MILADINOVICH RELISHES ROLE AS DRAG-RACING AMBASSADOR

by Susan Wade    Sun, 2021-04-18 16:24

 

Funny Car owner-driver Alex Miladinovich loves to joke around, and he always has a hearty laugh at the ready.

The Hot4Teacher Toyota Camry driver could be a stand-up comedian. A visit with him in the lounge of what used to be the renowned Brad Anderson’s trailer is like attending his stand-up act at one of these Las Vegas showrooms. Miladinovich has plenty of material from the racetrack and from his experiences growing up and living in Orange, Calif.

He teases that he still is learning to spell his Yugoslavian-heritage surname. He said, “My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jamison, I saw in second or third grade. She said, ‘Did you ever learn how to spell your last name?’ I told her, ‘I just about got it.’”

He’s a big fan of Del Worsham. They live in the same city in Southern California, and Worsham has helped him become established. He said, “He’s right down the street” and that he even “got to see the bowling alley [at Worsham’s home]. The bowling alley does exist. I didn't get invited to the pool party, though. I would eat all his hot dogs, drink all his beer.”

Miladinovich’s wife, Marcie, who designed the Hot 4 Teacher pin-up-style logo, is no slouch in the comedy department, either. He said, “My kids gave me all my gray hair. We taught our daughters to grow up and be independent young women.” And Marcie chimed in that, “Now we think we made a mistake, because we never see them.”

But Alex Miladinovich is serious about passing along all the romance of the sport to others. He wants everyone to have a wonderful experience in coming to the drag races.

He said he “never really expected much” in the way of publicity on the FOX Sports broadcasts or in a big way from the sanctioning body or “from the scene because I was always the little guy. So I go, ‘OK, what can I do to stand out?’ I can do what the big teams can’t: getting back to being personable. When we're done working and there's nothing going on, [the crew members] have explicit instructions: If there's a family there, invite them in, let them take pictures, and give them their money's worth.

“If we were at the nostalgia races, they’d buy t-shirts. Just like the Ramones when they say they sold more T-shirts than they did albums. My nostalgia[-racing] buddy, Charlie O'Neill, had the ‘Fighting Irish’ [race car]. He’d kill it in the T-shirts at these small-town races because the Irish and the Notre Dame football team. It was a cool thing, and he did really good, so I’m like, ‘OK, we need to adapt that philosophy over the years.’

“I'm still a huge race fan,” he said, before dashing next door in the pits to shake Funny Car driver Jonnie Lindberg’s hand and introduce himself. Miladinovich said, “The experience that I was given to have a good time at the drags, if I can pass that along to the next race fan – or just a family that wants to come out and spend time that's not going because of COVID, are not flying to Hawaii or the Bahamas or going to a baseball game . . . They came to the drags and you're going to get your money's worth if you come by and see me.”

He said, “If I can inspire somebody to do better, do good . . . Not everyone's going to become a drag racer or whatever. But again, it's just that one-time interaction with somebody, and I always enjoyed that. Meeting [John] Force for the first time in high school, he signed the autograph ‘Good luck with your Camaro.’ It was the same Camaro that my brother and I were head-to-head with his Nova, and I always loved that. It made me feel good as a spectator and I figured the sport could use that.

“I think as a sport, we're selling tickets. This is a show,” he said. “Yes, I want to race and I want to win, but I always truly believe we’re entertainment for people to get away and [people] the fans want to associate with.”

Miladinovich’s father “was always into hot rods” as an auto-shop teacher who, incidentally, attended the same college at the same time with Gary Densham. He just thought drag racing was “meh.” He liked the old cars. He's into the Model T’s and Model A Fords, but he's the one who taught me all the stuff. Growing up he was a teacher as well and he said, ‘You know, we're not going to buy cool stuff. We're going to get something and fix it up.’ And he was teaching me how to weld. And working for some chassis builders through the years, you just you pick it all up. So the foundation started with Dad. Right out of high school, I started welding, and that was it. I always wanted to build a drag car.”

The story about him building his Camry race car in his brother’s garage endeared with the fans when he first came into the Funny Car ranks.

“My brother lives a couple blocks away. We do all the motor work at his place and all the chassis work at my house,” Miladinovich said. “Growing up with all the hot rods, he had a Nova, [and] I had a Camaro. And we were always [stoking a rivalry about] who was a better engine builder. There was a brotherly competition. Through the years, when I built the first nostalgia Mustang, it was like, ‘Hey I’m building the car. Can you set the motor up?’ So the pieces fell where they fell. We do the motor work, and we actually went full circle. We're building our spare chassis at my mom’s house. My brother goes, ‘Good job dude – you’re monopolizing everyone's house.’

“And when I say it's a garage, I mean all the YouTube videos I prove to people, this is the garage. The family doesn't own a warehouse or anything like that where we run the business. My parents are retired teachers and run it out of the garage,” Miladinovich said.

“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I'm a huge race fan. So if I wasn't driving this car, I’d still be here cruising around. I want to see the latest cool thing Force is doing . . . Jim Head and Kalitta's and Worsham. Del has been instrumental in this whole deal, and a lot of the teams all help in their own way. Because we live close, I try not to bother them [the Worshams]. I go over there try to be respectful of his employees. I’m friends with them all, and I understand you can't have a hanger-on. I just try to stay out of the way. I just say, ‘Hey good to see you guys.’ They've always been real helpful.”

He said that “growing up in Orange County, I’d see Robert Hight at all the restaurants. It was cool. He always had something really nice to say. And one time we were at the steakhouse.” He learned that Hight and a dining partner were there, as well. “I told the waitress, ‘I want to buy that couple’s dinner.’ I was politicking, but it was just cool. He came over and said hey, and so I always loved that. [Force and Hight] have been really generous with me on the parts. They've been really helpful to us.”

The Hot 4 Teacher logo was born of Miladinovich’s love for nostalgia. He said it’s “kind of an ode to the old days, the older generations. My grandma's little brother was a belly gunner on a B-17, and I always liked World War II pin-up art. So we were trying to come up with the name. [Marcie] didn't like any of the first things I came up with. They were all kind of rock-n-roll themed, because I always loved rock music growing up with the music of the 80s. And so that's where we ended up.

I love all the old days of drag racing, Force and Prudhomme and McEwen and all that. So I've just kind of get back to that.”

But despite a DNQ this weekend, Miladinovich said he’s becoming more satisfied with his car.

“We found some issues in Las Vegas last year and we made some changes on the chassis. And in the tune-up area we're still about in the same within a few percent and just always trying to get better,” he said. “So I'm comfortable driving in the car, because I had some vision issues in the steering. A lot of teams saw some things that ‘You may want to tweak this a little bit.’ It was just tweaks to be better.”

Joining Miladinovich on the outside of the grid in Funny Car were Jeff Diehl and Steven Densham.

 

 

 

 
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