Alex Yankowski Looks to Carry Strong 2020 Season Finale Right into 2021

Alex Yankowski enters his third season in modified coming off a strong finish to his 2020 season with a dramatic $10,000 win at the 100 lap 1^st annual Danny Serrano Memorial in November with hopes to keep the winning going right into his 2021 Short Track Super Series season opener at Georgetown, DE.  Another busy season is planned in 2021 with weekly modified racing at Big Diamond on Friday and Bridgeport on Saturdays along with the Short Track Super Series South Region events during the week as well as Speedster weekly racing at Action Track on Wednesday nights.  A new addition to Yankowski’s schedule for 2021 is Grandview special events and Thunder on the Hill events in the # 2 Rich Stankiewicz entry.

Alex has grown up in a racing family with his dad as the car owner of his brother Stephen and Uncle Frank in the # 127.  Stephen raced in the sportsman division at Big Diamond and Utica Rome a few years ago while Frank Yankowski continues to race the # 127 in the modified division at Big Diamond with occasional trips to Grandview and Bridgeport. 

Alex noted “I started racing at 4 years old in kid cars and then moved into slingshots but really learned the most about driving when I raced road course go-karts in Florida, Louisiana and the Carolinas against international competitors.  In 2017 I raced sportsman crates at the end of the season and picked up my first crate win at Penn Can in my 4^th race in a crate car.” 

In 2018 Alex opened his season at the STSS in Georgetown, DE with a win of the crate division over a field of 50 cars at the age of 13.  In his very next race at the Big Diamond season opener Yankowski made it two in a row with second win in his second start of 2018.

Yankowski recalled “2018 was an amazing season.  We made a trip to Five Mile Point and won a race and decided to run their points too.  When our first full season in sportsman ended we had 6 wins at Big Diamond, 6 wins a Five Mile Point and a win at the short track super series opener in Georgetown, DE.  We ended up winning three point championships – Big Diamond, Five Mile Point and the American Racer point championship.  After such a good first year in sportsman we decided to go ahead and make the move to the modified division in 2019 instead of another year in the sportsman division.”  At the age of 14 Alex had recorded 14 wins in one season of sportsman racing.

2019 was Yankowski’s first full year of modified and he ran weekly at Big Diamond on Friday and Grandview on Saturday with a 4^th place points finish at Big Diamond and a 10^th in points at Grandview which also earned him the NASCAR “2019 PA Short Track Rookie of the year” award.  He also got a win at the Afton Speedway opener and a win at Accord Speedway in 2019.  Alex noted “2019 was a bad year.  We made some changes that just didn’t work out during 2019 and when we corrected them in 2020 we were much more competitive.  One thing that was cool about 2019 was that I did win the NASCAR “PA Short Track Rookie of the year” award and got to go to the NASCAR season end championship banquet and met many NASCAR drivers including Stewart Friesen.”

Yankowski started 2020 off in Carolinas with the Short Track Super Series at Tri County Speedway were he ran 2^nd to Richie Pratt Jr.  For the pandemic shorten season the 84Y team ran weekly at Big Diamond and the new 4/10 high banked track at Bridgeport Motorsports Park.  Alex finished 4^th in points for the 2^nd year in a row at Big Diamond while finishing 2^nd in points at Bridgeport only 30 points behind 2020 points champion Billy Pauch Sr.  Alex commented “It was great to get two wins at Big Diamond on back to back weeks.  I didn’t get any wins at Bridgeport during the points races but was a close 2^nd a few weeks and we finished top 5 every week during the seven point races.”

 At the last race of the season Alex got his Bridgeport win at the Danny Serrano Memorial which was the biggest win of his career with a $10,000 check for the winner of the 100 lap event.  Alex noted “It was great to be the first to win Danny’s race because he has done so much for me.  Danny was the one that got me cleared to race in the state of New Jersey and he had just got me cleared for 2020 only one week before he passed away.  I will always miss Danny.”

 Alex also commented “the 2020 speedster season started with a flipping wreck & junked car at the second race of the year.  The new replacement car did not arrive until the final race of the year which we won first time out so things are looking up for the speedster program as we go into 2021.”

In the 2^nd half of the 2020 modified season the 84Y changed to a Bicknell chassis and his crew chief from 2018 returned and so did the consistency of their top 5 finishes.  If the strong late season charge in 2020 is any indication of what is coming in 2021; Alex will be in contention for wins each week no matter what or where he is racing during the 2021 season.  

  Yankowski’s goals for 2021 are very simple “I would like to get some wins in 2021 and have fun doing it.”  Sounds like a plan.