Published: July 18, 2008 11:38 pm         

Barley: The new bad boy of racing at Beckley Speedway

Love him or hate him, you have to respect the talent of Aaron Barley behind the wheel of a race car.

Called “The Bad Seed” and a few other choice, unrepeatable names by the fans who boo and root against him, Barley brings a take-no-prisoners attitude with him every time he slips into the seat of his KOM Pro Late Model. He also has an ever-growing fan base that cheers just as loud when he takes to the track.

“We’ve got some people who cheer for us,” Barley said. “I’d say there are more that cheer against us than cheer for us. That’s just something that comes with the sport. Not everybody likes a young driver. They’ve got their favorites. They were their favorites before I came.

“And we’ve had an extreme amount of good luck this year. Not everybody likes seeing the same person do good.”

The crowd reaction doesn’t bother Barley. In fact, he enjoys the attention.

“As long as they are booing me, I’m doing something good,” he said. “That’s the way I look at it. I hope they keep booing me for the rest of the year. That means we’re doing something right. If they quit booing me, we’re not doing good enough.”

The reason for the crowd’s reaction? Barley is winning.

The 19-year-old has been fast wherever he has unloaded this season, be it Elkins Speedway in Kerens, I-77 Motorsports Park in Fairplains or his home track, Beckley Motor Speedway.

Barley has earned eight wins so far this season, five at I-77, two at BMS and one at Elkins. He’d like to have won more at Beckley but understands that the competition is tough at the 3/8-mile dirt oval each and every week.

“Here, we have a lot of competition,” he said. “We’ve had a few bad weeks here. I lost power steering a few weeks ago and I got into (T.J.) Salango a few weeks before that and went to the tail. We’ve had a pretty fast car all year, so we’ll see what we can do the rest of the way.”

The difference this year in Barley’s fortunes appears to be another year of maturity in the seat and a lot of hard work during the offseason.

“We sat back this winter and did some studying and finally figured some stuff out,” he said. “Last year was our first year in this car and I had a pretty good year for the first year. It takes some time on these cars.”

Barley also draws from his father, Bobby Barley, and his racing knowledge to prepare each week.

“He’s probably the biggest part of this racing team,” the younger Barley said. “He helps me out a lot. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be out here doing this. Anything that I need help doing, he’s there for it. He’s real supportive and you can’t ask for a better guy.

“My mom and my little sister, they stick behind me anywhere that I go.”

Barley has also received guidance from a couple of veteran racers, Henry Hornsby Jr. and Eddie Hambrick Jr. — both second-generation racers as well.

“Little Henry has helped me out a lot,” Barley said. “Eddie Hambrick has helped me out. You have to appreciate those guys. They’ve been around it for a while and any information that they can give is helpful.”

While the Pro Late competitors have the option of running a crate motor with a weight break and a bigger spoiler, Barley has been racing a heavier, more powerful steel-block motor in his Lane Service Enterprises, B&B Transit and Scrap, Pioneer Community Bank, J&E Racing Engines, Steven P. New, Danny Prince Photography, Mikey’s Trucking sponsored race car. KOM has done a good job of keeping the two motor types on equal footing and producing good competitive racing.

“They get some advantages that we can’t get,” he said. “But, all in all, it equals out to be about the same.”

Don’t be surprised if Barley continues to keep the crowd excited the rest of the season.

Results from Friday night’s events at Beckley Motor Speedway were unavailable.

— E-mail:

rjett@register-herald.com