Blair's Project quiet but successful.
In the midst of the hype and publicity surrounding Roger Penske's transfer to the Indy Racing League full time in 2002 coupled with the first fully fledged IRL assault from Chip Ganassi and Mo Nunn, Larry Blair's eponymous outfit was largely overlooked in the build up to the 20th Anniversary Grand Prix of Miami but driver Alex Barron was competitive all day and came away with top ten finish.
In the midst of the hype and publicity surrounding Roger Penske's transfer to the Indy Racing League full time in 2002 coupled with the first fully fledged IRL assault from Chip Ganassi and Mo Nunn, Larry Blair's eponymous outfit was largely overlooked in the build up to the 20th Anniversary Grand Prix of Miami but driver Alex Barron was competitive all day and came away with top ten finish.
Blair Racing arrived at the Homestead-Miami Speedway with no primary sponsor, a plain white Dallara-Chevrolet marked only with some patriotic stripes for driver Alex Barron to drive. Largely ignored as the fourth team to transfer from CART to the IRL, team boss Larry Blair ran Barron at the end of the 2001 CART series when his team was co-owned by Frank Arciero. With limited opportunities in CART Blair took Barron and joined Marlboro Team Penske, Mo Nunn Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing in joining the Indy Racing League for 2002.
But whereas Penske's switch of allegiance garnered much publicity and Nunn's dovetailed CART/IRL effort came with Hollywood money and 2001 IRL Rookie of the Year Felipe Giaffone - Blair Racing's transfer went almost unnoticed. Barron qualified 19th for the 20th Anniversary Grand Prix of Miami and capitalised on a spate of early cautions to pit earlier than most under the second caution of the race for Jaques Lazier's brush with the wall. When the majority of the leaders pitted on lap 31 after Ricky Treadway's crash, Barron assumed second spot behind Jeff Ward.
From that point Barron comfortably settled in the top five, sandwiched between AJ Foyt Racing's Airton Dare and Eliseo Salazar as the race passed half way. However as Panther Racing's Sam Hornish Jr put his stamp on the race, Barron slowly lost ground and fell to eighth place at the flag, two laps behind Hornish and one place behind Giaffone.
Despite dropping out of the top five in the final quarter of the 200-lap race, Barron's showing impressed many as he battled gamely with Giaffone and Tomas Scheckter in the closing laps. With a solid top ten finish exactly what the team needed on their IRL debut, Barron Blair and Co will be looking forward more than ever to round two of the series at the Phoenix International Raceway.
