JEFFREY & LINDSEY BARKER
Park, and we were both in the finals again, and I
won but and he lost, but he wins way more than
I do anyway.”
Once, before they ever even met, the two
wound up racing each other at Silver Dollar
Raceway during a Friday night bracket race.
“She doesn’t remember this, but I was driving
an old ’68 Camaro, and I went up against her.
I knew who she was, but she didn’t know me.
She red-lighted, and other that that, we’ve never
raced each other – not even goofing around. It’s
lends a hand crewing when he can.
“I’m not going to say I handle the stress better
than her, but I have so much to do that my mind
just goes into autopilot mode and I get things
done. After doing it for so long, it’s become a
routine. We both know what we have to do, and
we don’t get in each others’ way,” notes Jeffrey.
Lindsey added that they both do well under pressure, and proudly shared that her husband is
a natural when it comes to being mechanically
inclined, which helps alleviate a lot of pressure.
With two cars needing attention, one would
suspect there’d be some squabbles over who gets
probably best for the marriage that way,” laughs
Jeffrey as he recalled the memory.
Juggling a work-life balance for just one driver
can be pretty challenging, but somehow Jeffrey
and Lindsey manage to make it work for two. “It’s
definitely hectic because of all the races we go to,
and they run our classes pretty close together,” he
admits. “Trying to get back to cool the car down,
turn wrenches, and get the next one ready can
be a lot, but we have a system and make it work.”
Jeffrey himself manages the vast majority of
everything for both his and Lindsey’s cars. He
does all the maintenance – front to back – although is sometimes joined by his father, who
what when it comes to spending, but for Jeffrey
and Lindsey, it’s usually not a problem. “Even
though we’re married, we still keep certain aspects of our finances separate so we can each
spend our money doing what we enjoy. Most of
the time, though, she gets the newer stuff – mine
only gets updated if it has to,” shares Jeffrey in
regards to parts purchasing.
Both cars are nitrous oxide assisted, but the
builds are quite different. His is a 2006 Chevy
Cobalt built by Rick Jones Race Cars, while hers
is a 245” wheelbase 2012 Miller Race Cars Top
Dragster.
Jeffrey’s Cobalt was originally built for his fa-
ther to run Top Sportsman, and the carbn-bodied
car was state-of-the-art back in 2005 when it
was commissioned. Featuring a 5.0” bore space
747ci Reher-Morrison engine with three stages of
nitrous and a three-speed Turbo 400 transmission with Coan Engineering torque converter,
the combination made 1,450-horsepower while
naturally aspirated on an engine dyno. When
spraying two of the nitrous systems, Jeffrey estimates he adds another 700-horsepower to the
equation. Moser Engineering components make
up the Cobalt’s rear end; additional components
were supplied from CSR Performance Products,
and a set of Hoosier tires provide the traction necessary for
Jeffrey to consistently run in
the low six-second range on
the quarter-mile.
Lindsey’s four-link dragster, however, features an
all-aluminum 632ci Brodixbased motor built by Hart
Beat Racing & Competition
Engines. With three stages of
Induction Solutions nitrous
oxide on board, Jeffrey estimates her car produces about
1,700-horsepower, which
gets transferred to the track
surface via a set of Mickey
Thompson tires. Just like
Jeffrey’s, the rear end is from
Moser and a Coan converter is
on board, however, it is bolted
to a Powerglide transmission
from FTI Performance.
With both cars running
under the Jerry Barker Motorsports flag, Jeffrey and Lindsey will each be chasing the NHRA
championship in their respective classes, Top
Sportsman and Top Dragster, this year. The season started out a little rough for each with some
engine troubles and no wins (yet), but there’s
still plenty of time left for them to make up lost
ground. “I can tell you this – when I go to a race,
I don’t go to be second. I go to win,” says Jeffrey.
One determined driver can often achieve miracles on their own, but when a driver has the
unwavering success of a spouse, especially one
who shares the same dream a nd the same goal,
DI DI DI
greatness is all but guaranteed for all involved.
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
44 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 110
PHOTOS: DRAG ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVES
Dirt