If Alexis Manning didn’t have bad luck, she would have no luck at all. However, her fortunes may be changing despite a rough go at Wyoming’s Sheridan Speedway.
On Friday night, she started the race weekend off with a fireball engulfing the engine of her WISSOTA Midwest modified. A header got loose and the engine backfired.
“I went to the pits, changed the spark plugs and wires, and got back out there for the B-main,” Manning, of Gillette, Wyoming, said. “Then the engine temperature went to 250 degrees, so I pulled off.”
On Saturday, a J-bar bolt broke during the heat race.
“I lost the driveline and a spring on the track,” said Manning. “I had to be towed off.”
Unfortunately, Manning, her team, and a group of friends couldn’t repair the car in time for the feature.
On Sunday, Manning qualified for the A-main, via a B-main, and started 23rd in the 26-car feature. Then, the bad luck returned.
“There was an eight-car pileup in the first turn that I couldn’t avoid,” Manning said. “I went to the pits and we pulled all the body panels off so I could get right back out there.”
And, then, more misfortune occurred. Later in the feature, her car’s trailing arm broke and Manning spun out. Despite her disappointing on-track performance, Manning kept her head up, which caught the attention of a benefactor.
“[Chuck McIntosh,] the owner of Mac’s Gunworks, came up to me after my third night of bad luck and offered to sponsor my car,” said Manning. “I asked, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Even though you had such bad luck, you kept a positive attitude. I can see that you genuinely love racing and you are happy when you are racing.’ I never thought that my string of bad luck would result in sponsorship.”
Alexis Manning, a mother of four-year-old and seven-month-old daughters, owns a towing service with her husband, Wade. Racing provides a much-needed respite from her busy life.
“Like many people raising a family while racing, our lives are exhausting,” Manning said. “Racing is a getaway. When I am driving, I don’t think about anything but driving. I absolutely love it.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
