Home

AUTOMOTIVE JOURNALIST, TEST DRIVER, AUTHOR,
RACE DRIVER
With a racing and automotive journalism career spanning four full decades, Don
Alexander is one of the nations most noted and respected race driving experts,
writers, test drivers and racers. Most recently, Don is working with Doug Walton
of Big Bear Off Road Adventures to produce an Off Road TV show and 4x4
Driving School in Big Bear Lake, CA. Don has been involved in off roading for
over 20 years. In 2002, Don set five International and National land speed
records at Bonneville driving the Banks Sidewinder to a top speed of 222.139
MPH, making it the world’s fastest pickup truck of any type.. The Sidewinder is a
Dodge Dakota pickup with 5.9 liter Cummins TurboDiesel engine producing 735
horsepower and 1300 lbs.-feet of torque. The truck was built by Gale Banks and
Don will be return to Bonneville in 2005 with the Sidewinder in twin turbo
configuration in an effort to exceed 250 MPH. Banks is also building a tube-
framed, Duramax Diesel-powered GMC pickup for road racing endurance
events. Don will drive the truck in NASA endurance races including the NASA
TIMEX 25 hour at Thunderhill in December.
In addition to Track Driver TV, Don writes a monthly series of article for D Sport
magazine and he is a college level instructor for the International Motorsports
Alliance at California State University San Bernardino.
Alexander has over 40 years of auto racing experience as a driver, racing
instructor and author. Don has taught over 5000 individuals the skills needed to
drive racecars, and has reached thousands of others with his 10 books and
hundreds of magazine articles.
Don’s racing school career began in 1970 at the Bob Bondurant School of High
Performance Driving, then located at the Ontario Motor Speedway. Don helped
develop several programs, including a comprehensive ambulance driver training
program, for the Riverside International Racing School at Riverside International
Raceway. He then operated his own performance driving school based at
Irwindale Raceway with a satellite location in the San Francisco Bay area. In
1987, Don
began instructing at the Driver’s Connection at Willow Springs International
Raceway. He became the Chief Instructor at the school in 1990. In 1991, Don
took a full-time position as the Chief Instructor for Drive Tech Racing School,
where he created all of the training classes. He has also instructed in private-
sector classes at the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Emergency Vehicle
Operations Training Center. Don has helped several racers as a coach,
providing insights and developing skills that have helped racers become
winners.
Alexander is probably best known for his stint as the Editor of Circle Track
Magazine. His Learn to Race & Win and RaceCar Setup article series were the
most popular in the magazine’s history. Don has written for many magazines
including Mustang Illustrated, Turbo, All Chevy, Short Track, Petersen’s
RICHARD PETTY’S STOCK CAR MAGAZINE, the NASCAR TRUCK RACING
magazine, NASCAR GARAGE and GRASSROOTS MOTORSPORTS. His
concise, understandable writing style has made his work very popular.
After leaving Circle Track in 1995, Don conducted a national seminar series,
called Think To Win Seminars, with the legendary Smokey Yunick. The series
was very popular, reaching racers in nine cities. Alexander also conducted a
national seminar series in 1988/89 covering road racing chassis setup and
tuning. Don has appeared at many club meetings and conventions, including
SEMA, PRI and the International Auto Salon as a guest speaker, talking about a
variety of racing and automotive related topics.
Of the 10 books Don has authored, the current title “Think To Win” has been the
most successful. This book has broken new ground in the area of driving
racecars. It focuses on the mental aspects of driving, but also covers the
physical techniques and the principles of physics that all racers need to
understand. The newest titles by Alexander currently on bookstore shelves are
“High Performance Handling Handbook”, which covers the principles of vehicle
dynamics and suspension tuning for both race cars and street machines, and
“Stock Car Driving Techniques”. Other racing books authored by Alexander
include “Sprint Car Technology”, “The Racer’s Dictionary” and “Formula Car
Technology”, which earned the 1980 Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters
Association Book of the Year.
Alexander’s racing career spans four decades and a wide variety of racing
machines. He began racing in 1960 in Go Karts. This was followed by a stint of
bracket racing at local So. Cal. drag strips. Don began SCCA racing in 1969,
racing an Alfa in the production category. During his road racing career,
Alexander has driven in Formula Vee, Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, Formula
5000, Trans Am, Improved Touring, Showroom Stock, Spec Racer and Firestone
Firehawk. Don began short track racing in 1976 at Speedway 605 and has
driven many types of cars including modifieds, late model stock cars, Southwest
Tour, ASA, sprint cars and others on both dirt and asphalt tracks.
In 2000, Alexander was invited to compete in the Beetle Cup All Star Race at
Road Atlanta. Alexander was representing MOTOR TREND magazine in the
event.
Don finished 9th racing against some of the best road racers in the world - Hans
Stuck, Danny Sullivan, Tommy Kendall, Jack Baldwin, Price Cobb, Brian
Redman, Scott Sharp, Scott Goodyear, Bill Adam and others.
In 2002, Alexander competed in the inaugural OPEN TRACK CHALLENGE
driving a Subaru WRX. Alexander won two championships racing a VW Rabbit in
the Neuspeed GTi Cup and NASA endurance races in 2002. He is racing a
Super Unlimited Race Truck in West Coast NASA Road races in 2003 in addition
to his Banks Sidewinder driving duties.
Don also provides test driving services for several automotive aftermarket
companies.
BOOKS
STOCK CAR DRIVING TECHNIQUES (2001)
HIGH PERFORMANCE HANDLING HANDBOOK (2002)
THINK TO WIN (1996)
PERFORMANCE HANDLING (1992)
TOUR DE FRANCE ‘86 (1986)
BICYCLIST’S EMERGENCY REPAIR (1986)
CATAMARAN RACING HANDBOOK (1982)
FORMULA CAR TECHNOLOGY (1980)
THE RACER’S DICTIONARY (1980)
SPRINT CAR TECHNOLOGY (1979)
RACER’S DATA BOOK (1977)
SAFE DRIVING HANDBOOK (1972)

