Entrepreneur – and politician – Alex Clubb Making First ARCA Start of 2019 at Salem

The ARCA Menards Series is the first step on the developmental ladder for many young drivers that aspire to be big time racecar drivers. Eventually, the plan is to make the move to the Gander Outdoor Trucks, the XFFINITY Series, and eventually the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

For many young drivers, they’ve been racing since they were six, eight or ten years old and that’s all they’ve ever done. Such is the way of the racing world these days.

But the ARCA Menards Series is also a destination for short track racers who want to be a part of a professional touring series but don’t have the funding to race one of NASCAR’s three national series.

That’s exactly what brings Alex Clubb (No. 03 A. Clubb Lawn Care Ford) to the ARCA Menards Series. Clubb is the owner and operator of his own landscaping business in his hometown of Morris, Illinois, about an hour outside of downtown Chicago. He funds his racing efforts by the number of lawns he can maintain, and any rainy day can mean fewer tires on race weekend.

Clubb spent the weekends of his formative years racing at various Chicagoland short tracks, including his hometown track Grundy County Speedway. He earned 44 feature wins and over 100 heat race wins, both on pavement and dirt, before jumping into the ARCA Menards Series.

“It’s raining here in Morris today so we aren’t out working,” Clubb said in a recent phone conversation. “We need everything we can get done before we go to Salem. We don’t have a lot of big-name sponsors, most of ours are friends that chip in a few hundred bucks when they can. So missing a day or two of work because of rain this close to a race weekend hurts.”

Clubb, who’s no small wallflower, works weekends he’s not racing as a bouncer at Honest Abe’s in Morris. It’s that extra money that puts tires on his racecar.

Clubb’s plans for 2019 call for a handful of ARCA starts at Salem, Toledo, Madison, the two dirt miles at Springfield and DuQuoin, and the second race at Salem.

“We’d like to do more but it’s just me and my dad,” Clubb said. “I have a cousin, Brandon Shepherd, that comes and helps us sometimes. He was at all three races we ran last year. But we’re just a really small team trying to make whatever we can happen. We’d like to do Elko too, but that’s right before the two dirt races and we’d like to spend as much time as we can to get the car ready. We know we aren’t going to go out and win the race but we’d like to be better than we were last year. Any time you can go to the track and you’re faster than you were the last time you’re making progress and that’s our goal for this season.”

Not only is Clubb and entrepreneur and racecar driver, he’s also a budding politician. He was recently elected as an alderman in his hometown. He’ll be sworn into office on May 1.

“I followed the 2016 election pretty closely,” he said. “I was intrigued by the whole process. I’d like to maybe run for something bigger down the road, and you have to start somewhere. I work weekends bouncing at a club that’s owned by the local Republican committee chairman and he knew I wanted to get involved and he recommended I run for alderman. The area I live in is very Democratic, and people didn’t give me a big chance to win. I went out and talked to as many people as I could and ended up winning.

“I am learning more and more every day,” he continued. “I’ve learned politics can be a very dirty game. But I really want to get involved and help the working people who live on my side of town. It’s things like getting the streets repaired, the curbs fixed, the sidewalks leveled out, and finding something to do with the paper mill here in my side of Morris that’s been closed since the 1980s. I have learned a lot about the budgeting process, too. Why money is allocated for certain things. It’s all very interesting and I can’t wait to get started.”

Practice for the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 is set for 11 am ET on Saturday, April 13 with General Tire Pole Qualifying scheduled for 3 pm ET that afternoon. The green flag on round three of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series season will drop shortly after 2 pm ET on Sunday, April 14. The race will be televised live on MAVTV and ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates at ARCARacing.com. New members can register for free at ARCARacing.com/login.