Skip Barber Racing School

Skip Barber Racing School

Founded	1975
Founder	Skip Barber
Headquarters	Braselton, Georgia, United States
Number of locations	Five Base Locations
Website	Skip Barber Racing Official Website

The Skip Barber Racing School is one of the largest racing schools in the world. It conducts racing schools, defensive and high performance driving schools, amateur and professional racing championships and corporate entertainment schools. Skip Barber started the school in 1975 with two borrowed Formula Ford race cars and four students. The school visits up to 30 race tracks across the United States and Canada and owns 120 race cars. As of 2007 the school is affiliated with Mazda, who provide many vehicles for the school.

Since 1975, Skip Barber Racing School has operated a fully integrated system of racing schools, driving schools, racing championships, corporate events and OEM events across North America, teaching emergency braking, skid and slide control, proper cornering techniques, an understanding of vehicle dynamics, and a variety of other car-control skills.

Since its founding in 1975, Skip Barber Racing School has trained more motorsports winners and champions than any other organization of its kind. Skip Barber alumni race and win in every major event and championship, from NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series to Formula One, the Indy 500, American Le Mans, and the IndyCar Series. Since 1983, the Skip Barber Racing School has trained over one-third of all Indy 500 competitors and one-quarter of the NASCAR Sprint Cup competitors. Skip Barber Racing alumni have won every major U.S. auto racing championship.

John "Skip" Barber started racing in 1958 while studying at Harvard University, where he earned a degree in English. When his racing career ended, Barber's belief that auto racing was "coachable" in the same manner as any other sport—at the time, a distinctly minority position—led him to create the eponymously named Racing School, and a year later, the equal-car Race Series.

In 1975, with two borrowed Lola Formula Fords and four eager students, Barber started the Skip Barber School of High Performance Driving. In 1976, it was renamed the Skip Barber Racing School and that same year, he created the Skip Barber Race Series. Within a decade of its founding, Skip Barber Racing became the largest racing and driving school in the world. Barber remains active in motorsports today as the owner and operator of Lime Rock Park, the famous road racing venue in the northwest hills of Connecticut. He lives in the nearby town of Sharon, with wife Judy.