Check Out Alex Wood’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Wood.

Alex, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started off as a racing fan after being adopted from Russia in 2003. My family had a major influence on that, but they only watched NASCAR for the most part. To this day, it is still my favorite form of motorsports. Growing up in St. Joseph, where baseball, football, and basketball are the sports nearly everyone followed, it was extremely rare to find anyone to talk about racing, and it seemed hard to find anyone remotely interested in it. To me, it seemed that you had to go to Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Detroit, or even cross the state line to South Bend, Indiana to find someone who was willing to talk about it, or at least someone who could or would talk about it and knew what they were talking about.

I grew up rooting for a series of drivers, but my favorite was Jeff Gordon. In 2004, I became an IndyCar fan, and I grew a liking of Dan Wheldon and got into drag racing in 2005, becoming a fan of Larry Dixon, Jr.

One memory regarding racing that I don’t like to look back on, yet I remember like it was yesterday was when Dan Wheldon was killed on my ninth birthday, which I remember eating lunch with my family and seeing the accident, but I had no idea Wheldon had died until I got home and turned on the TV. I wasn’t sure I would follow IndyCar anymore, but I did and continue to do so now.

My passion for motorsports was when embedded in me when I first attended the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway in August of 2007, which was won by Kurt Busch since then, I’ve made several ventures to be a part of the racing landscape, whether it be the driving side (which we ultimately quit trying due to a lack of funding), designing car schemes, or the one time I actually announced at a race, I knew I had always wanted to be a part of it; I always thought it would be working on a car or driving, but found out there were other ways of participating when I was a senior in high school. I also have only missed four Michigan Cup Series races since 2008, and it is something my family and I enjoy doing together.

My venture into the journalism side of things was when I took an actual journalism class online during my senior year. Due to COVID-19, my parents preferred I did online school rather than in-person. I really liked how I was given a prompt, and I could take it and run with it, and I wrote nearly all my articles about racing; I also began hosting a podcast at this time as well.

On the podcast, I’d bring in my friends and real members of the motorsports industry ranging from drivers, reporters, and crew chiefs. Some of the personalities I interviewed include two-time NASCAR champion and Michigan native Johnny Benson, Jr., 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, long-time color commentator Allen Bestwick, two-time Daytona 500 winning crew chief and long-time NASCAR on FOX analyst Larry McReynolds, Motor Racing Network lead anchor and Michigander Jeff Striegle, 2003 NASCAR Busch Series (now NASCAR Xfinity Series) Rookie of the Year David Stremme, three-time NHRA top fuel champion Larry Dixon, Jr., and the late Steve Kaminski, the long-time Grand Rapids Press sports writer.

If I had to line up every interview I did, the one that’s most special to me is when I interviewed Steve Kaminski. Steve was my biggest supporter, and he always gave me the best advice when it came to my craft. He was not only my mentor but was also a good friend. When he passed away in December of 2022, I made a promise to continue what he did and take the lessons I learned with me across my career.

I graduated from Lakeshore High School in Stevensville in 2021, and that was when I began to really take off with not only my interviews but connections as I began making friends with people I had idolized since I was two years old. It also probably helped that my childhood friend, Carson Hocevar, was racing in NASCAR at the time.

Since graduating high school, I have attended Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, graduating in 2023 with an Associate of the Arts in English. During my time there, I took several journalism opportunities, writing for a couple small-time motorsports publications here in Michigan, but also ended up taking a part-time position with an Australian-based company that entered the American scene in 2023. In October of 2023, shortly before turning 21, I became a certified NASCAR media member. My goal by the end of 2024 is to be certified by the NHRA and potentially IndyCar as well. I also hope to cover some stick-and-ball sports as well like football, basketball, baseball, and hockey as well as I am a very big fan of the Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Cubs, and University of Michigan.

In August, I plan on continuing my education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, double majoring in Sport Management and Film, Video, and Media Studies with a minor in Journalism with the hopes of becoming a motorsports color commentator or be involved with the managerial side of motorsports. I believe this will help make me better at my job either way because most writers probably don’t know the business side and most people on the business side more than likely don’t know how to help make someone likable or how to give people a different perspective on who someone is.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has had its struggles. One thing that has made it a struggle is the influx of race fans that see what I’m doing and believe they can do it, too. While I believe they can, they believe that because I have fewer social media followers than they do, they should have some sort of superiority over me. Social media is not what grants someone the opportunity to work in the motorsports field. Networking with the right people, perfecting your craft, building credibility, and learning from experience is what will get someone the opportunity to do what they want. 

Another thing that has been a struggle is my age. A lot of people I’ve interviewed have asked me how old I was and were stunned when I answered them. I have been told by several well-known people in the industry (primarily NASCAR) that for someone so young, I know the sport like I’ve been in it since the start. With my age, there have also been a number of people who have not taken me seriously, which is not a very good feeling to have, especially when I worked hard to make something the best it can be. It also gets bothersome when a large group of people have the same opinion about something, but when I share my view or experience, they act like I don’t know what I’m talking about. 

At times, I haven’t felt like I’ve had the best support system. People have told me that what I plan to do isn’t realistic despite the things I’ve already done. I’ve been told I need a “Plan B” or I’m “as far as I’ll ever get,” but the path to racing gets more clear with every struggle. My road to cover football, basketball, baseball, and hockey have been smoother, but I feel my struggles within racing will ultimately make me better at what I end up doing. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I currently write articles for anyone who asks. I’ve created my own portfolio website with the help of some of my friends, where we show off our own work, cover news, and offer ourselves out to people who want a service done. 

Regarding my work, I specialize in mostly motorsports, but I also cover baseball, football, basketball, and hockey as well. I cover NASCAR news, rumors, and write my opinions, and I also do the same for IndyCar and drag racing; I also write feature stories where I tell the story of a particular person, event, or something else like a venue or team. 

I am most proud of the fact that I’m just a kid from a small tourist town in Southwest Michigan who has become (in the eyes of some NASCAR members) one of the “rising stars” in NASCAR’s media field. I think being able to overcome all my struggles and naysayers has taught me that words are just words and people can disagree, 

I think what sets me apart from others is seeing the sport at all angles from the garage area and the stands, but also getting an inside scoop of what’s going on within the industry. A lot of younger reporters don’t typically do that; they just ask for a connections with a particular person and expect their wish to be granted or reach out to a particular person on social media demanding a response. Neither way is a good way to go about building a merit or credibility. 

Another thing that sets me apart is my ability to do research. We all come to believe a particular thing about something, but I don’t believe we should just take certain things at face value. I always do my research before writing a story and always try to put compelling evidence in my writing. I also believe another thing that sets me apart is my ability to cover a wide range of topics because while I cover motorsports along with hockey, baseball, football, and basketball, I also cover paranormal stories as well, ranging from the stories of haunted locations to actually going and investigating at places that are allegedly haunted and documenting our findings. 

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I enjoy playing video games because that gives me a sense of creativity and competition because I have ideas that I want to try to make somewhat of a reality. 

I also enjoy going to sporting events and watching solely as a spectator. It’s nice to go somewhere and not have to worry about getting a certain interview or getting access to a certain area. 

I enjoy personal fitness because working out allows improve myself physically and stay active and keeps me motivated to do more than just the bare minimum, but it also teaches discipline and limits. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexmwood9247.wordpress.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-wood-9795401a6/