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Racing back to his roots

After 20 years away from the tracks, US Sportscar legend Dick barbour is back with a new team, new cars and a new lease of life, but the old magic still shines through

Dick Barbour is a man big both in stature and reputation. But he wasn't too big to cry when the drivers of his newly-reformed team stepped up on the podium at the end of this year's American Le Mans Series season opener. Not that anyone begrudged the show of emotion at Sebring. Because the class victory at Sebring came almost exactly 20 years after the original incarnation of Dick Barbour Racing notched up a unique hat-trick in the 12 Hours.
It wasn't just the famous 1980 win he shared with Briton John Fitzpatrick that occupied his thoughts as Dirk Muller and Lucas Luhr collected the laurels back in March. Probably uppermost in his mind as he celebrated his comeback victory were the intervening two decades when Barbour had no team.
"In those 20 years there wasn't a day that I didn't dream about returning," says Barbour, whose original outfit fell foul of the early-1980s recession in the United States. "I became depressed that I wasn't living out my passion."
A comeback didn't happen because "it just never seemed like the right time", according to the long-time Porsche entrant. "A lot of things delayed me, family stuff. I went through a divorce and my parents died. And I always promised myself that I would only come back if I could be competitive and win races. I didn't want to be a field filler. That clearly wasn't going to be possible in the late 1980s and early 1990s when all the big manufacturers were around. Remember, I was always a privateer."
Barbour stepped up his efforts to return to the race tracks in the second half of the last decade, encouraged by his new wife. "Ivana really spurred me on because she knew that going racing would make me happy."
He came within an ace of contesting the 1998 FIA GT Championship with a new team backed by film star Sylvester Stallone, but a happy coincidence finally secured the return of one of America's most famous sportscar squads.
"Don Panoz was making a real success of the American Le Mans Series and, at the same time, Porsche came up with the beautiful 911 GT3-R. If that car hadn't come along, I'm not sure I'd be here right now," Barbour explains. "It definitely felt like the right moment to go for it.
"The home of the ALMS is Road Atlanta, so Ivana and I moved lock, stock and barrel from San Diego to be near the circuit. I rented premises at the track and contacted Porsche and told them I wanted to purchase two new GT3-Rs."
That re-ignited a relationship with the German sportscar builder that stretches right back to the beginnings of Barbour's career as a driver and team owner in 1967. The result was that his re-formed squad was chosen to become Porsche's junior team in the US. That has translated into a two-car assault on the ALMS with Porsche contracted drivers Dirk Muller, Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen and veteran Bob Wollek. It's a driver line combining youth and experience that has other teams looking green-eyed at the silver and blue cars.

The irony of his team making its return with a 911 is not lost on Barbour. All his major triumphs came with cars based on the long-serving rear-engined design. His record just with twin-turbo 935 monsters includes that Sebring hat-trick, the 1980 IMSA title and second place with Hollywood legend Paul Newman in the 1979 Le Mans 24 Hours. "It's a magical feeling to be back with the 911 again," he says, "but it's also a big responsibility. Porsche and my sponsors, Mobil and Michelin, are counting on me to
perform." Barbour promises that no stone will be left unturned in his quest for success. That's why he hired Tony Dowe, the expatriate Briton who masterminded Jaguar's Stateside sportscar successes in 1988-1992 and helped establish today's race-winning Panoz factory team.

"I believe if you don't perform you've got no one to blame but yourself. We're doing everything to ensure our cars are reliable and are as fast as they can possibly be. If other teams are unhappy that we have factory backing, then they should work even harder than us to knock us off our perch. That's what I would do if the roles were reversed."
Barbour claims he has no qualms about racing in the junior division of the ALMS. "I get asked that question every day, but I believe we are in the best class right now. I definitely think that it's the most competitive, because there are 15 identical cars out there."
Not that this dyed in the wool racing enthusiast sees the long-term future of his team in the GT ranks. "I'd be lying if I said this is the limit of our ambition. I always enjoyed going for outright victory and that's were I want to be again. I don't want to take anything away from this programme. I'm giving it 100% effort, but I'm also moulding a team that will be ready to move up if and when the time comes."
Suggest the Stuttgart marque's decision to delay its return to top-line sportscar racing means any graduation would have to come with a non-Porsche, and Barbour concedes that it's likely he'll be staying put for the immediate future. "I've always enjoyed racing with Porsche. That's what I've done for most of my career and that's what I'd like to continue to do."
For the moment, though, the team is focusing on retaining Porsche's GT titles in the ALMS and beating the hordes of rival GT3-Rs with its solo entry for Le Mans this month.
"I had three straight overall victories at Sebring and came back with a class win. We're going for four out of four at Le Mans," says Barbour, whose team triumphed in the IMSA GTX class at La Sarthe in 1978-80. "Imagine the odds against that. It would be magical if we came out on top there as well."
So magical, in fact, that one doubts if Dick Barbour will be able to hold back the tears should Muller, Luhr and Wollek be up there on the podium shortly after four o'clock on Sunday, June 18.