Barber racetrack is a hidden gem

Tony George, owner of the IndyCar Series, might do well to schedule a race at Barber Motorsports Park.

"You ready?" Cas Whitehead, a driver instructor for the Porsche Driving School at Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham, Ala., asked me on a recent afternoon. "Hold on."

And we were off, roaring around the 2.39-mile road course that has 80 feet of elevation change in a high-performance Carrera S Porsche. As we charged down the longest straightaway at 117 miles per hour, Whitehead, who's raced in the American Le Mans and Rolex series, was clearly in a state of motorsports ecstasy. This, he said with the conviction of preacher speaking to his congregation, was the most beautiful race track in America, if not the world.

And it's hard to disagree with that assessment, because Barber is one of America's hidden gems of racing. The story of the track begins five years ago, when George Barber, the owner of Barber Dairies, began transforming 740 acres of hilly, forested land into what he hoped would be the most fan-friendly track in the country that was as much a park as a racing facility.

"I didn't want to confine fans to 18 inches of steel by putting them on a bleacher," says Barber. "I wanted them to experience the entire facility. I'm trying to make this the Augusta of racetracks. I want trees on our grounds from all around the United States. We've got deer, turkey, hawks, and bluebirds nesting here. The Audubon society is even looking at us to be a bird sanctuary."

Want evidence of the place's allure? On a recent spring day, 60 women from the Little Garden Club in Mountain Brook, Ala., toured the grounds to inspect the blooming magnolias, azaleas, tulips, and daffodils.

Fans can watch the races at Barber from a variety of vantage points. Nine trolleys transport fans to eight different viewing areas around the track; the most popular is on a grassy hillside that provides a bird's-eye perspective of about 80 percent of the road course. Barber is currently in negotiations to land an IndyCar series race for 2009, and when IndyCar tested here a few months ago, drivers such as Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves raved about the place, telling every microphone they could find that IndyCar needed to be racing here. The track is 45 feet wide all the way around, which means there's plenty of passing opportunities -- something that can be an issue on the other tracks on the schedule.

Right now, Barber is best know for holding Superbike races, and for good reason: Barber has become a must-stop destination for biking enthusiasts, because he boasts the largest collection of motorcycles in the world. Housed in a museum on the property, the collection features over 1,000 vintage and modern motorcycles.

But the biggest lure of the joint is the track itself.

"This is a very technical track," Whitehead calmly told me as he slid into a turn at over 100 mph. "Because of the elevation change, you can't always see where you're going, so you have to memorize your brake points. I think an IndyCar race here would be outstanding. It would challenge the drivers, and it's the kind of place where the cream will rise, which is what you want out of a race track."

After spending a few days at Barber, I agree with Whitehead's take. So here's a note to Tony George, the owner of IndyCar: Get your series to Barber next year, because this place deserves a date on your schedule.