Alex Barron (racing driver)

Alex Barron
Alex Barron at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2006.
Nationality	American
Born	(1970-06-11) June 11, 1970 San Diego, California
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active	2001-2005, 2007
Teams	Sam Schmidt Motorsports Blair Racing Penske Racing Mo Nunn Racing Team Cheever CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports
Starts	62
Wins	2
Poles	0
Best finish	5th in 2002

Alex Barron (born June 11, 1970) is an American race car driver. He began racing CART FedEx World Series Championship cars in 1998 and made his first Indy Racing League Northern Lights Series (now IndyCar Series) start in 2001.

The 1997 KOOL Toyota Atlantic Champion, moved across to the IRL, where he had trouble finding a regular drive and got his opportunities through injuries to other drivers. However, in 2006, he stepped down a level to race in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, and then returned to IRL in 2007. After racing in the 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Barron stopped racing at an international level.

Racing career

Early Years

Barron was born in San Diego, California. In 1996, the opportunity for him to move up to US National Formula Ford 2000 came with the DSTP Team. This proved to be steep learning curve from kart to open wheel race car, for the young racer. However, a podium, a fastest lap and six top ten finishes won him to chance to race in Toyota Atlantic the following season.^[1]

Barron in his rookie season in the KOOL Toyota Atlantic series, surprised everyone, including his team, Lynx Racing by dominating and winning the 1997 championship, taking five victories along the way. With four pole positions, six fastest laps and nine top three finishes, he would also win the “Rookie of the Year” award.^[2]

Part of his prize for winning the Championship was a test with the Arciero-Wells Racing CART team. During his test, he was quickly matching the speed of their regular driver, Max Papis. Arciero-Wells were so impressed with him, they offered a testing contract. Fate was too intervened. Following the retirement of Juan Manuel Fangio II, the All American Racers Team and their boss, Dan Gurney, wanted a young American driver who could develop with the team, and Alex got the call.^[3]

In just 24 races, 12 races in both the Formula Ford 2000 and Toyota Atlantic, Alex made the jump from racing karts to CART.^[4]

Indycars

Alex’s time with Gurney and his AAR team was a troubled by an uncompetitive combination of the chassis (they used both Eagle and Reynard chassis), Toyota engines and Goodyear tyres. Midway through his second season (1999) with AAR, he was let go. Later that season, he was signed by Marlboro Team Penske to race in two 500 mile events. Once again he found himself in an uncompetitive combination, this time it was a Penske PC27B-99 with Mercedes engines and Goodyears.^[5]

It was not until the second half of 2000 season that Barron re-appeared in CART, running with Dale Coyne Racing. The following season, he raced just the final two races for Arciero-Blair Racing. During these races, Alex lead both, before retiring with problems the Ford Cosworth engines both times.^[6]

2002 saw Alex switch to IRL, signing for Blair Racing, where he finish fourth in Indianapolis 500, co-winning the Rookie of the Year. Later that season, he would the first of his two IndyCar Series wins, the 2002 Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Speedway. Sadly, Blair Racing would fold at the end of the season, leaving Barron without a full-time drive for 2003. That’s not say Alex did not race that season, in fact he appeared for three teams. After replacing the injured Gil de Ferran for a one-off appears for Marlboro Team Penske, he raced for Mo Nunn Racing, filling in the injured Felipe Giaffone. It was with Mo Nunn, that Barron scored his second IRL victory, in the 2003 Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. For the final three races of that season, Eddie Cheever hired Barron to drive for his Red Bull Cheever Racing outfit, instead of Buddy Rice. In his first race for Cheever, he gave the team their best finish of the season, seventh place at the Chicagoland Speedway.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Mechanics working on Barron's car in the garage during a practice session for the 2007 Indianapolis 500

In 2004 and 2005 he drove for Eddie Cheever's Red Bull Cheever Racing. Red Bull sponsorship of the team ended for 2006, leaving Alex unable to remain with the team - he instead took a step backward, returning to the Champ Car Atlantic Championship for 2006 with Polestar Racing Group where he finished 14th in points. Early that year he raced twice for alongside Michael McDowell for Playboy/Uniden Racing, with a best finish of sixth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the pair aided by Memo Gidley. Greg Beck signed him to run races part-time in the IndyCar Series for the 2007 season for CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports. He competed in three races, including the Indy 500. Barron would returning to Daytona for the 2008 Rolex 24, with Southard Motorsport, only the retire from the race. Alex would not race internationally again.^[11][12]

Racing record

Career highlights

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2006	Playboy/Uniden Racing	Memo Gidley Michael McDowell	Crawford-Ford DP03	DP	716	6th	6th
2008	Southard Motorsport	Shane Lewis Bill Lester Ted Christopher	Riley-Lexus Mk XI	DP	527	DNF	DNF

American open wheel racing results

(key)

CART

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

• Photo sequence of 2005 Chicagoland crash with Ryan Briscoe.