MAGAZINES
EDITOR - SHORT TRACK RACING MAGAZINE 1997
EDITOR - CIRCLE TRACK MAGAZINE 1994-1996
EDITOR - BICYCLE RIDER MAGAZINE 1983-1986
TECH EDITOR - MOTORHOME MAGAZINE 1983
TECH EDITOR -TRAILER LIFE 1983
EDITOR - CALIFORNIA CATAMARAN 1983
WEST COAST EDITOR - MULTIHULLS 1981-1983
EDITOR - FORMULA MAGAZINE 1973-1975

OVER 500 FREELANCE MAGAZINE ARTICLES IN
D SPORT
SUPER STREET
TURBO
CHEVY HIGH PERFORMANCE
MUSTANG & FORDS
NASCAR TRUCK RACING
NASCAR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
RICHARD PETTY’S STOCK CAR MAGAZINE
GRASSROOTS MOTORSPORTS
STOCK CAR RACING
OPEN WHEEL
MOTOR TREND
TRUCK TREND
LEAD LAP
CHEVY THUNDER
VELOCITY
RACER
TRUCKIN’
CAR CRAFT
CIRCLE TRACK
SHORT TRACK
MUSTANG ILLUSTRATED
ALL CHEVY
STREET RODDER
VAIL VALLEY
SKI RESORT MAGAZINE NETWORK
MAMMOTH RESORTS
WESTERN BOATMAN
YACHT RACING & CRUSING

ADVANCED DRIVER TRAINING & RACING SCHOOLS
TRAINED OVER 10,000 STUDENTS BETWEEN 1970 AND 1998
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR - RACE DRIVING ACADEMY
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR - DRIVETECH RACING SCHOOL
INSTRUCTOR - EMERGENCY VEHICLE OPERATIONS TRAINING CENTER -
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR - SPORTS RENAULT ADVANCED RACING SCHOOL
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR - WILLOW SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL RACING
SCHOOLINSTRUCTOR - SCCA NATIONAL LICENSING
CHIEF INSTRUCTOR - DRIVE SAFE EMERGENCY VEHICLE TRAINING
SCHOOL
INSTRUCTOR - RIVERSIDE INTERNATIONAL RACING SCHOOL
INSTRUCTOR - BOB BONDURANT SCHOOL OF HIGH PERFORMANCE
DRIVING

RACING LICENSES HELD
SCCA REGIONAL 1969-70
SCCA NATIONAL 1971 -75, 87-92, 98-2001
IMSA 1975-76
FIA INTERNATIONAL 1975-76, 2003
SCCA PRO 1999-2001
IMSA 1992
NASCAR 1993-97
NASA 1999-2003
SCTA Category “A” 2002-03

ROAD RACING
SCCA G PRODUCTION ALFA ROMEO
SCCA G PRODUCTION TRIUMPH SPITFIRE
SCCA LOLA FORMULA FORD
SCCA MARCH FORMULA B
TRANS AM CAMARO
IMSA GT CAMARO
IMSA FIREHAWK CAMARO
SCCA SPEC RACER
SCCA ITA MAZDA RX-3
SCCA SSC ISUZU IMPULSE
T-2 NISSAN 300 ZX
HONDA CIVIC TOURING CAR
NEUSPEED GTi CUP RABBIT
ROAD RACE PRO TRUCK
OVAL TRACK RACING
NASCAR LIMITED SPORTSMAN
CRA SPRINT CAR
NASCAR GRAND AMERICAN MODIFIED
NASCAR LATE MODEL STOCK CAR
SPEC TRUCK
BONNEVILLE
BANKS SIDEWINDER C/DIESEL TRUCK WORLD RECORD HOLDER - 213 MPH
World's Fastest Pickup - 222.139 MPH

		Author of several racing, driving and handling books
		Program facilitator for Cal State University's
		International Motorsports Alliance
		Over 45 years of racing experience
		20 Years of Off Roading experience
		Don's race driving and setup articles at Circle Track
		Magazine were the most popular ever in the publication
		Don is a member of the prestigious Bonneville 200 MPH
		Club
		Don has trained over 10,000 students in race driving, off
		road driving and high performance driving
		Don's seminar series have helped racers across the US