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Dick Barbour Racing is a racing legend. Currently Dick Barbour Racing is working on a deal for 2012. We can't let the cat out of the bag early so stay tuned online as well as on facebook to hear the good news.

Racing Back To His Roots by Gary Watkins

After 20 years away from the track, US Sportscar Legend Dick Barbour, is back with a new team, new cars, and a new lease on life, but the old magic still shines through.

Dick Barbour is a man both big 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 exactly 20 years after Dick drove his beautiful Porsche 935 to victory 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 laurel back in March. Probably uppermost in his mind as he celebrated his comeback victory where the intervening two decades when Barbour was semi-retired.

"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. And I always promised myself that I would only come back if I could be competetive and win races. I didn't want to be a field filler. That clearly wan't going to be possible in the late 1980s and early 1990s when all the big manufacturers were around."

Barbour stepped up his efforts to return to the race tracks in the second half of the 1990s.

He came within an ace of contesting the 1998 FIA GT Championship with a new team backed by filmstar Sylvester Stallone, but a happy coincidence finally secured the return of one of America's most famous sportscar squads.

"The American Le Mans Series was become a great success 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 definately felt like the right moment to go for it again."

"The home of the ALMS is Road Atlanta. I obtained new premises at the track and contacted Porsche and told them I wanted to partner with them again."

That re-ignited a relationship with the German sportscar builder that stretched 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-up combining youth and experience that has other teams looking green-eyed at the silver-and-blue cars.

The irony of this 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, the coveted Porsche Cup and his victory 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.