He started his drag racing career more than 30 years ago in street legal car, progressing swiftly onto his first purpose built race car, a Jaguar powered Austin Ruby. This was the first in Barry’s line of race cars to be christened with the name “Stagecoach”.
He then moved on to Super Gas and later Top Alcohol (now Top Methanol Dragster), where he achieved multiple championship wins. Barry was the first driver to win the British MSA Top Alcohol Championship three times and achieved the first 5 second Top Alcohol Dragster run in Britain.
In 1997 Barry made the move up to Top Fuel Dragster and won the FIA Rookie of the Year award. He won his first FIA Top Fuel Championship in 1998 and was the first British Top Fuel driver to cover the quarter mile in less than 5 seconds. Barry was also the first European racer to achieve a terminal speed on the quarter mile of more than 300 mph, at the FIA Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway in 2002 in an amazing race alongside arch-rival Andy Carter, which reset the record books as the first side-by-side 4 second run and the first side-by-side 300mph run in Europe.
Barry was inducted into the British Dragracing Hall of Fame in 2012
