Barry Wright looks on as Chris Madden makes an adjustment on the No. 44
The Barry Wright Race Cars house car is off to quite a start in 2018. A look at the World of Outlaws Late Model Series website reveals that Chris Madden leads the standings driving that car with two series wins to his credit along with eight top-5 finishes after nine starts on the circuit. The No. 44 has also scored a $12,000 win in a Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series event and picked up another $10,000 in a Carolina Clash feature race.
Veteran chassis builder Barry Wright believes that a number of factors have gone into his Cowpens, SC based company’s run of success.
“We did a lot of testing and all back in the winter,” Wright explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We’ve got good people helping us to get our program better with shocks, motors, the whole thing. You can’t just have one person to do it. It’s a whole group of people that are putting all this together. And also, there is the financing behind it. You have to have good sponsors to keep you going. You’ve got to have it all. Plus, the driver that’s driving the car, he knows what he wants, and boy, we can work on the car and adjust on it quicker than we used to.”
Wright also believes that the success currently being enjoyed by Madden will translate to better results for all BWRC drivers and teams across the board.
“It’s all good and the stuff we’re learning here is helping all our customers and they’re doing better. It’s beginning to turn around a little bit,” the car builder pointed out. “Right now we’re concentrating on the people who have already spent the money with me and we’re trying to get them better. And we’re getting them better. They’re tickled to death and that will bleed over and other people will see that we are trying to help others. Anybody who builds race cars- me, Rocket, Longhorn, or whatever- when they sell a car they want it to run just as well as what they’re doing. I don’t want to sell a car and it not do good. We’re just getting some good feedback now and we’ve got everything rolling.”
The latest version of the Barry Wright Race Car is known as the ICON. The car builder who has seen his machines win a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series title and some of the biggest races in the sport says the car has been tweaked to the point that it has become highly competitive.
Chris Madden in the Barry Wright Race Cars house car
“That’s something me and Chris talked about the first time he drove it,” Wright said. “We really haven’t made that many changes. It’s just simple things and those simple things have added up to a lot. That comes from the information he’s given us based on what he thinks the car needs to do.”
In the highly competitive world of Dirt Late Model chassis building, Wright says his cars can provide the edge for racers looking to get ahead.
“First thing is you just look at the consistency of them and how many good drivers we have compared to what they have,” he explained. “When you’re doing as good as us, we don’t have as many high dollar drivers like the other people have got, but we’re still performing well. When we go race it’s usually one car against 24 if we make the race.”
But more than just the pieces and parts on the car matter.
Madden(44) racing with Dale McDowell
“Trust me, at the end of the day in all of our sport from Formula 1 to Street Stocks, it’s still the man between the steering wheel and the seat who’s got to get the job done,” he continued. “That’s one thing I’ve always said, and I’ve had some good ones here. That’s true in any form of racing. At the end of the day, the driver is still the most important part on any race team.”
On a personal note, does the legendary car builder still get excited to see one of his cars pull into victory lane?
“Probably more so. Here at my age you can see it coming to an end. Every one you get now is special. Here I am 66, and if the Lord keeps me pretty healthy, I’ll be okay but you never know when you get up here.”
