NASCAR 2004: 14-year-old’s race potential seems limitless

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 10:43 a.m.

It took only six years for Alex Haase to zip from slipping into that first go-kart to spinning doughnuts in the North Carolina snow, with buddy and idol Kyle Busch, a few weeks ago.

Saturday night, Haase begins writing the next chapter in his growing legend when he competes in a Mechanix Wear Speed Trucks race for the first time in the Bullring on the grounds of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 14-year-old, however, has his sights set on the nearby big track with the big boys. At least, that's where his eyes were aimed after taking his first Bullring spins in a truck last Saturday.

"Eight (NASCAR) championships ... going for the record," said Haase, in a rare display of hubris over humility. "That's going to be cool. My whole dream, right there. I can't wait."

Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt share the record of seven NASCAR championships, and it took some time before Haase, a star-in-the-making in racing, warmed up to an interviewer to reveal the goal that drives him.

That will come as a surprise to his pals at Leavitt Middle School, all of whom can only dream of obtaining a learner's permit to drive in about two years. That's when Haase plans on shifting his racing jones to NASCAR Late Models.

Two years later, he hopes to compete in the Busch Series on the superspeedway.

Then again, Haase has been setting up his future since he was 8, when he first eased into former Bullring owner Richie Clyne's son Chris' go-kart.

"He was just in his glory," said Haase's mother, Tammy. "He knew that's what he wanted to do. Alex just ran lap after lap after lap, and that's where it started."

Two years ago, Haase showed off his driving skills when he backed his father Greg's F-150 -- with a trailer hitched to the rear -- into the family garage. Greg Haase was just as proud of his son after Alex executed his first circuits in a truck last Saturday.

It also was Alex's first laps using a radio and receiver to converse with his crew-chief pop, who rented the No. 66 truck for $1,100 for the week.

"I give that an A," Greg Haase said. "It was his first time using a radio, and he felt comfortable. He got out of (turns) 3 and 4 better, and he got back on the radio and asked me a few questions. That's important.

"I don't know if you noticed, but there were some other rookies out there and he almost lapped them."

Alex Haase will compete in the Legends Cars and Speed Truck events Saturday night. On Sunday, he will work the LVMS infield as a press agent at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

Off the track, Alex isn't into attention. When Tammy enrolled him into Leavitt, the counselor on the other side of the counter marveled that the young speedster he had just read about, in the paper on his desk, was now in front of him.

Alex slowly looked around, ensuring that nobody else heard that news. He doesn't wear NASCAR, or any other type of racing gear, to school. They wouldn't believe me, he has told his mother.

Good friend Alec "Scooter" Priest is well aware of Haase's racing intentions, though, and Priest is no dummy; he wants to serve as Haase's manager when this racing thing becomes Haase's full-time gig.

"Some of them know about it," Haase said. "They laugh at me, saying, 'I wish I could drive,' stuff like that. My friends at school ... a couple of them know about it, but I try to keep it a secret."

Haase is following his father's foosteps. Greg, the service manager of a local Ford dealership, won a Semi-Pro Legends title at the Bullring in 1989 before adding a pro-dirt championship to his resume.

Alex Haase, who maintains at least a parents-enforced B average in the classroom to pursue his racing dreams, won the Semi-Pro Legends crown last year.

He became tight with the younger Busch, now on the NASCAR Busch Series circuit, during Greg's races, seven and eight years ago. Afterward, that Bullring pit became famous for its wild water balloon fights.

Alex, who finished fifth in points among 600 national Legends drivers in '03, and Kyle both attended an annual Legends banquet in North Carolina in late January, and Alex borrowed Kyle's No. 84 car to compete in a Winter Shootout at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

In the first heat, Alex finished second. Then he took third. Among the sports' top 16 drivers, Haase placed sixth in 58-degree weather. The next morning, Alex and Kyle took advantage of a blanket of snow on the ground.

"He was among the best of the best, in a foreign car and on a foreign track," said Greg Haase. "That made him some more fans."

That growing celebrity could translate into vital sponsorship interest, when Alex makes the jump to NASCAR. The whole way, he'll try to heed Kyle's advice.

"He told me," said Haase, not taking his eyes off the superspeedway in front of him, "that it's better to come in second, than last, to win a championship."