Alex Joseph Barron (born June 11, 1970) is an American former 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.
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 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 Barron's 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. 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 Barron got the call.
In just 24 races, twelve races in both the Formula Ford 2000 and Toyota Atlantic, Barron made the jump from racing karts to CART.
Indycars
Barron'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.
It was not until the second half of 2000 season that Barron reappeared 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 led both, before retiring with problems the Ford Cosworth engines both times.
In 2002, Barron switched to the IRL, signing for Blair Racing, where he finish fourth in Indianapolis 500, 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 for a one-off appearance for Marlboro Team Penske, he raced for Mo Nunn Racing, filling in for 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.
In 2004 and 2005, Barron 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 fourteenth 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 return to Daytona for the 2008 Rolex 24, with Southard Motorsport, only to retire from the race. He would not race internationally again.
Barron now runs a kart business.
Racing record Career summary Season Series Position Team Car1996United States Formula Ford 2000 National Championship8thDSTP TeamVan Diemen RF96 1997 KOOL Toyota Atlantic Championship 1st Lynx Racing Ralt-Toyota RT41 1998 CART FedEx Championship Series 27th All American Racers Eagle-Toyota 987Reynard-Toyota 98i 1999 CART FedEx Championship Series 27th All American RacersMarlboro Team Penske Eagle-Toyota 997Penske-Mercedes PC27B-99 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series 26th Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford B2K/00 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series 29th Arciero-Blair Racing Lola-Ford B2K/00 Indy Racing Northern Light Series 44th Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara-Oldsmobile IR1 2002 Indy Racing League 5th Blair Racing Dallara-Chevrolet IR2 2003 IndyCar Series 17th Team PenskeMo Nunn RacingRed Bull Cheever Racing G-Force-Toyota GF09Dallara-Chevrolet IR2 2004 IndyCar Series 12th Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet IR2 2005 IndyCar Series 11th Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Toyota IR5 2006 Yokohama Presents the Champ CarAtlantic Championship Powered by Mazda 14th Polestar Racing Swift-Toyota 0.16a Rolex Sports Car Series 78th Playboy/Uniden Racing Crawford-Ford DP03 2007 IndyCar Series 22nd CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports Dallara-Honda IR4 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series 59th Southard Motorsports Riley-Lexus Mk XI2017F2000 Championship SeriesNCPolestarVan Diemen / Zetec2018F1600 Championship SeriesNCVan Diemen Ford2019Blancpain GT World Challenge America36thK2R MotorsportPorsche 911 GT3 R (2019)IMSA Prototype Challenge27thK2R MotorsportLigier JS P3
Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 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 Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points Ref 1998 All American Racers 36 Reynard 98i Toyota RV8C V8tMIAMOTLBHNZRRIOSTLMILDETPORCLETORMIS27th2 Eagle 987 Toyota RV8D V8tMDOROAVANLSHOUSRFFON1999 All American Racers Eagle 997 Toyota RV8D V8tMIAMOTLBHNZRRIOSTLMILPORCLEROATOR27th4 Team Penske 3 Penske PC-27 Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8tMISDETMDOCHIVANLSHOUSRFFON 2000 Dale Coyne Racing 19 Lola B2K/00 Ford XF V8tMIALBHRIOMOTNZRMILDETPORCLETORMISCHIMDOROAVANLSSTLHOUSRFFON26th6 2001 Arciero-Blair Racing 25 Lola B2K/00 Ford XF V8tMTYLBHTXSNZRMOTMILDETPORCLETORMISCHIMDOROAVANLAUROCHOULSSRFFON29th4
IndyCar Series Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 2001 Sam Schmidt Motorsports 99 Dallara IR-01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8PHXHMSATLINDYTXSPPIRIRKANNSHKTYSTLCHITX2 44th 9 2002 Blair Racing 44 Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8HMSPHXFONNZRINDYTXSPPIRIRKANNSHMCHKTYSTLCHITX2 5th 366 2003 Penske Racing 6 G-Force GF09 Toyota Indy V8HMSPHXMOT 17th 216 Mo Nunn Racing 20INDYTXSPPIRIRKAN 21NSHMCHSTLKTYNZR Team Cheever 52 Dallara IR-03 Chevrolet Indy V8CHIFONTX2 2004 Cheever Racing 51 Dallara IR-04HMSPHXMOTINDYTXSRIRKANNSHMILMCHKTYPPINZRCHIFONTX2 12th 310 2005 Team Cheever Dallara IR-05 Toyota Indy V8HMSPHXSTPMOTINDYTXSRIRKANNSHMILMCHKTYPPISNMCHIWGLFON 11th 329 2007 CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports 98 Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8HMS STP MOTKANINDY MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO MCH KTY SNM DET CHI22nd41
Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums(non-win) Top 10s(non-podium) Indianapolis 500 wins Championships66620232200
Indianapolis 500 Year Chassis Engine Start Finish Team 2002 Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8 26 4 Blair Racing 2003 G-Force GF09 Toyota Indy V8 25 6 Mo Nunn Racing 2004 Dallara IR-04 Chevrolet Indy V8 24 12 Team Cheever 2005 Dallara IR-05 Toyota Indy V8 22 13 Team Cheever 2007 Dallara IR-05 Honda HI7R V8 26 15 CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports
References
External links Photo sequence of 2005 Chicagoland crash with Ryan Briscoe.