Alex Karpowicz entered the 2025 season ready to dive into uncharted waters with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota this year, having already conquered various setbacks in his life.
The Spring Branch, TX driver was diagnosed with scoliosis at 13 years old. After undergoing a successful surgery of two permanent titanium rods placed in his back to correct his spine in 2020, “Mr. Titanium” climbed into a Micro Sprint and found success in his home region with two NOW600 Ark-La-Tex titles in 2022-2023, and the 2023 NOW600 Gulf South championship.
“I feel a lot less of it now after the surgery than I did before,” Karpowicz said. “It never really got bad until about mid-high school when I hit my big growth spurt. It was like 2020, and we decided that we were going to get surgery. I had the rods and screws put in my spine, and I was out of the car for like six months. I jumped back in, and that’s when my racing career really started.”
He took the next step in his career this year by joining Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) for his rookie campaign with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets. Along with the journey being his first time on a national tour, the schedule brought him to a new track every weekend.
But like any other challenge, he had a lot of support behind him.
“I mean, not only are they all brand-new tracks for me, but I’ve never raced any of them in a Midget,” Karpowicz said. “You come into them with a brand-new car, brand-new track, and the best I can really do is take what my crew chief says, talk to Jacob (Denney, his KKM teammate), then take what he says and apply that to the night. A lot of the tracks are similar to others that we’ve raced earlier in the year. So, I can take my notes, compare them, and try to learn that way.”
Karpowicz took the first half of the season to learn the car and package before finding his comfort level, earning three consecutive seventh-place finishes during the Kansas races at Humboldt Speedway, 81 Speedway, and Airport Raceway.
The Texan weathered a summertime slide that included a single top-10 at Spoon River Speedway in nine races between May and August. Then, Karpowicz found momentum at the Appalachian Midget Week opener at Action Track USA when he won his first Series Heat Race and earned the night’s High-Point honors, finishing in ninth place.
The top-10 performances became more commonplace for the No. 72 Big Red Soap LynK Chassis, adding three more in the last five Series races.
“I think the beginning of the season, we really struggled,” Karpowicz said. “I was definitely disappointed, almost entirely on myself. I’d say that Oklahoma swing and going into (Appalachian Midget Week) was when we really figured it out. Myself, working with this team, it all started to come together. I got a lot more confident in the car, which allowed me to really rip it and be fast right off the bat.
“At the beginning, we could qualify well, run our Heat Race well, then by Feature time, we’d not do well. Then, it got to where we didn’t qualify good, but could run the Feature good. I think it’s all starting to come together a little bit, and we can have solid results every time we’re on the racetrack.”
Before Karpowicz finishes the rookie campaign in the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets, he’ll make two debut appearances at Jacksonville Speedway and Millbridge Speedway. Despite relying on video replays and testimonials from his KKM teammates, Karpowicz said he has more confidence heading to the two facilities than he did at the start of the season.
“I’ve put some thought into them, mainly Millbridge,” Karpowicz said. “They’re two totally opposite tracks. Millbridge is a little bullring, and Jacksonville’s a pretty good size. Millbridge, since the beginning of the year, was a track I was really anxious about going to, for just it being so small and not something I’m used to.
“But, as the year’s gone on, I’ve actually really come to like the smaller tracks. So, I went from being nervous to excited about going to Millbridge. Jacksonville looks like your average Midget track, so I feel pretty confident going into both tracks.
Karpowicz climbs back in the seat of his Toyota-powered Midget for the penultimate event of 2025 at Jacksonville for the Honest Abe Roofing Open Wheel Showdown on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 3-4. Then, he’ll close out the rookie season with the Series in the Xtreme World Championship presented by Glenn Styres Racing on Monday-Tuesday, Nov. 3-4. Use code “KARPOWICZ72” to get $5 off your tickets to Jacksonville.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
