Diamond Hill Plywood 200 - Stanton Barrett Notes

Barrett’s Competitive Fire From Dad AND Mom
Mother’s World Competition background; Father’s background in speed, racing

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – That “competitive fire” that fuels athletes in all sports can often be traced to father’s side of the family.

For Stanton Barrett, who will drive the #36 DCT Motorsports Chevrolet in Friday night’s NASCAR Busch Series race at the 1.366-mile Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the Mother’s Day weekend is just a reminder his competitive nature comes from genes from his father, Stan Barrett, and his mother, Penny McCoy.

“True, most male athletes get that from their fathers. After all, you hear about Ken Griffey, Jr. and his father, not Mrs. Ken Griffey, or Barry Bonds and his father. Maybe Mrs. Bonds didn’t have a good enough curveball for him to practice with as a child,” Barrett said.

“I get a lot from my dad. But my mom is so competitive, and she learned that on a world stage. That carried over to me,” he said.

Ms. McCoy is the youngest person to ever win a medal in World Cup skiing, and was a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic Ski Team.

“She taught us to ski, which was cool. But as soon as we could stay up for further than 10 feet, we wanted to race,” Barrett laughed. “She’d race us in a way to encourage us.

“She learned that from her father, and he is still one of the coolest guys I know. There is no such thing as taking it easy with him, and my mom got that same attitude from him. Then we got it from her,” Barrett said.

“Sometimes it’s something to see – my grandfather racing my mom who is racing me on skis or on a snowmobile, and none of us giving one inch to the other,” he added.

Which leads Barrett to a unique Mother’s Day thought.

“We’re all lucky my mom didn’t decide to try stock car racing. With her drive, no doubt she could beat all of us,” he laughed.

That competitive fire led Barrett to NASCAR racing, once he saw his father driving the original Skoal Bandit on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and setting land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Not coincidentally, Barrett is an award-winning Hollywood stunt man – his newest movie, Dukes Of Hazzard, will be released this summer – following in the footsteps of his father, and helping build the family tradition of the “Earnhardts Of Stunts.”

“When you have that highly competitive attitude, you need to work with highly competitive people. That’s one of the reasons I love being with (owner) John McGill, (crew chief) Ricky Pearson and the guys on this DCT Motorsports team. Nobody wants to be successful more than they do,” Barrett said.

McGill is a successful commercial real estate developer in Ohio and, along with his wife Nancy, compile the only Cleveland natives to have owned and operated a full-time team in any of NASCAR’s top three series. Pearson is a champion crew chief from the NASCAR-legend lineage that has seen victories in the Cup and Busch levels.

DCT Motorsports has developed sponsorship packages that could incorporate the full remainder of the season or blocks of races. Utilizing his own business and marketing acumen, McGill brings creative and fresh approaches not just to team sponsorship itself but areas such as hospitality, cross-promotions and business-to-business possibilities.

Barrett, winner of international awards for his stunt work, has appeared in well over 100 movies – including the soon-to-be-released Dukes Of Hazzard, Spiderman II and others – as well as hundreds of television shows and commercials. Barrett, who is also running some NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events again this season, has been driving since he was 16 years old, and has competed on the highest levels of NASCAR racing. He is a native of Bishop, Calif., and is well known not just in Hollywood but throughout motorsports.