Patrick Barker’s been at JGR since 2007. A native of North Carolina, Barker’s been with the team wrenching for a variety of different riders but after tuning Weston Peick to a King of Lille title earlier this month, he decided to hang up his wrenches.
We called up Patty to talk about the decision and where he’s going.
Racer X: You were an original mechanic at JGR, right? What went into the decision for you to leave and what’s next for you?
Patrick Barker: I was actually the first one hired for the team. But nine years of being on the road started to wear on me a little bit. I definitely love the sport and love the team. The guys are great there. I like working with Weston. We get along really good and had some good success last year. But I felt like I needed a change. Looking forward to staying at home a little more and just slowing down. I moved over to a company called Gold Gate Trailers and they build a lot of stuff like semis for NASCARs—custom car haulers for the Le Mans series, 24-hour car stuff. Being in Charlotte, growing up around cars and NASCAR racing, it’s kind of cool to be able to stay in this area and do something involved with that. Still involved in racing, just more four wheels instead of two, but it’s cool. It’s a different change and it’s pretty fun so far.
Was it the travel or the amount of work that a mechanic has to do that made this decision possible?
People come to the races and see Saturday and the bike’s built underneath the tent, the bike looks awesome, the tent is set up, everything’s cool. It’s a really cool display. It’s a really cool show but we put in a lot of work. You go to the race and you fly in on Wednesday and you build out of a parking lot and everything’s a lot of work. It’s lot of work during the week on testing, working in the shop and practice bikes, test bikes. It starts to wear on you a little bit.
With overseas races we’re usually gone thirty to thirty-two weekends a year. So that’s kind of tough not being at home much. I think the traveling and being gone from home probably wore on me the most. But it is a lot of work, a lot of hours. It’s almost like a lifestyle. You see more of the guys on your team and they’ve almost become your family. You don’t really see your family or friends or anything that much. So lucky I was with a good group and we were like family over there. It was definitely hard to leave. From day one I just started hanging out in Coy’s (Gibbs) office and we didn’t really have anything going on. There was nothing in the shop. I would sit in Coy’s office and just hang out with him. We’d order shelving for the parts room and just start at the very beginning. So that was kind of cool to start that up. Then all of us, most of the original crew is still there, so it’s definitely a hard decision to leave but it’s a good change.
I guess being from North Carolina, you didn’t want to move to SoCal and take a job with a team as a test guy or whatever?
I’ve been out there, obviously spent a lot of time testing and stuff out there, and not a huge fan of it. I like it. It’s cool to go visit but I don’t know if it’s somewhere I’d really want to live. I like the East Coast and being born here it’s great for me. My family’s here. I’ve had opportunities in the past to go work for several different teams out there and it’s usually been the same reason I didn’t go, because I didn’t want to live there. But that’s kind of the hard thing. I talked to the team probably six months ago and wanted to do a position just like a testing or R&D position and it’s just something we didn’t really have the budget to do. I wanted to be in the shop more, build more test bikes. I was possibly going to build test bikes, practice bikes, work in the shop, and maintain the track and then work with actually Phil (Nicoletti) for outdoors.
I was going to kind of do half the year basically, which would have been nice, and kind of take a step back and do that. They agreed that we need it but just something that doesn’t really fit right now. When I left I told them if we have a need for that position, if it comes up, if you guys have the budget for it, let me know and I’ll come back and we’ll definitely do it. But it’s kind of hard to stay in the industry when you live on the East Coast.
In this job I do now, it’s not that bad for me because I remember what it was like to be a mechanic. I take the last flight out Friday, first flight out Sunday and it’s a piece of cake compared to you guys.
