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Head of the Class: The Cars of Skip Barber Opens at Saratoga Automobile Museum

November 19, 2006

For Immediate Release
Contact: Alan Edstrom at 518-587-1935

Saratoga Springs, NY

Head of the Class: The Cars of Skip Barber
What do Daytona 500 winner Bill Elliott and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya have in common? Or perennial New York State dirt-track modified stock car champion Brett Hearn, prototype sports car ace Butch Leitzinger and actor Paul Newman? The answer is that all these champion racing drivers attended the Skip Barber Racing School.

Now visitors to the Saratoga Automobile Museum will have a chance to see a selection drawn from Barber's personal automotive collection in the Museum's primary winter exhibit, Head of the Class: The Cars of Skip Barber.

"The list of cars that I used to own is more impressive than the list of cars that I do own," Barber says with a wry smile. It's typical Skip Barber modesty. He is a thoughtful connoisseur of automobiles, and he points out that it's as much economic reality as garage space that has made him prune his collection from time to time. "If I want to buy a new car, I have to sell one I already own."

Just about everyone who is interested in cars and driving knows Skip BarberÌs name. The school he started in 1975 has trained more people to be better drivers, on the race track or the highway, than any other school in the world. A third of Indy 500 drivers and a quarter of the field in NASCAR's Nextel Cup hold Skip Barber Racing diplomas. And every weekend literally thousands of other professional and amateur racers apply the lessons they learned at the Skip Barber Racing School on tracks across North America and beyond. Hundreds of celebrities from the worlds of sports, entertainment and even politics (Eliot SpitzerÌs a grad) have attended the school. A few years ago Jerry Seinfeld stuck the schoolÌs logo on the refrigerator on the set of his long-running sitcom.

Barber's current collection ranges from a 1936 Cord 812 coffin-nose sedan, to an iconic 1951 Ferrari 212 Barchetta and a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible. Oh, yes, there's the classic 1939 Ford ÏwoodyÓ station wagon, the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB, and the Foose Ford custom (based on a 1950 Ford two-door sedan). Then, thereÌs the Ford tractor (similar to the one he operated when he was a child), the MG TC (like the first automobile he drove), and the elegant 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS. The list goes on.

But while everyone knows Skip Barberss name, not so many people know the man behind the name. That he graduated from Harvard, won three Sports Car Club of America driving championships, competed in several Formula One world championship events in the early 1970s, owns Connecticut's jewel of a road-racing facility (Lime Rock Park), or that he sold the school seven years ago. Oh, yes, and that he has an eclectic and quite lovely collection of cars that he keeps in a garage complex at his home in northwestern Connecticut.

On Saturday, November 18, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, the Museum will host a reception, featuring a gallery walk with Skip. This event is open to the public ($25) and Museum members ($20).

Prior to the reception (3:00 pm) Barber will deliver a lecture, The Future of the Automobile, and then participate in a question-and-answer session. This is a free Members Only event.

Cars included in Head of the Class Ò The Cars of Skip Barber include:

1932 Ford Hot Rod Goldenrod
1936 Cord 812
1939 Ford Station Wagon (Woody)
1947 MG TC
1948 Ford 8N Tractor
1949 Ford Sedan (Stock)
1950 Foose Ford (Custom)
1952 Ferrari 212 Barchetta
1957 AC Ace Bristol
1965 Ferrari 275 GTB-2
1967 Ferrari 330 GTS
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible
1995 Skip Barber Racing School Formula Ford

The Saratoga Automobile Museum is located on the grounds of Saratoga Spa State Park at 110 Avenue of the Pines. For more information, guests can also visit the MuseumÌs website at www.saratogaautomuseum.org

Admission to the Museum is $7.00 for Adults, $5.00 for Seniors and Active Miltary, and $3.50 for children ages 6-16.

The mission of the Saratoga Automobile Museum is to display significant cars, trucks, and vehicles that not only represent the automotive heritage of New York State but the entire world of motorized transportation. In addition to a permanent collection of vehicles, the Museum is chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York Department of Education and hosts a variety of workshops, interactive displays, lectures, and outdoor shows.