Skip Barber Racing School
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The Skip Barber Racing School is headquartered in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States.
It conducts racing schools driving schools ("defensive" driving and/or high-performance schools), six separate amateur and professional racing championships and corporate entertainment schools.
It is the largest racing school in the world, and is intended for those intent on racing careers. Barber started the school in 1975 with two borrowed Formula Ford race cars and four students. It uses up to 30 race tracks across the United States and Canada, and owns 120 race cars. It is affiliated with the Dodge Division of DaimlerChrysler Corp., which provides engines for the race cars and street cars (such as the Viper SRT-10) for its driving school.
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[edit] Overview
Since 1975, Skip Barber Racing operates a fully integrated system of racing schools, driving schools, racing championships, corporate events and OEM events across North America.
[edit] The offerings:
The Skip Barber Racing School—held at more than 20 race tracks in North America
The Skip Barber Driving School—five different locations
The Skip Barber Race Series is collectively six separate open-wheel, equal-car racing championships—four regional amateur series, a national championship for drivers over 40 (with professional rules), and an entry-level professional national series that awards $100,000 to its season champion.
The Skip Barber National Championship is an entry-level professional racing series that takes drivers to several venues each season, and exposes them to bigger racing markets. Each season's champion earns a $100,000 scholarship to help advance their racing career.
The Skip Masters National Championship is a racing series for drivers over the age of 40 who are looking to race in a professional-level series without becoming full-time professional racers.
The Corporate Events unit creates custom Racing and Driving programs for companies of any size that desire special events to train, entertain, educate and reward.
OEM Events provides specialized automotive-related training, analysis, evaluation, logistics and consultation.
[edit] The vehicles:
120 racecars: With 60 Formula Dodges for the Racing School and Corporate Events and 60 R/T 2000 race cars for the six racing championships. Dodge Vipers, Formula Dodge, etc.
More than 75 passenger/street cars: Porsche 911s, Boxsters, BMW M3s, 330i sedans, Dodge Neons, Neon SRT-4s, Dakota Quad Cabs and Viper SRT-10s for use in the Driving School, Racing School and Corporate Events.
30 transport and support vehicles: Dodge Rams and Sprinters.
[edit] The founder:
John "Skip" Barber competed in the Formula One World Championship, started racing in 1958 while studying at Harvard University, where he earned a degree in English.
In the mid-1960s, he won three SCCA National Championships in a row and finished third in the 1967 United States Road Racing Championship. Later, Barber went on to win consecutive Formula Ford National Championships (1969 and 1970), a record tied only recently.
When his racing career ended, Barber's belief that auto racing was "coachable" in the same manner as any other sport -- at the time, a distinctly minority position -- led him to create the eponymously named Racing School, and a year later, the equal-car Race Series.
In 1975, with two borrowed Lola Formula Fords and four students, Barber started the Skip Barber School of High Performance Driving. In 1976, it was renamed the Skip Barber Racing School and that same year, he created the Skip Barber Race Series.
Barber remains active in motorsports today as the owner and operator of Lime Rock Park, a road racing venue in the northwest hills of Connecticut. He lives in the nearby town of Sharon, with wife Judy.
