SOUTHERN PARADISE; Mr. Barber builds his dream track.(Motorsports)(George Barber builds a racetrack in Alabama)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE "My aim is to make this place the Augusta of racetracks,'' says George Barber, looking out over 740 acres of his rolling hills a few miles east of Birmingham, Alabama. He's spent the last several years and $54 million of his personal fortune cutting a permanent road course into this rocky, pine-covered, formerly strip-mined terrain.

The golf club that plays host to the Masters is a formidable target, but this gentleman's aim appears to be pretty good. His new track just ran its first professional event, the Barber 250 at the Park, for the Rolex Sports Car ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.