Sunday, July 20, 2008

Tommy Barber in Action

Barber's No Stranger To Racing

Barber’s No Stranger To Racing

Tyler Larson, Brandon, South Dakota (10/1/06)

Junior Tommy Barber began competing in hobby stocks
at Huset’s Speedway and Lake County Speedway in Madison.
“Racing is one big adrenaline rush,” he said
Barber’s season started with winning his second race in
Madison. After that, he was involved in numerous wrecks at
Madison Speedway, blew up a motor, went through transmissions
and even rolled at Huset’s Speedway. Through all of the
hours of work, broken parts and sweat, the pit crew and helpers
put the car back together. After wrecking at Lake County Speedway
at the beginning of the season, Barber and his dad decided
just to run at Huset’s Speedway.
“My dad, Marty Barber, who had 52 feature wins alone
at Huset’s and several track championships, inspired me the
most to pursue racing,” he said.
Barber finished third in points and came out of the season
with five feature wins including one at Lake County and four
at Huset’s Speedway.
“It was a hard transition at first to go from a super
charger to a hobby stock, but in a week or two I had a pretty
good idea on how to make the car work,” he said.
Barber started racing at the age of 15 in the super
charger division at I-90 Speedway in Hartford. Throughout the
season he had a few top 10 and many top five finishes. He won
his first-ever race on the Fourth of July weekend. At the end of
the season he ended up sixth in points and received honorary
rookie of the year. This was also the time he jumped to the
hobby stocks.
Barber said his plans for 2007 season include staying in
the hobby stocks division and seeking a championship.

Barber seeks championship

Barber seeks championship

By Tyler Larsen (3/30/07)

Entering his second year of competitive hobby stock racing, junior Tommy Barber is sporting his new S&T fab shop chassis and his Jimmy Schmidt race engine.
“It should be a good show this year,” he said. “My cousin D.J. Jones is back in the game and wants nothing more than to beat me.”

Last year Barber competed in the hobby stock division as a rookie. At the beginning of the year he had some mechanical problems and bad luck, such as blowing an engine, blowing transmissions and even rolling at Huset’s Speedway.

Nothing could put Barber and his dad down. With the help of some crew members and hard work, Barber was back on the track the next weekend. Even with these problems, he grabbed six feature wins, second place in points and race team of the year.

“I feel that I have to be consistent and not try to win on the first lap,” he said. “This will be a key factor whether or not I will be in the running for a championship.”