Bob Barkhimer

Robert "Bob" Barkhimer (March 2, 1916 – June 17, 2006), nicknamed "Barky", was a promoter on the West Coast of the United States. He was born in Berkeley, California. His career started as a midget car racer and ended as a Senior Vice President at NASCAR.

Barkhimer was a 21-year-old newlywed when he went with his wife to car races at Emeryville, California. It was his first time attending midget car races, and the third time he attended a racing event. He was puzzled what circus midgets had to do with racing. He was hooked and he wanted to race a midget racecar. He was unable to obtain a car. He found a racecar owner named Delucci who was not paid for a car he had sold. Barkhimer could run the midget car if he would repossess the car. Barkhimer located the car dismantled in boxes. Barkhimer loaded up the car and took it the car home. Barkhimer was not a mechanic, but he found a local racer named Jimmy Aiten to help assemble the midget car if Aiten could drive it. That Tuesday night Aiten raced the car at Neptune Beach Speedway. The car ran well in the heat race for two laps before it slowed. The same thing happened in the semi-feature. They determined that they were using the wrong spark plugs. At the races the following week, the engine threw a connecting rod out of the side of the engine block, wrecking the engine. They gave the car back to Delucci.

Barkhimer and Aiten purchased a midget car. After Aiten raced the car one night, he accepted an offer to race a different car on the day of the second race. Barkhimer was forced to race his racecar even though he had never raced before. He borrowed a football helmet and sat in the car on the inside front row. He quickly fell from the first starting position to last place. His racing skills developed to the point that he became the Bay City Racing Association (BCRA) champion in 1945. He won six events that season. He won ten events in 1946, and four in 1947 before he got injured.

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