitive every race weekend. It takes a village, they say, and Clubb Racing has found a way to continue keeping the dream alive week after week.

I think it’s important for racing to have the tenacious, dream-chasing drivers involved. Whether it’s to remind the affluent driver that there is someone out there who still works late nights in a garage that grandpa built or so the kid in the stands can see that it is possible to make your wildest dreams come true. Those guys and girls define what it is to be an inspiration.

If you take anything away from his story, make sure as it’s that you always find yourself taking time to cheer for the Alex Clubbs in the world. You never know the impact your support may have on that person and team.

WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! You can catch Alex Clubb and the aptly named “Morris Missile” at the next NASCAR ARCA Menards Series event, the General Tire 200, on April 20th at Talladega Super Speedway. Clubb will also be competing at Dover Speedway in the General Tire 150 on April 26th and Kansas Speedway for the Tide 150 on May 4th. You can click here to see the remainder of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule.

If you are interested in sponsoring Clubb Racing at any of their upcoming races or for an extended portion of the season, please contact the team by calling (815) 768-6548 or leave a comment on this story below!

Header Image: Track Bar Media