WITH GUIDANCE FROM
HIS FATHER, KENNY,
LAUGHLIN HAS SHOWN
IMPRESSIVE TALENT
DRIVING IN BOTH PRO
STOCK AND PRO MOD.
then again, Laughlin has changed his mind plenty
over the years. Influenced by his father, Kenny,
Alex was racing go-karts by nine years old, moving
to circle track racing from 13 to 15. He jumped
into drag racing by 15, competing in Super Comp
and then Top Dragster for several years. Then
came another drastic shift into tractor pulling
for a handful of years before he returned to drag
racing and made his Pro Stock debut in 2015.
Laughlin earned his first Pro Stock victory a
year later, added another one in Bristol in 2017
and has continued to reap the rewards from
such a diverse racing upbringing. Simply put,
though, the appeal of drag racing was just too
hard to ignore.
“I really like the acceleration factor,” Laughlin
explains. “I’m literally slammed back in my seat.
In the Pro Mod there’s times I can barely hold
changed over the years for Laughlin. Winning
$50,000 at a Radial vs. the World event had a
bigger payoff than trying to slug it out with the
behemoths of the Top Fuel world, especially when
expenses are considered.
“Drag racing was my lifelong dream and there’s
been times that the nitro category sounded cool,”
Laughlin says. “That’s why I hopped in the Alco-
hol Dragster, thinking maybe that’s a direction I
could go in, maybe race 15-16 races in Top Fuel.
But it didn’t work out and I’m glad because I’m re-
ally, really happy where I am and what I’m doing.
“For what it costs, I wouldn’t be able to do
anything else. I’ve laid it out and running a Top
Fuel car would absolutely not be in my best in-
terest for what it costs to be able to do it. Even
what it costs for me to do everything I’m doing
now, it isn’t even half of what it would cost to
COVER DREAMS
Issue 38 >> $4.95
dragillustrated.com
Arrives
Cod y Barklage
treme
in ADRL Pro Ex
GO
THE BIG Schumacher,
, Tony
Ashley For ce Hood & Hector Arana
Jeg Coughlin, Jr.
RVIEW
THE D.I. INTE
N
LARRY MORGA
WORLD FUEL ALS
ION
ALTERED NAT
in the Cornfields
Tipping the Can
LLE
RN TO HUNTSVI
PRO MODS RETU
GSTOCK VI
DRA
st Happening
The Sport’s Bigge
ngham
Takes Over Rocki
82 | D r a g
my head forward off the headrest behind me. It
just pulls so hard. Just like for Erica (Enders) and
my car in Houston, from 200 foot out until about
800-900 foot out, the front wheels of our cars
are in the air. Like it’s literally pulling a wheelie
that far down the track. That’s something you
can’t replicate in any other kind of racing, that’s
for sure.”
But you can do it in several different classes in
drag racing, including Top Fuel and Funny Car.
Laughlin tested those waters while racing Top
Alcohol Dragster, but racing a part-time sched-
ule as an under-funded team suddenly became
less appealing than trying to excel in a variety of
doorslammer classes.
The intrigue of nitro racing had waned, a star-
tling realization for a guy who dreamed of making
it big in the sport. But that definition of “big” has
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
IT WAS 2009 and Alex Laughlin had just received issue
#38 of Drag Illustrated when the young, brash, rising
star on the cover suddenly motivated him. It was ADRL Pro Extreme driver Cody Barklage
and Laughlin saw his future – or at least what he hoped it would be. It inspired the then-20-
year-old Laughlin, who immediately reached out to Barklage on how he could get his career
moving on a similar path.
“I remember writing Cody on Facebook – like people do to me these days – asking how
he got into Pro Mod racing, hoping he’d have the answer to how I could make it work, too,”
Laughlin says. “I was a big fan, not only of Cody, but of Drag Illustrated, too.”
Now, it’s Laughlin on the cover, being celebrated for his remarkable accomplishments in
the sport as he tries to carve out his own path and his own unmistakable legacy in a sport
loaded with standout performers.
Meanwhile, Laughlin now receives the messages he once sent to Barklage, an honor he
takes very seriously. “They all take the time out of whatever they’re doing to even send a
message or make a comment that’s like, ‘Hey dude, I met you. You know, just want to say that
like you’re the nicest guy ever.’ Stuff like that, it really, really means a lot,” Laughlin says.
Ultimately, it remains a surreal, pinch-me moment for Laughlin to check off boxes like
appearing on magazine covers. It’s the realization of a dream that started long ago and
confirmation that he’s meant for this sport. “It’s so crazy how things go full circle,” he says.
Issue 144