The Scoop
ALEX HAESE – HANDS ON 12-YEAR-OLD RACER CONTINUES TO TURN HEADS
Posted on: Monday July 28, 2025
Gregg Haese (left) poses with his son Alex Haese by the street stock the father-son duo rebuilt over the winter.
For most 12-year-olds, the thought of climbing behind the wheel after getting your driver’s license is years remains years away yet.
Alex Haese is the exception to that rule. Alex is 12, and a third-generation racer. Recently, the Manitowoc racer turned some heads by beating competitors more than three times his age in a street stock feature at Luxy Raceway at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds in Luxemburg. And he’s still not even close to getting his driver’s license, yet.
What was even more impressive about Haese’s victory is that he won in a race car that is more than 30 years old. It’s a race car with deep family roots in the local racing scene.
When Haese and his family went camping at Plymouth Rock near Road America in Elkhart Lake when Alex was just five-years-old, they discovered that RA hosted races on a karting track. “I actually didn’t even have any idea it existed until we went camping that time,” said Gregg Haese, Alex’s dad. “Alex seemed to take an interest in it, so we wound up buying a go kart and we went from there.”
Keep in mind, Alex Haese had grown up a true racing family. Gregg Haese has been a longtime frontrunner on both dirt and asphalt ovals, even setting a track record himself before he was 16-years-old at the Calumet County Fairgrounds in Chilton back in the mid-1990’s. Gregg’s Dad, the late Butch Haese, was also a standout racer at ovals like 141 Speedway in Francis Creek and the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth in the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s.
Alex Haese poses next to his Legends car at Gravity Park USA in Chilton in June, 2025.
“I raced in the karts for six seasons, and I really enjoyed it,” said Alex, who this Fall will be in 7th grade at Manitowoc Wilson Middle School. Haese would race at Road America, and also travel to other states to compete with the kart. When Alex turned 11, they purchased an INEX Legend car, a bit faster and with more opportunities to travel and race some races closer to home in Wisconsin. “We would travel with the Legend car out-of-state to tracks in Iowa, and also race in Wisconsin at 141 Speedway, Beaver Dam Raceway, Gravity Park USA in Chilton and even at Angell Park in Sun Prairie,” Gregg explained. “That Legend car was our next step to help get Alex some experience. Alex did well last year, and had some ups and downs like any young race will experience.”
With a yearning to take another step onto that proverbial “racing ladder” per se, Alex and Gregg embarked upon a restoration project of sorts. The father-son duo began rebuilding a 30 year chassis that Gregg and his late father Butch had constructed in the mid-1990’s. “It’s actually a car we redid in 2005 to race the following season in 2006 at tracks in Chilton, Plymouth and the Manitowoc County Expo,” Gregg explained.
That car was also raced on the pavement as a Mid-American stock car, and then later after 141 switched over to dirt for the 2010 season was raced on dirt. It’s a car Gregg won a track championship and 10 feature wins as a grand national later in 2018. The car sat collecting dust in the shop until a year ago.
That’s when Gregg and Alex went to work, tearing the car down and rebuilding it to convert to a street stock. Unlike some younger racers who don’t always get their hands dirty, Gregg pretty much expects his son to go “hands on” and have true skin in the game when it comes to building the car. “That’s the cool thing about this street stock Alex is running is that me and my dad built this car from scratch, including the engine and transmission,” Gregg explained. “And now, 30 years later, my son and I are doing the same thing and keeping the family tradition alive.”
The street stock Alex races is a tribute to his grandfather, the late Butch Haese.
Alex’s street stock boasts a traditional old school paint scheme, honoring Alex’s Grandpa Butch. “We went with the baby blue color and his No. 30,” Gregg said. “It’s dad’s paint scheme he used when he raced in 1982.”
In 2025, Haese has wheeled both the street stock as well as the Legend car when the schedule permits. In addition, Alex continues to star in a flag football league, where he plays wide receiver for the Manitowoc Chiefs youth program. “I think Alex has done pretty well for his age so far, and he’s looked very consistent out there,” Gregg admitted. “Before he won that feature at Luxemburg, his best finish in the street stock had been 3rd. He makes a couple of mistakes every now and then but he really doesn’t make big mistakes. He keeps the car off the wall and doesn’t seem to make some mistakes other younger drivers might make.”
“I really love racing both cars, and running that Legend car makes me a better street stock racer because that Legend car can get really twitchy,” Alex explained. “That helps me stay smooth with the street stock. Also, there are fewer adjustments we can make on the Legend car.”
The Legends series hosts events on both dirt and paved ovals, and even an occasional road course. “I like the dirt better than on the pavement, because you can run multiple lines,” Alex said. “Plus, there are just that many more dirt tracks around it seems.”
The irony there is Alex’s dad Gregg preferred racing the asphalt. In fact, Gregg still has his pavement super late model sitting at home in his Mom’s garage. “Alex has raced on some good paved tracks like Jefferson, Plover and Dells Raceway Park with the Legend,” Gregg said. “The thing is, on pavement, you have to have everything 100 percent perfect. Or you’ll be out to lunch. On the dirt, even if the car isn’t perfect you can still change your driving style and make things work.”
Alex Haese isn’t chasing points anywhere with the Legend car or the street stock in 2025. And outside of the racing community, Gregg supports Alex’s football endeavors as well. “We’ll keep racing as long as Alex wants to, and we’ll take it year-by-year,” Gregg said. “When I raced, it was mainly kids who were 16 to 22 years old racing hobby stocks and mini stocks. The opportunities these kids have nowadays are huge. Maybe down the road if Alex wants to, we’ll rebuild that pavement super late model. It’s all up to him. If he wanted to stick with just football down the road, that’s what we’ll do.”
