A Wild Ride At NASCAR

How a whiz kid talked his way into owning a race team -- and then hit a wall

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February 7, 2005 at 5:00 AM UTC

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Alex Meshkin's story was so good it almost glowed. A precocious kid races through high school, graduating in three years. With his parents' blessing, he passes up college to become a day trader, quickly converting a tuition fund into a fortune. More money is made with a dot-com started up and sold in the boom years. Then on to NASCAR, where at 23, the boy wonder becomes the youngest team owner in major-league sports.

Meshkin has been telling versions of his Horatio Alger tale for years, and the media have been all ears. Profiles have appeared everywhere from Wired to The Washington Post. Last June the Fox Sports (FOX ) show Totally NASCAR called Meshkin the sport's "whiz kid."