Pekin native works as NASCAR crew member, extra on TV shows

PEORIA — Alex Timmerman might be the best role player in central Illinois.

The Pekin, Illinois, native and Deer Creek resident is a car chief on a NASCAR Xfinity Series crew. But he has also served as commander of the 9th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry in Civil War re-enactments, and is a background actor on two hit network TV shows.

He takes on life at full speed, last week cutting “Peoria Rivermen #1” into a nearly full ice-rink-sized plot of lawn in a buddy’s yard in Tremont. He’s a frequent face at Rivermen games, for whom he has been a season ticket holder since 2002.

Cars are a passion for him.

“I grew up racing E-Mods here on dirt tracks, once or twice at Peoria Speedway but mostly at Spoon River,” said Timmerman, 40. “Grew up in Pekin. We moved to Florida where my dad got into a housing development business and I lived outside Orlando from ages 16-24.

“I started racing on asphalt tracks in Florida. Way too expensive.”

His father, Mark, and his brothers built race cars in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and Timmerman inherited that passion.

The Xfinity Series No. 91 car

NASCAR has multiple series, from the Cup Series at the top, followed by the Xfinity Series (formerly the Busch Series), then lower-level circuits for trucks and ARCA.

Timmerman is on the crew for the DGM Race Team, serving as car chief (essentially lead mechanic) for the No. 91 car driven by Kyle Weatherman in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He has crewed for teams in the Cup series, and sometimes drops to the truck and ARCA series to fuel and jack for teams to pick up extra money. He’s well-established and in demand.

“DGM Racing is owned by Mario Gosselin,” Timmerman said. “He’s a longtime former driver and really, he wrote the book on the short track game.”

The team runs No. 91 and No. 92 cars and has a part-time car, No. 36. Timmerman is on the team’s top car, the 91 driven by Weatherman.

When the Rivermen won the President’s Cup in 2022, he put a championship sticker on the No. 91 car. He plans to do the same with the 2024 champions.

“I’ve been doing this off and on since 2002, and full-time since 2011,” he said. “I like working with a team on the cars, the goal of constant improvement. The pressure of changing our outcome during a race.

“It’s such a grind to do this. Even if you know what you’re doing, it’s constant go and push. It’s 90% suck. But the 10% is why everyone does this. We’re an underfunded mom-and-pop team. We drove into the top 10 last week, huge for us.”

He’s worked NASCAR races at Darlington (“My favorite track, I like the beach and a lot of team fans down there”), Talladega, Bristol, Martinsville, all the storied tracks.

“And the travel is a blast, good experiences,” Timmerman said. “I’ve been to about 20 states with this team. Checked out Mount St. Helens. Went to the hideout from the movie ‘Goonies.’ We go to Vegas. And Zion National Park in Utah, just a beautiful, unbelievable place.”

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When he’s not working in his…