Drag Racing Action Online  Images: Phil Hutchison

During his 2022 championship season, Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown winner David showed why he deserved to be the champ. The Robesonia PA owner and driver had his COPO Camaro in five finals winning three of them in route to his second Factory Stock championship. Barton won the Bristol Tenn. race on Father’s Day weekend and then won the prestigious US Nationals at Indy. Two weeks later Barton won at his home track of Maple Grove to add to his lead.

By the time the last Factory Stock Showdown race of the year rolled around in Dallas, all Barton had to do was to qualify the Saw Mills Auto Sales Camaro to take the title. But it did get interesting.

“I ran the first qualifier, skipped the second, and ran the third,” Barton said. “I felt something in the car after the third run but with all the hoopla going on with my championship win and the trophy, I chalked it off to the transmission and knowing we had one of our customers in round 1 we didn’t feel like dropping the trans and it ended up being a rod bearing which was a lot more serious than I originally thought. With the parade and interviews taking my time, my decision to not look into the problem was a costly mistake.”

Even with the R1 loss Barton took the trophy and title back to Pennsylvania.

Defending 2021 champ, Stanfield (far lane) lost to Barton in the finals at Maple Grove

Beating two time champ Aaron Stanfield and Ford guru Bill Skillman wasn’t an easy task as they have had the cars to beat at most races.

“Stanfield won back to back championships and to beat him and Skillman, it took a lot of effort. I just had a better year. I drove better on race day and had better luck. There were times that Stanfield beat me by a few thousandths and there were times that I did not have the faster car, but I was focused and had better reaction times. And being consistent made a huge difference.”

When asked about the upcoming season Barton replied, “We did some testing at Bradenton and it was very promising. The people at Bradenton know how to prep a track for Sportsman racers.

“The plan is to race the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in March and then head to the Gatornationals for the first Flexjet NHRA Factory Stock Showdown race of the year. Flexjet’s sponsorship of this class came about with the acquisition of Constant Avaition at the end of 2022. They’re big in private aviation and rent high end jets.”

The stable of cars from Ray Barton Racing Engines will have a different look in 2023 as some additions and subtractions have taken place during the off season.

“Doug Hamp and Anthony Troyer left the team to go with Stanfield engines. We added Tony Scott’s Camaro to our group but he will run a limited schedule as he is involved with the NMCA series.

Meyersdale PA. racer Lenny Lottig is back for 2023 with Barton power

“Returning are Lenny Lottig, Don Belles, Jesse Alexandra, and Scott Libersher.  Dan Condon is taking some time off in 2023 but we took on some of the Dodge teams to our stable so we actually have more cars than in 2022.

The Constant Aviation champ building Mopar engines? Not too much of a stretch considering Barton Racing Engines history with the Chrysler Hemi.

“Before we decided on the COPO Camaro to race in Factory Stock, I ran a Challenger in 2015 and I had the prototype motor but it was naturally aspirated and didn’t have a supercharger,” Barton says, “Mopar apparently was not that interested in helping so we went to the Chevy. They had a better platform and the car’s original owner Gary Wolkwitz wanted to buy a Chevrolet and have me drive it for him. It was a great partnership.”

“We’ve been wanting to work with the Dodge teams since they came out but it just never made sense with what was going on with the Chevys. But there have been a lot of movement over the winter and I saw an opportunity to pick up some of the Schumacher racers.  Joining the group from the Mopar camp are AJ Berge who was the crewchief and tuner for the DSR team.  AJ has won before in the NMCA series and will drive his own car. He’s been successful and has been wanting to get in the NHRA deal for some time and he’s pretty excited about it.  In addition we have the series sponsor David Davies and Mark Pawuk coming on board with their Challengers.”

D H Davies Racing (DHDR) owner  and driver David H. Davies from Kirtland OH. is back with his ’21 Challenger. This time the motors will be supplied by Barton.

“I’m excited about working with the Dodge teams. Being an engine builder and a racer, I get accused a lot of not providing the best motors for my customers but that’s far from the truth. Barton Racing Engines had a car in every single final in 2022 except for the last race.

We also have a new associate sponsor coming on board for 2023. We picked up Retail Fixture.com. They specialize in the design, development, and production of retail & restaurant environments. The owner was a customer of ours back in the day and has experience sponsoring Pro Stock Motorcycles. We started talking at the PRI show and the next thing you know, he wanted his company’s name on the quarter panel.

Jax, Samantha, and Felicity celebrate Barton’s win at Maple Grove Pep Boys NHRA Nationals

Barton added, “Going into the 2023 season as the defending champ doesn’t feel different from any other year. We’ll have to work just as hard, if not harder to do it again. No time for being cocky about it. My goal is to be the champ once again, but I keep my expectations realistic and recognize we are up against tough competition. I’ll try my best, that’s all I can do.”

“We have Don Belles, Scott Libersher, Mark and Kyle Pawuk, AJ Berge, Tim Rubendall, and Alex Anderson working together to get all of our cars prepped between rounds. My wife Samantha and the rest of the wives will keep us all in line on race day.

“With the hard work from the guys in the shop, my wife, and all of our great supportive sponsors, I think we have a good chance in 2023. The new A/FX class will be a great addition to the NHRA. Most believe it’s the next Pro Stock if they’ll ever let the current version die out voluntarily. I don’t think FX will pull much away from FSS because it’s certainly not a class for everyone. Since I come from the Stock/SS world, I really enjoy racing FSS because they are real bodied cars. I can drive my car anywhere around the track which makes it much easier to race. FX cars will require a solid crew with a lot of determination and cubic money to throw at it.

“For those reasons, I don’t think it’ll put a strain on FSS. More people want to join FSS every year but I steer many potential customers away from it because NHRA doesn’t want to make it a 32-car field. One of the strange things about Factory Stock is like Pro Mod, we are not part of the Lucas or Camping World deal. We are our own thing.

“It’s impossible to expect much growth in a class that only allows 16 cars. Supposedly they will allow 32 cars at two events this year but that’s not enough for a sportsman series. It’s stupid to turn away so many from running first round. I don’t see what the big deal is. It does nothing but steer away a lot of good people.”

After his win at Maple Grove, track owner and Pro Stock racer Kyle Koretsky, presented Barton with a custom made corn hole game

In 2023 the NHRA has added two more Factory Stock Showdown events for a total of ten races to determine the season champ. After the opener in Gainesville, the category will race in back-to-back events in Charlotte and a first time race at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago. Next are a pair of back-to-back races in June at Bristol Dragway and Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk. After a two-month break, the Factory Stock Showdown returns at the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, and then finish its season with stops at Maple Grove Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis, Texas Motorplex in Dallas and the final race of the year at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.