Jump to content


Photo

Barber Dodge/Saab series


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 fan27

fan27
  • Member

  • 61 posts
  • Joined: October 08

Posted 27 May 2010 - 11:02

A couple of years ago I ended up racing against some of the old Barber Dodge cars, in South Africa of all places. I know that the series shut down towards the end of the Cart era but I was always surprised that it didn't keep going as the grids seemed healthy, prize fund was great and it launched a lot of drivers careers. Does anyone know the whole story, or what happened to the old Mondiale cars? I seem to remember one of the drivers being arrested in the paddock for holding up banks around the races in order to pay for his seat!

Advertisement

#2 Ross Stonefeld

Ross Stonefeld
  • Member

  • 70,106 posts
  • Joined: August 99

Posted 27 May 2010 - 11:05

Were the Mondiales the cars they raced until 1998-ish when they went to the Reynards?

The bank robbery driver sounds interesting...

#3 fan27

fan27
  • Member

  • 61 posts
  • Joined: October 08

Posted 27 May 2010 - 13:22

Were the Mondiales the cars they raced until 1998-ish when they went to the Reynards?

The bank robbery driver sounds interesting...


Yes, the Mondiales were the cars which Brack, Montoya, etc raced before moving to carbon tubbed Reynards. The Reynards are the cars which I raced against in ZA. I think that there were about 10 of them based in Cape Town.

The bank robber chap was a rumour, so not sure if it's true. I believe they caught him because he was wearing a racing balaclava and the robberies seemed to follow the race events!

#4 Cynic2

Cynic2
  • Member

  • 402 posts
  • Joined: November 07

Posted 27 May 2010 - 14:14

The Barber Dodge Pro Series closed down after a new group bought the Skip Barber School. I don't remember their names off hand, but one or more had raced in a street stock series (such as the old Motorola Cup); they were involved in Wall Street and investment banking, and thought the Skip Barber Racing School was a good investment. Overall the Pro Series was not profitable, even though this provided a path from the smaller school cars into professional racing, so the series was closed down.

#5 fan27

fan27
  • Member

  • 61 posts
  • Joined: October 08

Posted 27 May 2010 - 14:18

The Barber Dodge Pro Series closed down after a new group bought the Skip Barber School. I don't remember their names off hand, but one or more had raced in a street stock series (such as the old Motorola Cup); they were involved in Wall Street and investment banking, and thought the Skip Barber Racing School was a good investment. Overall the Pro Series was not profitable, even though this provided a path from the smaller school cars into professional racing, so the series was closed down.


Thanks Cynic, it's a shame that it shut down but I guess if it wasn't profitable then you can see why! Taking a look at the names who passed through the series shows how good the concept was, just a shame that it couldn't break even.

#6 swede917

swede917
  • Member

  • 75 posts
  • Joined: March 06

Posted 27 May 2010 - 15:21

From what I remember the Reynard cars proved to be too expense to maintain and were sold to a group in South Africa.

#7 Graham Clayton

Graham Clayton
  • Member

  • 1,362 posts
  • Joined: January 01

Posted 25 January 2013 - 07:42

Here is an interesting article about SAAB's entry into and then withdrawal from the series:

http://peacetek.net/...sa-history.html