Drag racing was the life Bill Barrett chose and it was a career path that served him well.
Barrett, a renowned tuner for Bunny Burkett, Scotty Cannon, Chip King, and countless others, passed away April 14. He was 78.
Barrett made a name for himself initially with Burkett, joining her team in 1967 and staying with her until 2000.
“He actually never left me because he always served as a consultant for me,” Burkett. “He was my crew chief the whole time (1967-2000), and he called all the shots.”
Burkett realized Barrett was a hot commodity for drivers.
“He became so in-demand by everybody,” Burkett said. “He was an absolute genius with any type of fuel system. It didn’t matter whether it was methanol, nitro, injected, there was no type of car out there that he hasn’t carried to the winner’s circle and in a lot of cases, world championships, as he did for me. I couldn’t even tell you how many cars he probably tuned. He had become the go-to (guy) for not only cars in the United States, but Australia, Canada and other countries. We ended up calling him Dr. Bill, the Fuel Doctor. It didn’t matter where you called from, who you were, what type of car or fuel system you might have, he was the man to go to.”
Barrett guided Burkett to the 1986 IHRA alcohol Funny Car world title.
“He was self-taught,” Burkett said. “He was incredible and relentless as far as learning how to do things. When he first came to work with me on the alcohol car he wasn’t even familiar with running alcohol. He had been with “Smoker” Smith in injected BB Funny Cars and that was prior to 1967.”
With Barrett as her wrench boss, Burkett ran a Mustang in the Super Stock Modified Production class from 1967-73, and then Burkett drove a Pinto – a “Mini Pro Stocker” – from 1973-76.
“We won 87 percent of our match races on the East Coast with this little Pinto,” Burkett said.
In 1976, Burkett began competing in the alcohol Funny Car ranks – and that led to her IHRA world championship season in ’86.
“I was the first alcohol champion that they (IHRA) had for the Funny Car and we finished fourth in the NHRA point standings that same year,” Burkett said. “National Dragster printed it, and had us on the cover and said we had the performance of the year. It was a great honor in 1986. That was back in the day of the Brad Andersons and Bob Newberrys, and I could go on and on. Bill Barrett had the uncanny knowledge to get a car down any track, any condition, anywhere. He could get me down through the middle of a wet field. He had this unbelievable knowledge of what to do next, and how to prepare the car for every place that we would be across the United States. He learned how to run alcohol fuel systems with our team and ended up becoming one of the greatest mechanics, crew chiefs, and knowledgeable people I’ve known in my 50 years of drag racing and I still race. I have never ran into anybody else who had the uncanny knowledge to be able to do what needed to be done next. He was just unbelievable.”
Barrett started working with King, a veteran Pro Mod racer, in 2000, and King praised his ability. Barrett was still working with King up until his death.
“Bill was a person who could take a box of parts, whether he was familiar or unfamiliar with them, and put them together and make them work correctly, and explain to you how he figured it all out,” King said. “He was just like a family member to me. He helped so many people, not only with race cars, but questions about life, business, whatever. He was always there to answer the phone, nothing took a higher priority than being there to help somebody out when they needed it whether it be racing or anything else they may need. He had a hard shell on the outside and down deep he was generous and just truly cared about people and enjoyed helping people. He also had the most incredible sense of humor.”
Barrett actually moved to Roxboro, N.C. in October 2004 and he was a neighbor to King. Barrett lived in Roxboro until he passed away.
“If Bill said something was going to work, I don’t care what you thought, it was going to work,” King said. “If he said it was going to break, I don’t care what anybody else thought, it would break. It is like he had a sense, he could walk by things and see what was wrong with them.”
King acknowledged coping with the loss of Barrett will not be easy.
“Now, I have to try and remember everything he tried to teach me because I can’t ask him again now,” King said. “I always just took for granted that he was a phone call away 24-7. It didn’t matter what time it was, if you had a question he would answer it. I received calls and texts from so many people he helped the same way. So many people relied on him around the globe. There are going to be a lot of people who will miss him.”
Barrett also helped Cannon, a Pro Mod legend, in his transition from a nitrous-injected combination to a supercharger.
Cannon was a six-time Pro Modified world champion, and the first Pro Modified racer to win a championship with Nitrous and a Supercharged combination.
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“I would always call him every two or three months, just to shoot the sh**, because he was so funny,” said Cannon, who had 28 national event wins in 43 IHRA finals. “He was kind of like a daddy figure to me. I went blower in 1992 and he was my crew chief for three years. My car was flying, hauling a** and beating everybody, but he was learning me how to run it at the same time. Back in the Bunny Burkett days, Bill was probably the baddest and the best in my eyes. I think his legacy will be fuel systems. They called him Dr. Bill because he was so scientific. He also was a perfectionist. If he told you to do something with the car this week and we were going to the race next week and you didn’t do it, like on the fuel system, you would do it before we would run or he wouldn’t run it. He was the Doctor.”
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