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 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 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. Fate was too intervened. 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 Alex got the call.

In just 24 races, 12 races in both the Formula Ford 2000 and Toyota Atlantic, Alex 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 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 re-appeared 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 lead both, before retiring with problems the Ford Cosworth engines both times.

2002 saw Alex switch to IRL, signing for Blair Racing, where he finish fourth in Indianapolis 500, co-winning the Rookie of the Year. Later that season, he would 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. That’s not say Alex did not race that season, in fact he appeared for three teams. After replacing the injured Gil de Ferran for a one-off appears for Marlboro Team Penske, he raced for Mo Nunn Racing, filling in 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 he 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 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. 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 returning to Daytona for the 2008 Rolex 24, with Southard Motorsport, only the retire from the race. Alex would not race internationally again.

Racing record

Career highlights

Season	Series	Position	Team	Car
1997	KOOL Toyota Atlantic Championship	1st	Lynx Racing	Ralt-Toyota RT41
1998	CART FedEx Champ Car Series	27th	All American Racers	Eagle-Toyota 987 Reynard-Toyota 98i
1999	CART FedEx Champ Car Series	27th	All American Racers Marlboro Team Penske	Eagle-Toyota 997 Penske-Mercedes PC27B-99
2000	CART FedEx Champ Car Series	26th	Dale Coyne Racing	Lola-Ford B2K/00
2001	CART FedEx Champ Car Series	29th	Arciero-Blair Racing	Lola-Ford B2K/00
	Indy Racing Northern Light Series	44th	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Dallara-Oldsmobile IR1
2002	Firestone Indy Racing League Series	5th	Blair Racing	Dallara-Chevrolet IR2
2003	IndyCar Series	17th	Team Penske Mo Nunn Racing Red Bull Cheever Racing	G-Force-Toyota GF09 Dallara-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 Car Atlantic 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 XI

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
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	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
1998	All American Racers	Reynard 98i	Toyota RV8C V8t	MIA	MOT	LBH	NZR	RIO	STL	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS										27th	2
		Eagle 987	Toyota RV8D V8t													MDO	ROA	VAN	LS	HOU	SRF	FON
1999	All American Racers	Eagle 997	Toyota RV8D V8t	MIA	MOT	LBH	NZR	RIO	STL	MIL	POR	CLE	ROA	TOR											27th	4
	Team Penske	Penske PC-27B	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t												MIS	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LS	HOU	SRF	FON
2000	Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford XF V8t	MIA	LBH	RIO	MOT	NZR	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LS	STL	HOU	SRF	FON		26th	6
2001	Arciero-Blair Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford XF V8t	MTY	LBH	TXS	NZR	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LS	SRF	FON	29th	4

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2001	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Dallara IR-01	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	PHX	HMS	ATL	INDY	TXS	PPI	RIR	KAN	NSH	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2					44th	9
2002	Blair Racing	Dallara IR-02	Chevrolet Indy V8	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY	TXS	PPI	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI	TX2			5th	366
2003	Team Penske	Dallara IR-03	Toyota Indy V8	HMS	PHX	MOT															17th	216
	Mo Nunn Racing	G-Force GF09					INDY	TXS	PPI	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	STL	KTY	NZR
	Team Cheever	Dallara IR-03	Chevrolet Indy V8														CHI	FON	TX2
2004	Team Cheever	Dallara IR-04	Chevrolet Indy V8	HMS	PHX	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPI	NZR	CHI	FON			12th	310
2005	Team Cheever	Dallara IR-05	Toyota Indy V8	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPI	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON	11th	329
2007	CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	HMS	STP	MOT	KAN	INDY	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	MIS	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	22nd	41

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
6	6	62	0	2	3	22	0	0

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

[ Source: Wikipedia ]