Crawl, walk and run; that’s the normal progression of a racer's experiences on track. At first, it's about becoming accustomed to track days, and once the stars are aligned with improved run times, you can slowly move over into competition racing, typically starting off in an enthusiast class. This isn't the case for Alex Rodriguez; he went straight from low-profile track days and B-lined it straight into Redline Time Attack's Unlimited RWD series - not the path most would take. But why? You begin to peel the layers of an onion only to find that Alex is a former Marine Sergeant, which explains the 'go get 'em' attitude. Next you'll discover he's a moderator for the long-standing RX7Club.com forum, a group of rotary heads that have been around since 2000. Add that to his extensive history of working on and owning more than 20 RX-7s since that time has enabled him to do things from engine rebuilds to repainting his cars within the confines of his own garage. Alex's history with Mazdas dates back to his high school days, where he often took his '83 RX-7 GSL with a ported 12A to the local drag strip, living by the motto of "He who has a rotary is either fast or crazy". He soon transitioned to a '91 RX-7 Turbo 2 but orders sent him to Okinawa, which quickly had Alex switching from drag to drift in 100 real quick. He spent his nights honing his drift skills at spots like Mount Aja, Naha Port and the Nago bullring, while also accumulating the parts he'd need for his future FC3S RX-7 build. "Most guys become gym or barracks rats," he says, "I became a drift rat." In 2007, however, drifting was put off to the sidelines when Alex was sent back to the mainland, specifically Southern California, where he was also able to reunite with a long time friend, Fris Casasola, owner of Lucky7 Racing. Fris introduced Alex to road racing, who was hooked since his first track event. "Competing against the clock became my new personal goal," Alex remembers, but duty called yet again and was thus sent to Afghanistan. Being a diehard enthusiast, he used his downtime while deployed to craft up ideas for his next RX-7 build, one that would be more well-rounded for him to both compete with and work on. Upon his return from deployment/, Alex found his current '93 RX-7 FD3S with 58K miles after looking at several others that were either overpriced or needed extensive repair work. He continued to build the car to NASA ST2-spec but in early 2014 decided it was time to turn it into a purpose-built time attack beast...with just three months total to finish it. Alex stripped the FD down to a rolling shell and got started on bodywork first. He spent countless hours prepping the body with a RE Amemiya ADGT kit, Shineautoproject diffuser and tail wing, APR mirrors, EVO-R GT wing and Knightsports hood before painting it Lexus LFA Whitest White. He then had the car sent to Daniel Carillo at GSwerks to fabricate a 10-point roll cage with gussets, NASCAR-style side bars and a X-bar to handle the rigors of drifting, road racing and drag racing, three forms of motorsports he knows very well. Alex wanted to prove a 13B with the right setup could hang with some of the best on SoCal tracks, so he made his way back to Lucky7 where he built a Unlimited Series RWD-prepped RX-7 with an extensive list of modifications. Nelson Siverio placed the car on Lucky7's dyno and ended up with 401hp and 356 ft/lb at 17psi while running off E85; this current setup has more than enough midrange power and power across the band to handle the majority of his local tracks with outstanding response and torque. Now that he's recently separated from the Marines, Alex has been studying the fine art of metal fabrication at The Fab School in Riverside, CA, which also gives him more free time to get more seat time at the track and prepare for the opening of his own shop, Rotorseven, this coming August in Corona, CA. Alex's personal bests include 1:53 at Auto Club Speedway, 1:24 at Willow Springs International Raceway and 2:03 at Buttonwillow Raceway. At the time of publishing, Alex took 3rd place in Redline Time Attack Round 2 at Big Willow, Willow Springs with a 1:36. His plans don't stop with just time attack; along with Redline Time Attack and Global Time Attack, he'll squeeze in a random drift day somewhere. We’re looking forward to see if Alex can give some of the others a run for their money.
