A.J. Young

"He's always boasting of how one day he's going to be such a great driver. Let's face it: him not being at risk of killing someone every week would be a big step forward."

- Lucas Sweeney on A.J. Young

Alexander Jonathon Young (born March 13, 1975 in Covington, Kentucky, better known as A.J. Young) is an American race car driver currently competing in the ARLA Elite Series for M&J Racing. He is regarded by many as one of the worst race car drivers in the nation.

Early Career
Young's late father Elden Young was the founder of EY Wheelbarrows, the largest manufacturer of wheelbarrows in North America. Elden passed away in 2000, leaving the company to A.J.'s older brother Geoffrey, but A.J. received a significant inheritance as well. A.J. used his inheritance to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a racing driver, and was hired by Michael White to drive his second car at the beginning of the 2001 ARLA season.

This proved to be disastrous, as Young had drawn several complaints for his erratic driving and tendency to ignore accidents in front of him. According to Chris Johannes, in the fives races he ran, he managed to cause thirty-two incidents with Johannes in particular being involved "about fifteen of those". White, reportedly under pressure from series officials, booted Young after just five races much to the relief of everyone in the paddock. For the next eight years, he terrorized various kart and midget racing organizations.

Return to ARLA
Young never found another ride in stock car racing until 2009, when he raced in the ARLA Thunder Trucks. He infamously sailed over the inside retaining wall in | a massive pileup at the Salem Speedway.

Young, remaining in ARLA, moved from the Trucks to the Street Stocks for 2010, where he continued his crash-prone ways.

In 2011, now receiving formal backing from EY Wheelbarrows, Young finally made another attempt to secure an ARLA Elite Series ride. He found one with struggling team owner John Burr, who was more than happy to accept Young's cash despite his history. With the EY sponsorship, Burr could afford to run full races after start-and-parking like he did in 2010.

Young's first race was the Rookie Shootout, as he was still technically eligible for the Rookie of the Year award because he did not compete in enough races in 2001 to lose that eligibility. Unsurprisingly, he got caught up in an accident during the Shootout and dropped out. However, he later dodged a wreck in the season-opening Fort Worth 500, surprising his critics.

For the rest of the year, Young ran well off the pace, but didn't crash nearly as often as he had in the past. However, in 2012, Young undid all of his improvements by crashing often.

Due to practice and qualifying being rained out at the 2012 Sarabai 300, he obtained his first career pole when the starting lineup was determined by the random draw that sets the qualifying order. However, because qualifying was not actually run, he did not receive the bonus points that go with the pole. He dropped to the back of the field before he even completed lap 1.

For 2013, he was surprisingly hired to drive for M&J Racing. The team would not state why they hired Young, although his sponsorship money is suspected to be a reason. M&J had just experienced a very expensive 2012 season, which was plagued with numerous crashes and mechanical failures.

TM Master Cup
Midway through the 2011 racing season, Young wished to compete in the TM Master Cup Series, so he brought some funding over to Scuderia Tutino in time for the race at Road America. However, Young repeatedly complained of his car being skittish under acceleration, and was a very dangerous obstacle for the leaders. His infinitely more capable teammate, Canadian Tyson Lautenschlager, did not have the same problems -- and even managed to score Tutino's first point in the same race.

Young then had his Master License revoked during practice at Quincy after he caused two separate accidents and got into an altercation with Tyrone Stanley. Young later remarked; "The officials won't give you a damn chance to adjust to these cars. I'm trying to learn how to drive these things, and I guess they already decided I'm a friggin' monster. They are the biggest bunch of elitists I've ever seen. They expect you to be flying right off the bat, but that's not how real life works".

Tyrone Stanley was, unsurprisingly, not very apologetic to Young and his lack of experience, only saying; "When you reach the top, there are no excuses for failure."

Young's crew chief remarked that they made the car "tighter than the President's security" so that Young wouldn't spin out at any point during the race. For the most part, the TM Master Cup Series drivers concurred with Stanley's point of view. Stuart Sandoval was hired by Tutino to run in Young's place at the last minute and despite having no practice, ran a steady race.

Personal Life
Young shrugs off the boos that he receives every week, often suggesting that his detractors are jealous that he has a ride, and they don't. He befriended his former Team Burr teammate Derek Dudding, citing their large number of critics as the major thing that they have in common.

Young is regarded as pompous and delusional by his fellow competitors.