| Chautauqua County, New York |
| Chautauqua County, New York |
Dick Barton
editor's note: The statistics here are through 2008 but Barton remains active, and extremely successful, as of the entry of this bio in 2009.
When area auto racing fans think of standouts the name of Dick Barton would have to be near the top of any list.
Barton has now completed 18 years of Late Model competition and has had a fabulous career with 185 feature wins and 36 track titles at 13 different tracks. Stateline Speedway and Eriez Speedway have been the top two sites of Barton's feature wins with more than 100 wins.
Barton has won 61 times at Stateline, 40 at Eriez Speedway, 29 at Raceway, 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, 15 at McKean County Raceway in Smethport, Pennsylvania, and 13 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pennsylvania. Other wins recorded were seven at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, six at Little Valley Speedway, five at Tru-City Speedway in Franklin, Pennsylvania, and three at Hagerstown (Maryland) Speedway. The final 10 wins were two each at the Challenger Raceway in Indiana, Pennsylvania Freedom Raceway in Delevan and one apiece at Mercer (Pennsylvania) Raceway and Woodhull Raceway.
The 2002 season saw Barton reach double figures in feature wins for the ninth time with 11 victories. He was in the top three 21 times, the top five 28 times and the top 10 33 times in 43 starts. Barton earned the biggest payday of his distinguished career with a $15,000 victory in the MACS Sanctioned Fall Fest at Challenger Raceway.
Another highlight for Barton was a fifth Cavalcade championship and a third straight, which is given to the top Late Model driver in the tri-state area of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. He ranked second on that all-time list to legendary Bob Wearing Sr., who had seven titles in the 30-year history of the Cavalcade.
Championships were also won at McKean and Little Valley plus he was third in points at Raceway 7.
Barton was born on October 16, 1954, to Oleta and Clarence Barton and began his racing career in go-karts at the age of 12. His parents served as his pit crew and at the age of 15 in 1969 he was the Western New York kart champion and continued in that sport until graduating from Falconer Central School in 1972.
Rod Barton, his uncle and an open-wheeled Sportsman driver at both Stateline and Eriez Speedways, got his nephew involved in automobile racing in the summer of 1973. He raced heat races in his uncle's No. 9 car.
In 1974, Barton, with help from his uncle, built his own Sportsman racer and competed in that bracket through 1980 with 13 feature runs.
In 1981, Barton sold all of his equipment and took over the driving duties of a Sportsman car owned by a group called Race Team 14. Over the next four years, that group recorded nine feature wins and the 1983 Stateline Sportsman's title.
After the 1984 season, Stateline and Eriez, which had operated as a two-track circuit since 1961, were sold to separate individuals and both tracks eventually dropped the Sportsman Division. So Barton and Race Team 14 started racing in the Late Model Division for the first time in 1985. His rookie year saw Barton win six features plus the Eriez championship. Barton emerged with 14 feature wins in 1986, including victories at Sharon and McKean County, plus capturing point titles at Stateline and Eriez Speedways.
For the first time he won the Cavalcade Late Model, awarded annually by Racing News columnist Walt Wimer to the top performer in the tri-state area.
Barton defended his title at Stateline in 1987 and recorded seven feature wins, including one at Speedway 7 (later called Raceway 7).
Dick Barton, 1987
In 1988, Barton gained track crowns at Sharon and Eriez Speedways in addition to eight feature wins. One of those was a $4,000 Budweiser 100 at Stateline on July 4.
In 1989, Barton repeated as Sharon Speedway champ, won three features and had 37 top finishes, including a sixth-place finish in the Dirt Track World Championship at Pennsboro, West Virginia.
The decade of the 1990s started off with Barton having a third-place finish in the Pittsburgher 100 at the Pennsylvania Motor Speedway and a third qualifying time at the DTWC at Pennsboro.
Also, Barton claimed track titles at both Stateline and Eriez and the combined titles at the Stateline-Eriez circuit which was revived. His No. 14B won seven features with two being at Lernersville. Barton and Race Team 14 were very busy in 1991 with 66 starts that produced eight feature wins and 54 top 10 finishes.
He won $10,000 in the STARS-sanctioned NAPA 100 on July 4 at Stateline where he also repeated as track champ and Stateline-Eriez circuit kingpin.
Barton was named by Stateline-Eriez promotor Fritz Seamens as the Driver of the Year. The year of 1992 saw Barton have seven feature wins and 35 top 10 results in 47 starts. In December, Race Team 14 was disbanded due to lack of funding and all assets were sold.
Dick Barton
In 1993, Barton joined forces with Meadville businessman Ron Nielson to form a new team that included former Race Team 14 members. Nielson's potent black Fords, sponsored by The Bolt Place, were numbered 28 in honor of the late NASCAR driver Davey Allison.
Their first outing resulted in winning the Springfest at Hagerstown en route to 17 feature wins and 15 runnerups in 60 starts.
Barton won 15 consecutive King of the Hill races at Stateline and also the $7,000 Redneck 100 there. He won six straight features at three different tracks and strung together four more in August. Seamens named Barton Stateline-Eriez Driver of the Year after winning titles at those sites once more. Also, he was named the top ranked dirt driver in the Northeast in Will White's prestigious Northeast Dirt Late Model standings.
Once more in 1994, Barton was outstanding with 13 feature wins and three track titles en route to being Driver of the Year at Stateline-Eriez.
In 1995, Barton had six feature wins and 32 top three finishes among 65 starts. He earned his sixth Eriez title and fifth Stateline-Eriez crown.
In 1996, the Barton-Nielson combination dominated the racing circuit with track titles at all three weekly racing stops. Victory lane was reached 18 times with seven at Stateline and six at Ace High Speedway along with four at Eriez leading the way.