For most of the races, it’s just Alex and his dad on the road and at the track. “My wife Kate helps out a ton, along with the Fischer family on occasion with Jason, Janelle, Mason and Brook,” Gregg said. “Sometimes, Alex’s Grandpa Steve Griesbach helps out a lot, too.”
Haese’s racing operation is boosted by support from the following sponsors: Tower Excavating & Demolition, Ansorge Builders, Christel Sign, Thunder Rock Fabrication, Dairy Queen, Krueger Bowling Service, Haese Chassis, Manitowoc Street Pub, Garrow Oil & Propane, J & T Wild Game Processing and ADK.
2025 REGIONAL DIRT TRACK FEATURE WINNERS (as of 7/27/25)
(Tracks included, but not limited to: Outagamie Speedway, Gravity Park USA, Luxy Raceway, 141 Speedway, The Hill Raceway, Plymouth Dirt Track & Shawano Speedway. We’ll also include feature wins by N.E. Wisconsin drivers scored at other tracks, including out-of-state and series victories. These include both IMCA sanctioned & non-sanctioned wins)
LATE MODELS
Andy Karl 4
Mike Mullen 3
Nick Anvelink 2
Taylor Scheffler 2
Mitch McGrath 2
Troy Springborn 2
Brett Swedberg 2
Lukas Postl 1
Joel Bennett 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
Justin Schmidt 1
IMCA MODIFIEDS
Benji LaCrosse 6
Johnny Whitman 5
Jesse Cullen 4
Lucas Lamberies 4
Konnor Wilinski 3
Matt Klenz 2
Tanner Janke 2
Joel Seegert 2
Cole Czarneski 2
Ethan Braaksma 2 (141 Clash)
Todd Dart 2
Race Van Pay 2
Skyler Woods 2
Marcus Hoeppner 2
Kevin Feck 2
Mike Wedelstadt 2
Dan Roedl 1
Tony Wedelstadt 1
Geoff Jeche 1
Brian Mullen 1
Steve Schneider 1
Jayden Schmidt 1
Steve Mueller 1
Joel Crowbridge 1
Kelsey Wedelstadt 1
Cody Schroeder 1
Russ Reinwald 1
Dave Zeitler 1
Wyatt Block 1
Adam Crapser 1
IMCA STOCK CARS
Tyle Wilson 8
Mike Mullen 7
Cole Czarneski 7
Jeremy Christians 5
Rod Snellenberger 5
Benji LaCrosse 4
Mark Hoeppner 4
Luke Lemmens 3
Troy Muench 2
Tyler Schrimpf 2
Nick Buckarma 2
Devin Snellenberger 2
Dylan Stedjee 1
Trent Nolan 1
Brandon Schmitt 1
Phil Mott 1
Trentin Bell 1
R.M. Van Pay 1
Nate Michonski 1
Caden LeMieux 1
Marcus Yarie 1
Shannon Guelette 1
Shawn Kilgore 1
Vern Stedjee 1
Aaron Karcz 1
Travis Welch 1
Josh Mroczkowski 1
Daniel Sell Jr. 1
Brandon Czarapata 1
Tyler Wendt 1
Jamison MacDonald 1
Jeremy Johnson 1
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMODS
Coy Vlies 7
Max Oreskovich 4
Brady Harshbarger 4
Brian Konitzer 3
Tim Warner 3
Tommy Rindt 3
Cole Thomas 3
Craig Dorner 3
Jake Carpenter 2
Ryan Schmidt 2
Cole Slezewski 2
Jay Schaalma 2
Dylan Schmidt 2
Travis Schmidt 2
JJ Vanderloop 2
Cory Kemkes 2
Jeffery Teske 2
Cole Magnin 2
Matt Urban 2
Dustin White 1
Jordan Jahnke 1
Jim Zdroik 1
Spencer Long 1
AJ Springborn 1
Robert Wittkopf 1
Nick Kresbach 1
Tim Jorgenson 1
Colton See 1
Bernie Reinhardt 1
Jared Spaulding 1
Trevin Veeser 1
Dan Jung 1
Randy LeMieux Jr. 1
Roger LaViolette 1
John Young 1
Rick LeMieux 1
UNIFIED DIRT STREET STOCKS
Trey Van Straten 7
Paul Diefenthaler 7
Derek Moede 5
Jeff Richards 5
Dave DeGrave 3
Ryan Sullivan 2
Shannon Guelette 2
Mark Hoeppner 2
Phillip Wuesthoff 2
Kyle Genett 2
Cory Romenesko 2
Austin Steinke 1
Jason Piron 1
Danny Gracyalny 1 (Eagle River)
Garrett Geyer 1
Jacob Ambrosius 1
Alex Haese 1
Matt Hanson 1
Dan Van Pay 1
GRAND NATIONALS
Jeff Richards 7
Jeff Muehlbauer 4
Jake Richards 2
Brian Gilles 1
Maverick Ruh 1
Tyler Wilson 1
Jeff Steenbergen 1
Bristol Hitsman 1
Nick Schumacher 1
FOUR CYLINDERS/IMCA SPORT COMPACTS
James Reese 7
Brian Watzka Jr. 7
Skyler Bork 5
Adam Broehm 3
Cody Booth 3
Shawn Bangart 3
Brad Wedde 3
Dalton Nelson 2
Thomas Schulte 2
Clint Malueg 2
Tanner Westphalt 2
Scott Schlafke 2
Bennett Glidden 2
Chase Ertel 2
Seth Collar 1
Ben Schulte 1
Missy Clark 1
Brett Deprez 1
Jeffrey Meyer 1
Scott Blanke 1
Ricky Kaufert 1
Taylor Junk 1
Justin Finlan 1
Tucker Pari 1
Justin Haufe 1
Nathan Bowers 1