Stories and photos by
Terry Spradley
Seventh in a Series
Curtis Barnes, scoring points in the family series
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| Curtis Barnes uses engine hoist to unload new motor for his Chevrolet Camero racer |
“I’m not going to look at points this year,” Curtis Barnes, Lindsborg, said as we sat at the upholstered patio chairs and glass table over-looking his back yard. “Next year I might go back and try to look at points again, but this year I’m not going to do it. I’m helping my mom move, and I’m taking my kids on a family vacation. We’re going to Disneyland . The kids, they need a vacation. They spent their whole lives out there supporting me while I was having fun, and they’re really not.”
“I’m not going to look at points. Barnes said again. “If you do it one time, from that point forward you’re going to start running for them.” “You enjoy it a lot more now,” said his wife Jill Barnes. The sound of Children playing drifts through the privacy fence as their son Kirk, 8, and 3-year-old daughter Taylor, play with neighbor kids.
Talking with Barnes it is easy to see that if he did look at points once, he would be out there breathing down somebody’s rear bumper every Saturday night trying to move up in the standings. He is not bashful about his passion for the sport or his accomplishments in it. At the age of 25, Barnes is going into his eighth year as a circle burner. The first 6 years he raced mini-stocks. Racing Salina and many other tracks in the Midwest , he racked up numerous wins and numerous points.
“We went to Enid Oklahoma, raced down there. We did really good down there,” Barnes said. “ Oklahoma is big on mini stocks. I almost won that championship. I lost by one point. I proved myself in that class. I dominated, I did it, whatever.”
Last year Barnes made the move to the faster more expensive super stockers. “I bought the car from Corey Lagroon,” Barnes said. “He dominated in that car. In his last year in that car he really sucked it up, Cory did. He didn’t finish very many races in it.” “He raced his modified,” Jill adds. “Ya, cause he was racing his modified and they were trying to concentrate on that. They were kind of neglecting the car.”
Moving up to a new class means a new learning curve and new expenses. The racing couple sunk about $22,000 into the car and support
equipment the first year. “We had to buy a motor, the car, rims, tires that enclosed trailer back there. The list just went on and on and on,” Barnes said. “We stayed with it and the season was pretty rough in the beginning. Shit didn’t work, wasn’t clicking, and I was getting a little pissed about racing. Then we started racing up front again. That’s when good times started going. We ended up being contenders.”
In his inaugural season in the super stocks, Barnes placed fourth missing a third place finish by only three points. He also won rookie of the year in 2004. Along with the Salina Speedway victories, the Barnes racing family was all over the state of Kansas chasing somebody else’s back bumper. “We raced in Wichita , Topeka , Wakeeney, Hutchinson , we went every where. And we did good everywhere we went,” said Barnes. While not bashful about his accomplishments, Barnes is equally thankful of those that helped him get his start in racing.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I loved watching races and going to derbies.” Demolish Derbies are events where drivers bash old jalopies into each other repeatedly in the middle of a muddy rectangular field until there is only one left running. “When I lived in western Kansas , that’s all they did was derbies. When I moved out here all they did was race, they weren’t really big into derbies around here,” Barnes said. “I met Jerry Hedberg, we laid carpet together. We went back to his shop he opened his doors and he had three mini stocks sitting in there.” Jill said, “He kind of really got Curtis into it.”
Hedberg helped Barnes build his first car gave him the dos and don’ts, and let Barnes work out of his shop when he did not have one. “I had nothing, and he helped me do it all, He helped me get to running up front. Then once I started kicking his butt, he didn’t help me no more,” Barnes laughed. “You can’t ask for anymore than that. They (fellow drivers) helped me a lot.”
During his last season in the mini stocks, Barnes learned what helping hands are all about. In contention for the championship, Barnes rolled his car on Salina ’s front straightaway. “He totaled a car and had a new one built in a week,” Jill said. “He rolled on the front stretch, right there by the gate.” Barnes said, “Salina Wrecker helped me out. All my neighbors around here helped me pull the motor, tranny, rear-end out, and put it all back in that other one. It was an exciting year.” Barnes has other helpers now. Brian Fink and Kendal Johnson help turn a wrench on the bright yellow and red 1978 Camero he now runs. Sponsor logos from Monterrey West, Salina , Malm Construction, Lindsborg Mini Storage, Coyote Jake’s, Town and Country Repair, and others accent the lines of the stretched out Chevy and help with expenses.
While he is helping his mom move and taking the family to Disneyland , Barnes may be losing points at the speedway, but will be making points in the family’s series and probably enjoying both just a little bit more. Just don’t mention to him that he is currently running twelfth in points. Whether chasing points or just somebody’s back bumper, Barnes’s 7B and many other local drivers are burning it up at Salina Speedway and other dirt ovals in the Midwest .
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| Curtis barnes, #7, takes the high line in an attempt to pass Adam Schrag during Saturday night's 'A' main. Two laps later a nudge from behind put Barnes backwards on the track and dropped him to the rear of the pack. |