Postseason awards included Barton and Nielson being Stateline-Eriez Driver and Team of the Year, Will White's Northeast Dirt Late Model champion and Wimer’s Cavalcade champion.
The season of 1997 brought changes that saw Barton and Nielson adopt a pick and choose style of racing instead of point chasing at home tracks.
Barton copped 12 wins at six different tracks with five at Tri-City leading the way and one each at Stateline, Eriez and Little Valley.
Things changed again in 1998 as the racing was cut down with no Sunday racing and return to point chasing on Friday and Saturday. There were only 44 starts compared to over 60 in previous seasons, but Barton still managed to win 11 features in 44 starts with 22 top three finishes and 33 top 10 results.
McKean County was the site of the most feature wins with five and Barton at this point had 25 Late Model championships.
In 1999, the Barton and Nielson Team competed for the first three months without a win and switched chassis manufacturers. Barton was then able to pick up six wins over the second half of the season with two each at Stateline and Raceway 7.
The start of the new decade was very succesful as Barton had 18 feature wins in 54 starts for a terrific winning percentage of 33 percent. Barton came through with eight seconds and the same number of thirds for 34 top three finishes.
Dick Barton and his 2007 race car
He won a record-tying eighth Stateline title despite running an incomplete schedule there. He was among the top three in 12 appearances with seven wins.
Barton was victorious four of his six races at Eriez plus won two in five starts at McKean. Postseason awards included Driver of the Decade at Stateline, Hard Charger of the Year at Raceway 7 and a third Cavalcade Late Model championship award from Wimer.
In 2001, Barton recorded 13 wins and 17 seconds en route to his fourth Cavalcade Late Model crown. Barton won championships at Raceway 7 for the third time on the strength of six wins and four seconds and at Little Valley thanks to a win and two seconds. Five wins were also picked up at Stateline, including his 100th career Stateline-Eriez feature victory, and a MACS win at McKean. Barton was recognized at the 2002 Motorsports Show in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, as co-recipient of the Winningest Driver in the Northeast.
In 2003 The Bolt Place Team had another banner year. Seven wins at McKean County Raceway resulted in Barton’s third track championship at the Smethport, PA oval. Two victories, including the inaugural $5,000 to win Fall Classic, and a string of top ten finishes allowed Dick to claim his fourth career track title at Raceway 7. The United Late Model Series Tri-State Challenge and the ULMS season-long point championship also fell to the overpowering consistency of the Barton gang. Another season highlight was a second place run in the annual MACS sanctioned Fallfest at Challenger Raceway. Finally, based on the quantity and quality of top three feature finishes, Dick captured his sixth Cavalcade LM Championship
Measured against the unusually high standards Dick and his team have set for themselves over the years, 2004 fell short of expectations. Even though 36 top 10 finishes were achieved in 52 events, the team tied a career low of just three feature wins. The lone bright spot was the championship winning run to the inaugural Pennsylvania-Ohio-New York (PONY) Series point title.
In the year 2005, Dick Barton reached a milestone that had never been previously achieved by any other racer from this region of Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania. On July 23rd at Stateline Speedway, Dick earned his 200th career dirt late model feature win. He also scored four other wins and 30 top ten finishes in forty-one starts. Barton was the runner-up in points at Raceway 7, Little Valley and the Regional Racing Series for the 2005 season.
More records were set during the 2006 season. First, Dick won the Stateline Speedway Late Model Point Championship for the 9th time, breaking the previous mark of 8 held by the legend, Bob Schnars. Second, Barton's four wins at Raceway 7 pushed his career total to a new record of 35 late model victories at the Conneaut, OH speedway, eclipsing the mark formerly held by Chub Frank. Third, on July 1st, Dick became the first "local" driver to ever win a World of Outlaws Late Model Series event when he captured the $10,000 to win Roberts 50 at Stateline. Barton set fast time, won both his heat and the dash, and led flag to flag to defend his home track against the Outlaw invaders. In all, the 28B team garnered nine wins (four at Stateline, four at Racway 7, and one at Challenger), 20 top three finishes, and 25 top 10 results in their 50 race season.
The 2007 brought a major change in direction for Dick. Under the leadership of Raceway 7 track owner, Ron Nielson, FASTRAK sanctioned “crate engine” late models were introduced into the Tri-State area and replaced the open engine super late models at his Conneaut, OH speedway, among other tracks. As a result, Mr. Nielson requested that the 28B crew convert one of his racecars to FASTRAK specifications and compete in the new division. The major change involved replacing their Brad Malcuit built unrestricted Ford engine with a GM Performance built 400 hp Chevy powerplant. Dick took to the new challenge like a fish to water. Competing in 21 “crate” races, he captured 10 wins, four second-place finishes, four thirds, a pair of fourths, and a season-worst fifth. Among the scores were two FASTRAK Northeast Regional events and a $5000 to win FASTRAK National race at Mercer Raceway Park. At season’s end, Barton had earned the FASTRAK Raceway 7 point title, a runner-up spot in the FASTRAK Northeast Region, despite not competing in all the scheduled events, and an fifth place result in the FASTRAK National point chase. Finally, Walt Wimer declared Dick the 2007 Calvacade Limited Late Model Champion.
The 28B team continued running both super late models and Fastrak crate late models in 2008. Highlights for the super late model effort were wins at Stateline, Eriez, and Little Valley. The Fastrak crate model visited victory lane a total of six times: twice at raceway 7, three times at McKean County, and once at Dog Hollow Speedway. Barton ended up fourth in Fastrak National Weekly points, second in Fastrak Northeast Regional Tour points, and ninth in Fastrak Grand National points.
Dick Barton was inducted into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
For more about Dick Barton, see The Post-Journal stories:
Links
Bill's Dirt Late Models