Alex Barron (born June 11, 1970) is an American former race car driver. He began racing

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed ...

FedEx World Series Championship cars in 1998 and made his first

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

Northern Lights Series (now

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

) 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 San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. In 1996, the opportunity for him to move up to US National Formula Ford 2000 came with the DSTP Team. This proved to be a 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. 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. Part of his prize for winning the Championship was a test with the Arciero-Wells Racing

team. During his test, he was quickly matching the speed of their regular driver,

Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...

. Arciero-Wells were so impressed with him, they offered a testing contract. Following the retirement of Juan Manuel Fangio II, the

All American Racers All American Racers is an American auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well a ...

Team and their boss,

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...

, wanted a young American driver who could develop with the team, and Barron got the call. In just 24 races, 12 races in both the Formula Ford 2000 and Toyota Atlantic, Barron made the jump from racing karts to CART.

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 Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

chassis),

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

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 Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organizati ...

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. It was not until the second half of 2000 season that Barron reappeared in CART, running with

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

. The following season, he raced just the final two races for Arciero-Blair Racing. During these races, Alex led both, before retiring with problems the

Ford Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive indust ...

engines both times. In 2002, Barron switched to the IRL, signing for Blair Racing, where he finish fourth in

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

, co-winning the Rookie of the Year. Later that season, he would earn 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. In 2003, Barron drove for three teams. After replacing the injured

Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967 in Paris, France) is a French-born Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 5 ...

for a one-off appearance for Marlboro Team Penske, he raced for

Mo Nunn Racing Mo or MO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mo, a girl in the ''Horrible Histories'' TV series * Mo, also known as Mortimer, in the novel ''Inkheart'' by Cornelia Funke * Mo, in the webcomic '' Jesus and Mo'' * Mo, the ...

, filling in for the injured

Felipe Giaffone Felipe Giaffone (, born 22 January 1975) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competes full-time in the Copa Truck, driving the No. 4 Iveco Hi-Way for Usual Racing. He also works as a commentator for Rede Bandeirantes and BandSports. He competed in ...

. It was with Mo Nunn that Barron scored his second IRL victory, in the 2003 Firestone Indy 400 at

Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than approximately south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track ...

. For the final three races of that season,

Eddie Cheever Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championshi ...

hired Barron to drive for his

Red Bull Cheever Racing Cheever Racing was an auto racing team founded in 1996 by Eddie Cheever as Team Cheever in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. They fielded a car for Cheever for much of its existence, but occasionally ran two cars, almost always for the Indiana ...

outfit, instead of

Buddy Rice Buddy Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career Early years ...

. In his first race for Cheever, he gave the team their best finish of the season, seventh place at the

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the IndyC ...

In 2004 and 2005 he drove for

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inclu ...

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 The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

for 2006 with

Polestar Racing Group Polestar Racing Group is an American motorsport team based in Chardon, Ohio, which competes in the Atlantic Championship. It was founded in 2001 and is owned by husband and wife team Jim and Pam Griffith, and Bruce Potter. Polestar has notched ...

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 José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico on September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican. In his early years, he sold his ...

. Greg Beck signed him to run races part-time in the

for the 2007 season for

CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports Beck Motorsports was a team in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series owned by Greg Beck. At times in its history the team was partnered with Curb Agajanian Performance Group and 3G Racing owners Stanton Barrett and Steve Sudler. IndyCar 199 ...

. He competed in three races, including the Indy 500. Barron would return to Daytona for the 2008 Rolex 24, with Southard Motorsport, only to retire from the race. He would not race internationally again. He now runs a kart business.

Racing record

Career highlights

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

American open wheel racing results

( key)

CART

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

Photo sequence of 2005 Chicagoland crash
with

Ryan Briscoe Ryan Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Alex Living people Atlantic Championship drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year IndyCar Series drivers Racing drivers from San Diego 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers 1970 births Team Penske drivers GT World Challenge America drivers Mo Nunn Racing drivers Cheever Racing drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers