James Hinchcliffe: Why INDYCAR at Barber Punishes Drivers, Tests Their Bravery

In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans.

I crashed the most expensive car I had ever driven. Well, the most expensive at the time. 

This was in 2011 at Barber Motorsports Park, where INDYCAR is racing Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX One). It’s also where I made my career debut. The course is hugely physical and punishing for a driver at any level — both 15 years ago and for drivers this weekend — but more on that later.

Back then, I was a 24-year-old rookie for Newman-Haas Racing, and after two seasons in Indy Lights — the developmental series now known as Indy NXT — I was ready. 

Or so I thought. 

Coming off just one prior test at Barber and the weekend’s practice sessions, I was feeling what every INDYCAR rookie feels before their first start: a combination of excitement, anticipation and being moderately terrified. 

I was nervous from the beginning, but the imposter syndrome really kicked in before the green flag when officials began clearing the grid of anyone who wasn’t a team member. For two years as an Indy Lights driver, I would go on every INDYCAR grid and leave with everyone else when it was time. 

The butterflies were abundant, and finally getting to remain on the grid was surreal. 

I qualified eighth, which is pretty strong for a guy making his first INDYCAR start. Beside me on the grid was Dario Franchitti, who, at that point, was already a three-time INDYCAR champion and a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. (He ultimately won each one more time.)

Starting alongside one of the legends of the sport — a guy who I had looked up to for such a long time — and to be that far up the grid, I felt like I didn’t belong. And I hoped I wouldn’t make a fool of myself. 

Thankfully, I didn’t. But my day ended in heartbreak when I got caught up in someone else’s wreck. 

On a Lap 41 restart, a driver in front of me heading into the big brake zone in Turn 5 suffered some contact and spun. Now, the first lesson they teach you in racing school is if you’re spinning out, put both feet to the floor, pressing the brakes and the clutch — yes, Indy cars had three pedals back then! 

Well, this guy was clearly napping on Day 1 of racing school, because as I took evasive action and swerved around his car, he released the brake pedal and his car rolled back into mine and cleared out the left-rear corner.

You only get one shot at your first race, and mine ended in smoke. 

I hated damaging that car. But that’s motorsports, that’s racing at Barber, and this course can get the best of the greatest racers.

If I could go back and talk to my 2011 INDYCAR rookie self with all the knowledge and experience I possess now, I’d tell myself to just breathe. Just stay calm. 

[INDYCAR: Everything to Know About Eclectic Barber Track]

And I’d probably relay what Franchitti actually said to me a couple weeks after that Barber debut. He checked in to see how I was doing and offered sage words that stuck with me.

You spend your whole life trying to get to this level, and then you get here, and you realize you’re racing against the same boneheads you’ve been competing against since go-karts, he pointed out to me. It shifted my whole perspective and drained my imposter syndrome. 

In INDYCAR, we accomplish exceptional feats at the fastest speeds in some of the most expensive cars in the world. But we’re all just people, and anyone is beatable — if you apply yourself and relentlessly work. Franchitti reminded me that no one is invincible, and every driver out there has had to claw their way into the sport like everyone else before them. 

You’re here for a reason, just as they are, he reminded me, so act like you belong, believe that you belong and just go race these guys like you’ve raced anyone else.

So I did. And that’s how drivers now approach sharing the track with INDYCAR champs like Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Will Power — who won that 2011 race and could very well win again on Sunday.

HIGH-SPEED PARITY

With how this season started, we could see four winners in the first four races.

In the first three, fans were treated to some incredible on-track battles, three different winners from three different teams and, for the first time in more than 620 days, a new championship leader.

Let’s break it down ahead of Barber on Sunday.

Palou has been the dominant force in INDYCAR in the last half-decade, earning four titles in the last five years. And he picked up right where he left off with Chip Ganassi Racing, winning the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. But an uncharacteristic DNF (did not finish) for the almost-29-year-old Spaniard on the short oval at Phoenix Raceway in Week 2 dropped him from the top for the first time in nearly two years.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden won Phoenix, while Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood landed atop the podium with a win at the all-new hallmark event around AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — and in the championship race lead.

So, who looks poised to make a mark at Barber this weekend? 

Palou, second in the points, is the defending race winner. His record on road courses is, by far, the best of all the various INDYCAR tracks. 

But you can’t count out the trio behind him. 

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, Newgarden and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin sit third through fifth in the title race and previously have all stood at the top of the podium at Barber.

Of that group, you would have to say that McLaughlin is the favorite — despite crashing Saturday during practice and going to a backup car. He’s won two of the last three races at Barber and was on the podium in the third. But he’s also coming off a winless 2025 and desperately wants to assert himself in the championship discussion.

With all the top-5 drivers in peak form and capable of getting it done this weekend, we could very well be looking at the fourth different winner — and points leader — in as many races.

[INDYCAR: Rotating Points Leaders and More Parity Before Barber]

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FAST: BARBER

So, let’s talk about Barber Motorsports Park. 

It’s a 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course through the hilly outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. The course was originally designed as a motorcycle track, but in 15 INDYCAR races there since 2010, we have had some incredible on-track battles. 

The landscaping may be scenic, but it’s the asphalt that makes this place so special. It’s comprised of many long, fast corners that really push the aerodynamic limits of an Indy car — and the drivers’ necks! Not to mention huge elevation changes and blind corners that challenge the drivers’ bravery and commitment.

Because of the speed and length of the corners, the physical forces applied to the drivers’ bodies are intense. Seventy laps around Barber is like flying a fighter jet around an obstacle course for two straight hours. 

You can train all you want in the gym in the offseason, but when you get to a track like this, especially so early in the season, it can be a truly punishing, physical event.

SOUND LIKE AN INDYCAR EXPERT

For me, Barber holds the coolest corner combo of the entire INDYCAR season. 

At the end of the back straightaway are Turns 12 and 13, which you approach at the top of sixth gear, almost 180 miles an hour. You lift just before the turn — but only enough to allow the engine to let you knock it down one gear before getting back on the power for a quick burst. The entry is downhill and blind. 

At the exit, you immediately tap the brakes again to speed-correct for Turn 13, which angles extremely uphill and means the exit is totally blind. The car gets super light on the exit as the track drops back away, and it’s so easy to misjudge your throttle point. 

It’s as much fun as you can have in a race car!

With this being the first true road course of the year after two street tracks and an oval — it also happens to be the most physical — drivers needed to adjust their training in the off-week after Arlington. 

A huge emphasis on neck, upper-body and core strength likely made their way into drivers’ training programs to ensure they aren’t falling out of the seat late in the race. 

Sometimes you can see a lap time drop off in the final stint for certain drivers, and you know it’s not the car…

1 FOR THE ROAD

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention this will be the first race held at Barber’s beautiful facility since the passing of its creator, Mr. George Barber, in February. He was 85. 

Barber — a businessman, philanthropist and racer himself — built this place as his own personal race track and even built a museum to house his record-setting motorcycle and car collection.

His attention to detail and commitment to perfection are evident in everything you see and touch at Barber Motorsports Park. 

It’s nicknamed the Augusta National of Motorsports, and such is the quality of presentation each time we show up. His contribution to this sport and the area simply cannot be overstated. 

While it will certainly feel different without Mr. Barber on hand this weekend, having worked closely with many of those who have trained and worked with him over the years, I have no doubt whatsoever the trademark Barber look, feel and friendliness will carry on for years to come. 

Here’s hoping to a great weekend for his legacy.

Catch you on the INDYCAR on FOX Barber broadcast Sunday!