WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Alex Yankowski, one of dirt Modified racing’s fastest rising stars, is throwing his hat in the ring to chase the Super DIRTcar Series championship in 2025.
Currently sitting as the Series points leader, the 20-year-old from Covington Township, Pa., becomes the 21st driver to join the series full-time this year, after earning back-to-back runner-up finishes to start the championship season and claiming the “Big Gator” trophy at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
To be able to make the full-time jump, Yankowski will drive for three different teams throughout the season.
He’ll drive his own red No. 84y at many of the events, while also piloting the Tim and Debbie Millman-owned blue No. 84y and the Petruska No. 66 – a car he drove to a second-place finish at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
“With the 66 stuff, it’s five more races, Big Diamond, Selinsgrove, Can-Am and Weedsport in September, and Oswego,” Yankowski said. “Those five races really help cut the costs down. We’re working out of three different pockets, which will help split up the costs.”
He enters this weekend’s doubleheader at Weedsport Speedway and Thunder Mountain Speedway with an 11-point lead over reigning series champion Mat Williamson. However, he said he knows how quickly that could change.
“You never know with racing,” Yankowski said. “You could be on top of the world, and then all of a sudden, we could go to Weedsport and Thunder and feel like we’re upside down. You have to take things one race at a time; that’s all you can do.”
While the first two points-paying races came at venues he’s familiar with, “Kid Rocket” will travel to places he’s never been before this season, like Autodrome Drummond. Like many events on the schedule, it’s not just the Super DIRTcar Series competitors he’ll face but also a stout group of regional drivers aiming for a Series win.
“There’s definitely a stretch of races I don’t have much experience at that are probably going to be tough ones,” Yankowski said. “You go to that Canadian swing, and there’s locals that run really well there like David Hebert and (Michael) Parent. Really, on our end, I feel like we have to unload like it’s any other race and just at a different track and figure it out like we always do.”
