RON BARKER WINS NASCAR DODGE WEEKLY SERIES SHORTRACK DIVISION NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Iowa Driver Wins Dual Titles and $17,000 NASCAR Point Fund Award

Barker, who competes at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway as well as Farley (Iowa) Speedway, has won the 2004 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series ShorTrack Division national championship – the top honor for support division racers in the series. Winning a championship is nothing new – Barker was the ShorTrack Division Midwest Region champion in 2003. What Barker has done this season, however, has never been accomplished before in the 22-year history of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series.

By competing at those two tracks – Dubuque and Farley – Barker has won both the Midwest Region and Heartland Region championships for the ShorTrack Division. He is the first driver to win two NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series regional championships in the same season.

NASCAR’s ShorTrack Division regional championships are determined by the Competition Performance Index (CPI), which measures wins, top-five finishes and other factors to establish a regional ranking of drivers. The national title is decided by a CPI comparison of the racing records of the eight regional champions and it’s easy to see how Barker accomplished this feat.

At Farley, Barker recorded 12 wins and 16 top-five finishes in 18 starts. His Dubuque record was equally impressive: 10 wins and 14 top-five finishes. Barker uses the same race car at both tracks; competing at Farley on Friday nights and Dubuque on Sundays. Along with the regional and national honors, Barker has won track championships at both facilities.

At the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series awards banquet in Nashville, Barker will be presented with $1,000 for each of his two track titles, $2,500 for each of the regional championships along with a $10,000 national champion’s bonus from Whelen Engineering – a total of $17,000 in post-season prize money.

While Barker was the top award winner in the ShorTrack Division, six other drivers also won regional championships.