What was the first big step you took to advance your racing career?
 Local heroes Barfield (near lane) and Craig Miller staged countless battles over the years at Savannah Dragway. They’re shown here in a non-sanctioned Outlaw 10.5 final in April 2004 at the now-closed strip that Barfield won with a holeshot. This is the same ’68 Camaro that earned him the inaugural ORSCA 10.5 championship that year. |
Barfield: Well, I was the first one that left Savannah and the reason being there was just no competition anymore. When we first started racing there we were the underdog, but it got to the point where we won pretty much every single race and then, instead of people liking you they pretty much started hated you. It got to the point where the only way I didn’t win was if I broke or just made a stupid mistake.
Boy, that was the big thing, I can remember coming back down the return road in Savannah, and the return road was right there in front of the spectators, and if I won I could hear them booing, but if I lost they just went crazy. I remember doing something stupid one night racing Craig Miller [another current ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 star]; I went and got out ahead of him and kind of whomped the gas and it let him pass me by.
I didn’t want to come back down that return road, I can tell you that. But there wasn’t anywhere to hide and boy, did they let me hear about it. I’ll never forget that.
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Do you have a favorite year from your career?
Barfield: Well, the year we won the ORSCA championship (2004) we were actually the number-one qualifier at 14 races and we were number one at nine races in a row. That was definitely a highlight year for us and I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to repeat it. I wish that everybody that races could have the opportunity to have that kind of a year because it makes it all worth it. Even if you never do it again, it makes it all worth it. Everywhere we went we just knew we could win the race. In fact, I can remember going to the first $20,000-to win race at Shadyside Dragway [NC] and pretty much from round to round and through qualifying we had the field covered by nearly two tenths. That was pretty amazing.
How did your relationship with your crew chief, Randy Conner, come about?
Barfield: I’ve known Randy since about ’97. We met at the dragstrip, he’s always been bit by the racing bug, too, and we started fooling with these cars together. At that time Randy had a company of his own that did work on heavy equipment, so we started doing some work together in conjunction with the construction company and then he actually came to work with my company and since that time we’ve been racing together pretty much every weekend.
Does Randy still work for you in the construction business?
Barfield: Yeah, he still works for Atlantic Underground, but he and I have got B&C Powerhouse on the side, which builds racing engines, and Randy on his own does some converter stuff, too.
You had a two-car team last year, you planned to have a three-car team this year, but you’re a one-car team now. What’s going on?
Barfield: A two- or three-car team definitely is a benefit if the cars are set up alike. Right now, though, we’re working on a twin-turbo set-up, so sharing information between the two cars won’t work near as well. Last year with two nitrous cars, every time we made a qualifying pass we got twice the information and it was very helpful to be able to share that information.
That begs the question, why is there not a second car in your pit right now?
Barfield: Well, there should have been. We had some issues with one thing or another, but we really should have another car there by the end of the year.
You mentioned a turbo program. What’s the deal there?
Barfield: We actually took the ’69 Camaro and converted it over to twin turbos on alcohol, big-block. It will remake its racing debut at the Huntsville race (Sep. 21-23); that’s where it debuted as a new car to begin with and its very first pass down the track was a competition run, it didn’t make a qualifying pass or even a test run before that.