GLENCOE, Minn. – Alex Dostal has had a thing for speed ever since he crashed a three-wheeler into the front door of the house at the age of five or six.
His ability to go fast paid off this season with the Mach-1 Sport Compact national championship.
Encouraged by early success, the Glencoe, Minn., pilot targeted the national prize in mid-summer. He scored 25 feature wins in making that goal become reality.
“Everything just panned out,” explained Dostal, a first-time national king after finishing fourth each of the two previous years. “I wasn’t planning on racing a Sport Compact but decided to when Princeton Speedway opened. We got three or four wins and I told my dad we were going to see how far we can take it.”
“I had high hopes we could get it about 15 wins in,” he continued. “We had the national championship in our sights in late July.”
Dostal showed a knack for getting his wins in bunches, carrying streaks of five straight checkers into early August and later to mid-September.
His final win of the season came at Arlington Raceway’s Sept. 28 Scott Schoknecht Shootout.
“Racing with the tough competition we have around here has helped me astronomically,” said Dostal, who also earned a third consecutive E3 Spark Plugs Minnesota State crown along with Arlington, Princeton and Redwood Speedway track titles.
He counted a dozen wins at Princeton, seven at Arlington and three each at Redwood and at North Central Speedway.
“Short tracks started to grow on me,” Dostal said. “I think they help you become a better driver because you have to learn to make decisions more quickly.”
The decision to race a Sport Compact, of course, came long after his escapades on three wheels. Dostal helped his father Richard with his truck and tractor pulling, later building an auto cross car to race on a small dirt track complete with jumps and tight corners.
“We converted it to a Sport Compact. Paul Burger at B & B Chassis put the roll cage in and we figured we’d just race it at Arlington,” said Dostal. “We started building the second car after my first season.”
While the feature wins and championships were great, Dostal said the highlight of his season came when a young fan at Arlington presented him with a picture they’d drawn of his car, which has since been framed and put on display in his shop.
“We do have a Stock Car in the garage now but I’m not 100 percent sure on what we’re going to do next year,” he said. “We’re still enjoying what we did this year.”
Starts 49 Wins 25 Additional Top Five’s 19
HIS CREW: Father Richard, cousin Kayla Dostal, uncle ‘Fast’ Eddie Dostal and girlfriend Margret Rossing.
HIS SPONSORS: Pro RPM Performance, My Own Body Shop, Matt Gruber Repair and Go For It Gas, all of Glencoe.