Irondale- Later this month, the NTT IndyCar Series will once again bring the world’s fastest race cars and most diverse drivers to Barber Motorsports Park. The Indianapolis-based series showcases drivers from eleven different countries who race on superspeedways, short ovals, road courses, and street courses. Their 1,600-pound open-wheel cars produce almost 700 horsepower and are capable of reaching speeds of 240 MPH.

George Barber’s creation in Leeds has become one of the best racing venues in the country. The facility is regarded as the “Augusta National” of tracks due to the sheer volume and variety of trees, plants, and flowers on its 880 acres. The picturesque property is home to a world-class 17-turn, 2.38-mile European-style road course. The IndyCar race weekends have averaged 80,000 people since the first race here in 2010.

Barber is well respected in the racing world and it is a very special place to me. Not only does Barber represents what’s great about Birmingham and Alabama, but it has also given me some fantastic experiences and memories over the years.

Growing up in nearby Irondale, the thought of open-wheel cars racing a few miles from my home, in NASCAR country, was incomprehensible. In the early 1980s, the only real way I could keep up with IndyCar or Formula One was through the pages of Road & Track magazine. I couldn’t wait to get each month’s issue and devour the stories and results from the previous races. The open-wheel racing world might as well have been a million miles away from my 35210 zip code.

As a 12-year-old kid, my dad’s red Craftsman riding lawn mower was, in my young imagination, a Ferrari Formula One car, and the mowing patterns around my house were the most fantastic road courses…even at 4 miles per hour! Nearly four decades later, as I was being strapped into the back of an IndyCar two-seater at Barber, I chuckled to myself when I thought back to those hot summer lawn-mowing days. And for the record, any thoughts I may have harbored of having the skills to be a professional race car driver were vanquished by the time we exited turn 3.

I went to Barber in its infancy for the Grand-Am Sports Car Series races. However, in the fall of 2007, the unlikely occurred. I was among the hundred or so people who showed up to watch IndyCars take the track for the first time.

Barber gave me many memories that day. Conversations with Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, and Scott Dixon were some of the highlights. I will always cherish my conversation with Dan Wheldon, the two-time Indy 500 champion, who tragically passed away in an accident five years later. Another memory from that day was talking to Helio Castroneves as he raced in from shooting Dancing With The Stars in Los Angeles. Even though he was in a hurry to test, he took the time to speak with me and answer my questions.

Barber gave me a friendship that day. An Auburn professor who happened to be a huge IndyCar fan, Dr. Dennis DeVries, drove up from the plains for that first test. Dennis and I have watched races and tests in the heat, the rain, the cold, and in storms. Whatever the crazy Alabama spring has thrown at us, we’ve “weathered” it over the past 15 years. Last year Dennis and I watched our 12th IndyCar race together with family and friends.

Barber gave me the “Father of the Year” and “World’s Worst Dad” awards on the same day. One year I was given the opportunity to take a lap around Barber in the pace car. There was one slight problem; my son, Drew, was with me. He had made the annual trip to the track with me since he was five. Usually, it wasn’t a problem to find a place for him because “Mr. Dennis” would typically keep an eye on him. On this day, Dennis had not yet made it to the track.

“Where am I going to put him?” I wondered as we queued up in line. A Honda representative gave me a wink and whispered, “he can go.” As I attempted to explain to the official that my son wasn’t even close to the legal age, he shushed me and pointed to the waiver. With the legalities out of the way, we dashed across pit lane and jumped into the car. “Who does this; who takes a chance with their kid on a race track?” Those questions quickly disappeared when I saw the smile on my son’s face. Who was behind the wheel? Conor Daly, who just happened to be one of my son’s favorite drivers at the time.

Barber gave me the opportunity to meet drivers that I had only read about in magazines. I always wanted to meet the legends of Indycar: Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Johnny Rutherford, and Roger Penske. Thanks to Barber, I’ve met and talked to them all. And there at Barber, all those years later, I gave Mario Andretti, Daytona 500 winner, Indy 500 winner, IndyCar Champion and Formula One World Champion, a laugh as I told him about my fascination with open-wheel racing as a kid in Irondale.

Barber gave me the opportunity to spend time with IndyCar media legends. I talked to the late-Robin Miller, the longtime Indianapolis journalist, in the paddock about Barber’s place in the IndyCar universe. “Barber is awesome; all the drivers love it and bring their families,” he said. “Of course, the Indy 500 is number one, the Long Beach Grand Prix is number two, and Barber is number three.” That was pretty high praise from the veteran journalist.

Barber gave me the opportunity to glimpse the past. At a Legends of Motorsports event at Barber, I watched vintage 1970s-era Formula One cars take their place on the starting grid. Mechanics, in retro uniforms, busily prepared their cars while “grid girls”, decked out in the period’s clothes, held umbrellas for drivers. As the PA system blasted The Doors’ L.A. Woman, it wasn’t too difficult to imagine I was standing at Brands Hatch, Monza, or Watkins Glen in 1972.

Barber has given me the opportunity to see the racing world through the eyes of my son. Drew has met dozens of drivers, almost every Indy 500 winner since 1961, been invited into A.J. Foyt Racing’s garage by the legend himself, had his picture taken with Formula One World Champions Mario Andretti and Fernando Alonso, sat in the car with race winner Simon Pagenaud in victory circle, attended chapel with IndyCar Ministry, eaten in Andretti Autosports’ hospitality, and taken laps around the track to name a few of his unique experiences at Barber. However, I suspect riding Michael Jackson’s Ferris wheel like Bubbles, the chimp, has probably fallen out of his top 10.

Barber is a jewel of Birmingham and offers fans the opportunity to spend quality time with family outdoors and the chance to make amazing memories. If you have not had the opportunity to make it out to an IndyCar race at Barber, do yourself a favor and make plans to attend a race in the future.

This article was posted on the Trussville Tribune’s web site on April 3, 2023

https://www.trussvilletribune.com/2023/04/03/barber-keeps-on-giving/