Barker basking in first win as a crew chief

DOVER, Del. -- Robert Barker sits in solitude in the depths of the Busch Series garage, a hat professing his first career win as a crew chief spun around backward on his head.

	Scott Wimmer (left) and Robert Barker had some conflicts earlier this season. Credit: VPS Motorimages

Hidden by a stray pit cart, he receives a continuous flow of congratulatory phone calls. With each passing conversation, interrupted on occasion by a steady stream of crewmember high-fives, the dimples on his cheeks get deeper and deeper as the smile on his face spreads wider and wider.

It had been a long, hard road to the present. And during a brief pause from the madness his eyes are closed, bulging arms folded across his chest.

He's obviously taking it all in. The smell of his beer-drenched clothes. The sweet relaxation of a dip of snuff. Adrenaline. Gallons of it.

"It's massive. It's better than I ever thought," said Barker, who is affectionately referred to as "Bootie" throughout the industry.

"You know, I didn't think it would be, but this has got to be one of the happiest times of my life. It really is."

None of this is atypical. It's a common reaction to a landmark moment in an often unrewarding occupation.

But Barker's is different. Deeper. There was no triumphant leap when Scott Wimmer took the checkered flag. There was no swan dive into his crew or standing salute from atop the pit box.

Barker is paralyzed from the waist down.

VIDEO CLIPS Robert "Bootie" Barker has found success as a Busch Series crew chief. Play video Scott Wimmer dominates the final 50 laps of the Busch Series race at Dover. Play video Scott Wimmer makes his first trip to Victory Lane in the Busch Series. Play video

But don't try discussing it with him. He wants no extra attention for it, wants no attention at all for that matter. He won't discuss how it happened, doesn't deem it the least bit important to what he's made of himself.

Sure, his situation presents certain obstacles most don't face. But it's never fazed him, never limited his ability. He wants no sympathy.

"I think it certainly makes a bigger challenge to Bootie, to do what he does," team owner Bill Davis said following the win last Saturday. "But at the same time, he's the kind of guy that gets inspired by it, to try even harder.

"Certainly, he has to use his mind rather than his brawn, and that's his strong point. He lives and breathes this deal, and wants desperately to be successful at it. He certainly has the tools and the desire to do that."

"You won't find a harder working individual in the garage area," Wimmer added. "People can see that, and really admire him for what he does and how he does it. I hope he's with me a long time, because he sure makes my job easy."

Barker has directed Davis' Busch Series troops for nearly two years, notching one victory and 10 top-fives thus far. His road to the present began at Old Dominion University (Va.), where he got the racing itch while studying mechanical engineering.

	The No. 23 car made its first trip to Victory Lane at Dover. Credit: Autostock

While at ODU, he volunteered on classmate Ashton Lewis' Late Model team, a role that continued after graduation. Then, having scraped together enough money to chase a dream, he headed South for Charlotte.

He knocked on every door imaginable, but was continually turned away. During that time he befriended Harold Holly, now the crew chief for Scott Riggs' No. 10 Ford in the Busch Series.

Holly had no openings, but called his buddy Mike Beam, who at the time was Bill Elliott's crew chief in Hickory, N.C. Beam gave him a trial run that lasted some two months, but it didn't produce a full-time position.

Though unable to hire Barker, Beam did scribe a sparkling recommendation. That landed Barker on Kurt Roehrig's Truck Series team, where he received a deep understanding of shock technology. From there, he moved on to BDR to build shocks for Ward Burton.

In 1999, he was lured over to Jeff Gordon's Rainbow Warriors. Then, near the end of the 2000 campaign, he returned to BDR to begin life as a crew chief. It hasn't been easy.

Barker and Wimmer butted heads a bit at first. Davis said Barker may have a bit too rough on the rookie driver, expecting more out of him than he was capable of giving at the time.

"They're both absolute racers. That's what counts in this deal. They both earned each other's respect, but it wasn't always as sweet as it is right now," Davis laughed.

THEY SAID IT  "I'm not a 'feel good' story, I'm a crew chief."  •  Robert "Bootie" Barker

Not even. Earlier this year, Davis was on the verge of shutting the sponsorless team down. Having run the team out of his pocket for two years, it was becoming quite the burden. They decided to hold off, run a few more races. Wimmer ran very well, spurring a few more starts.

Now, they're winners.

"We were almost done, man," said Barker. "We were on the precipice, looking down on the cliff, and we came back. That makes this even more sweet. Man, this is sweet."

So sweet, it left him a blubbering mess for a while.

"He was babbling after the race, he was so excited," Davis said. "I don't know what in the world he was saying, mostly thanking me for the opportunity, I think.

"We probably did take a little bit of a chance on him, because he's not a crew chief that can climb up on top of a trailer and watch the car or get up on top of the pit box and watch the car. He's got to rely on a good support staff, which he's got.

"All these guys have been with him a long time, support him real well. If there are some areas you could call a weakness, everyone works hard to work around it. They appreciate so much how much he's accomplished, how focused he is and how knowledgeable he is about a race car."

The team's camaraderie was quite obvious following Saturday's victory, as the No. 23 crew scooped Barker up from his wheelchair and carried him to the top of Dover's elevated Victory Lane seating area.

As he peered down on the masses, he realized the magnitude of his team's rise from the doldrums to the pinnacle of the Busch ranks.

"I won a lot with (Hendrick Motorsports), but it's different when you're the crew chief," he said. "This team, we started from the bottom and we've come up together and it means so much. We were done. Now we're a winning team. It's a good story, huh?"

Not as good as the one Barker refuses to share.

"I'm pretty tired of the 20/20, 48 hours 'feel good' story," Barker said. "I'm not a 'feel good' story, I'm a crew chief."