Middle Tennessee racing legend Mike Alexander takes us through the early years of his career, as well as a couple of attempts at establishing himself as a Winston Cup competitor. When those didn’t work out, Mike decided to take himself and his talents to the Busch Series, where he felt he had a better shot at running competitively with a team HE owned.Mike ran well at the level, got himself a couple of wins … and very nearly another, until a protest by his buddy Larry Pearson took it away. Mike WAS noticed, and wound up replacing the injured Bobby Allison midway through the 1988 Winston Cup season. He did well in the car … his career was on the rise … but then saw his own career derailed by a head injury he sustained that offseason during the Snowball Derby.Hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid then thumb through the December 1, 1988 issue of Grand National Scene. Rusty Wallace won that year’s season finale at Atlanta, but lost out on the Winston Cup championship to Bill Elliott. Both had their gameplans in place before the race … each one played out pretty much as they expected … and in the end, winning the race still wasn’t enough for Rusty.Mike Alexander recorded the best finish of his Winston Cup career, and was looking forward to the following season. Two NASCAR Hall of Famers made the last starts of their Winston Cup careers in this event. There’s a feature on Mildred Elliott, the matriarch of that racing family, and the wives of Bill, Ernie and Dan. Finally … Richard Petty loses his 1967 championship ring … and it gets returned to him.