Bob Barkhimer

Background

He was born in Berkeley, California.

Education

lieutenant was his first time attending midget car races, and the third time he attended a racing event.

Career

His career started as a midget car racer and ended as a Senior Vice President at National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.

He was puzzled what circus midgets had to do with racing. He was hooked and he wanted to race a midget racecar. He was unable to obtain a car.

He found a racecar owner named Delucci who was not paid for a car he had sold.

Barkhimer could run the midget car if he would repossess the car. Barkhimer located the car dismantled in boxes.

Barkhimer loaded up the car and took it the car home. Barkhimer was not a mechanic, but he found a local racer named Jimmy Aiten to help assemble the midget car if Aiten could drive lieutenant

That Tuesday night Aiten raced the car at Neptune Beach Speedway.

The car ran well in the heat race for two laps before it slowed. The same thing happened in the semi-feature. They determined that they were using the wrong spark plugs.

At the races the following week, the engine threw a connecting rod out of the side of the engine block, wrecking the engine.

They gave the car back to Delucci. Barkhimer and Aiten purchased a midget car.

After Aiten raced the car one night, he accepted an offer to race a different car on the day of the second race. Barkhimer was forced to race his racecar even though he had never raced before.

He borrowed a football helmet and sat in the car on the inside front row.

He quickly fell from the first starting position to last place. In 1948 Barkhimer quit racing to become the Business Manager for BCRA. In 1949 Barkhimer took over San Jose Speedway. San Jose was losing fans.

Barkhimer saw that midgets were losing their appeal, so he ended the midget class in favor of a hardtop late model stock car division.

They were a hit and the crowds returned. Also in 1949, Barkhimer and Jerry Piper started their own association called California Stock Carolina Racing Association (CSCRA).

He eventually promoted 21 or 22 racetracks on the West Coast. In 1954 Bill France, Junior., son of National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing found Bill France, Senior, was stationed on the West Coast while serving in the United States Navy.

He was stationed at the northern California Navy Air Base known as Moffett Field.

The friendship led to Barkhimer going to Daytona Beach, Florida to meet with the elder France and to watch a race at the Daytona Beach Road Course. France and Barkhimer discussed uniform rules and guaranteed payout for drivers. That meeting resulted in ten of Barkhimer"s tracks becoming National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing sanctioned.

The first track was Stockton 99, and tracks in Oakland, Fresno, San Jose and Hughes Stadium in Sacramento soon followed.

Barkhimer became a Senior Vice President in National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. During his career, he had also promoted boxing, car shows, roller derbies, and wrestling. He had promoted 3000 races in his career.

Barkhimer and Burke sold out to Ken Clapp. After retiring, he traveled and wrote stories about the early years of racing.

Achievements

• He was inducted in the West Coast Stock Carolina Hall of Fame in its first class in 2002.