Alex Popow
Alex Popow | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 9, 1975 Lecheria, Venezuela |
| Occupation | Professional race car driver |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Known for | American Le Mans Series LMPC class champion (2012), participation in Rolex Sports Car Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series |
Alex Popow Karaha (born November 9, 1975, in Lecheria) is a Venezuelan professional race car driver actively participating in the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series, representing CORE autosport and Starworks Motorsport.
In 2012, he secured the LMPC class championship within the American Le Mans Series, highlighted by a class triumph at the 12 Hours of Sebring and an overall victory at the first-ever Brickyard Grand Prix held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That same year, he also achieved a second-place overall finish at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Name
The pronunciation of Popow’s surname is "pop-off," which reflects his Eastern European roots. Initially spelled Popov, his family name was altered to Popow after immigration, as disclosed during a broadcast on Speed Channel.
Early racing career
Popow launched his racing pursuits in Venezuela in 1996, capturing consecutive titles in the Eastern Division Championship for 2000cc vehicles before progressing to compete in the Fiat Palio Cup and Mustang Cup series. He earned Expert Class championships in the Palio Cup during 1998 and 1999 and claimed Mustang Cup titles in both 2000 and 2002.
Following his victory in the Formula 2000 Venezuela Championship in 2005, Popow founded Venezuela’s first all-national team to take part in the Panam-GP series, which included races across six countries, among them Venezuela.
Bogota 6 Hours
Recognized as Colombia’s foremost professional motorsport competition, Popow demonstrated consistent performance at the Bogota 6 Hours event. He finished as runner-up during his debut in 1997 and repeated second-place results in both 2004 and 2005 before ultimately winning the race in 2011.
Off-road racing
Between 2007 and 2009, Popow competed in the AWA 4x4 Rally Championship, achieving a third-place standing in the LUV D-MAX Trophy category.
Rolex Sports Car Series
Popow entered the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2011 with Starworks Motorsport, earning a best finish of third place at Watkins Glen and concluding the season ranked twentieth among Daytona Prototype drivers.
The following year, he secured his inaugural win at the debut Brickyard Grand Prix held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, alongside two runner-up finishes and two fourth-place results, culminating in sixth place overall.
During the 2013 campaign, Popow and teammate Ryan Dalziel recorded one victory, two second-place finishes, and two thirds; however, late-season difficulties resulted in an eighth-place finish in the Daytona Prototype drivers' championship. That season also saw Popow decisively claim the ‘Jim Trueman’ Award, while Starworks Motorsport was honored as ‘Sports Car Team of the Year’ by SPEED Channel.
American Le Mans Series
In his American Le Mans Series debut with CORE autosport at the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring, Popow piloted an Oreca FLM09 Prototype Challenge vehicle alongside Burt Frisselle and E. J. Viso, securing victory. He continued this success with a win at Long Beach paired with Ryan Dalziel.
Other racing
Popow achieved third and fourth places respectively in the Latin America Challenge Formula 2000 Championship during 2010 and 2011 and was runner-up in the Mexican Supercup Seat Leon Championship in 2011. Additionally, he finished third at the 2012 Gulf 12 Hours held in Abu Dhabi.
In August of 2012, Popow made his NASCAR debut competing in the Nationwide Series for TriStar Motorsports at Watkins Glen International.
Personal life
Popow is wedded to Lu-Ann Acosta-Rubio and they have two children together, one of whom is his son Alex, who competes as a junior formula racecar driver. In his leisure moments, he pursues extreme sports activities.
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position earned by qualifying time. Italics – Pole awarded based on points standings. * – Most laps led during the race.)
Nationwide Series
| NASCAR Nationwide Series performance record | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Manufacturer | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | NNSC | Points | |||
| 2012 | TriStar Motorsports | 19 | Toyota | DAY | PHO | LVS | BRI | CAL | TEX | RCH | TAL | DAR | IOW | CLT | DOV | MCH | ROA | KEN | DAY | NHA | CHI | IND | IOW | GLN 38 |
CGV | BRI | ATL | RCH | CHI | KEN | DOV | CLT | KAN | TEX | PHO | HOM | 96th | 6 | |||
Season currently ongoing
not eligible for championship points
Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Category | Chassis | Engine | Race1 | Race2 | Race3 | Race4 | Race5 | Race6 | Race7 | Race8 | Race9 | Race10 | Race11 | Final rank | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 United SportsCar Championship | Starworks Motorsport | P | Riley Mk XXVI DP | [Dinan Cars](BMW) V8 |
style="background:#EFCFFF;" |2014 24 Hours of Daytona (DAY) |
rowspan=2 |44th |
rowspan=2 |30 | ||||||||||
|
Honda HR35TT V6 Turbo |
style="background:#EFCFFF;" |2014 12 Hours of Sebring (SEB) |
||||||||||||||||
|
PC |
style="background:#efcfff;" |2015 24 Hours of Daytona (DAY) |
style="background:#dfffdf;" |2015 12 Hours of Sebring (SEB) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |2015 6 Hours of The Glen (WGL) |
style="background:#ffffff;" |2015 Lone Star Le Mans (COA) |
style="background:#efcfff;" |2015 Petit Le Mans (PET) |
12th |
115 | ||||||||||
|
PC |
Oreca FLM09 |
Chevrolet LS3 V8 |
style="background:#dfffdf;" |2016 24 Hours of Daytona (DAY) |
style="background:#ffdf9f;" |2016 12 Hours of Sebring (SEB) |
style="background:#dfdfdf;" |2016 Tequila Patrón Sports Car Showcase (LBH) |
style="background:#dfdfdf;" |2016 Monterey Grand Prix (LGA) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |2016 Chevrolet Sports Car Classic (DET) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |2016 6 Hours of The Glen (WGL) |
style="background:#dfdfdf;" |2016 SportsCar Grand Prix (MOS) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |2016 Northeast Grand Prix (LIM) |
style="background:#efcfff;" |2016 Continental Tire Road Race Showcase (ELK) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |2016 Lone Star Le Mans (COA) |
style="background:#efcfff;" |2016 Petit Le Mans (PET) |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |1st |
style="background:#ffffbf;" |355 | ||
|
BAR1 Motorsports |
P |
Riley-Multimatic MkXXX |
Gibson GK428 V8 |
style="background:#dfffdf;|" |2018 24 Hours of Daytona (DAY) |
59th |
17 |
External links
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- Living people
- 1975 births
- Venezuelan racing drivers
- Rolex Sports Car Series drivers
- American Le Mans Series drivers
- NASCAR drivers
- 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
- WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
- LATAM Challenge Series drivers
- Starworks Motorsport drivers
- United Autosports drivers
- EuroInternational drivers
- Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers
- Le Mans Cup drivers