It’s a lot of work. Every week the bike’s coming down to the frame. You fly in on Wednesday, tear it down, rebuild everything, clean it, service it, inspect it, put it all back together, finish it up Friday morning. Usually the other half of our team wouldn’t fly in until Friday around lunch or the afternoon so it would be myself and Ben and Big John putting up the tent. So we’re putting up the tent together and then me and Ben are trying to make suspension changes or any updates that the other guys would bring with them. So we’re doing that most of the day Friday and then at the Nationals you are going to tech on Friday and sound. Friday’s a long day and the day before is a long day when you fly in and build. You get all that done, get something to eat, go to bed, wake up race day and you hop right back on the plane and get home and jump back in the shop and start it all over again. It’s definitely a lot of work.
You worked with Peick this year. He’s really emerged. There were some podiums by you guys and some great rides. You guys got along pretty well. It’s pretty amazing how far he’s come.
Initially when we signed Weston he was kind of an unknown. And you know how it goes, we’ve done unknowns before, a lot of teams have, and sometimes it doesn’t pan out. You’re not sure how it’s going to work. Weston came out, the first time he tested in North Carolina, was really impressive. Was actually a little bit faster than (Justin) Barcia in initial pre-season testing and we went to Barcia’s house and tested in Florida with both of them and same thing again. So immediately we were kind of like, we might have something here. Weston could do really well if he keeps this up. Phoenix was probably the best race all season for him. He led a good portion of the race and almost got on the podium until he cased the jump and broke his foot. Really good ride for him and it kind of came out of nowhere but he’s always been there. I’ve always seen him. It was one of those things where when I worked for (Justin) Brayton and he would come up on Brayton and pass Brayton and I’m like, man, we shouldn't be getting beat by this guy. He’s on his own bike. He came in his motorhome and he’s got his own bike they’ve been driving around with trying to find places to practice, and he’s beating us. He shouldn't be beating us. So it was one of those things. But the effort that he puts into his riding is really amazing.
Him and Buddy Antunez have been working really hard on everything. Weston has a lot of aggression in his riding. A lot of people wouldn’t say this about Weston but he has some of the best corner speed I’ve ever seen. Some of his technique as far as corners and things like that are really amazing. I worked with James (Stewart) and I’d say it’s right there on par with James as far as corner speed and things like that. One of the best I’ve ever seen. He was great to work with and actually a really good tester too. To be someone that came from not really having much experience except for Hart and Huntington in the outdoor season before us, he was actually a really good tester. He was spot-on with most of his comments. It’s pretty impressive. It was really nice working with Weston. I like him. We still get along. He verbally abuses me like he does everyone else and most of the media, but it’s okay.
Who verbally abuses you worse, Coy or Weston?
That’s a toss up. I don’t know, actually. It’s really bad. It used to be Coy and then Weston kind of took over. Coy has a new guy in the shop. We have a shop guy, Dennis, and he just ruins Dennis every day.
Ok, list all the riders you worked for at JGR.
Hanny (Josh Hansen), (Eric) Sorby, (Josh) Summey, (Gavin) Gracyk, Cody Cooper, Nathan Ramsey, Justin Brayton, Les Smith, Weston (Peick). Oh, and Gavin Faith, (James) Stewart, Phil (Nicoeltti)… It is a long list.
Which guy did you get along with the best?
Three really stick out. I worked with Brayton for a long time so we were really familiar with each other. Personality-wise I probably match up with Weston the best, because he just talks shit to me and I do the same right back to him. It’s kind of like a good buddy-buddy joking type relationship we had. It’s one of those things where we can be bluntly honest with each other too. I can tell him what I’m thinking. I don’t need to sugar coat it and he can do the same with me. So he was really good to work with. Nathan Ramsey was another one. Nathan was really cool. He was always super appreciative. Very rarely would blame anything on the bike. He always took it on himself. Even sometimes when the bike wasn’t perfect, he could have said something about the bike, Nathan would come in and be like, hey man, I didn’t ride good tonight. The bike was great. I sucked. And I’m like, no dude, you were fine. But Nathan was really good to work with in that aspect because he always took it upon himself to try to make everything better.
Obviously working with James is cool just because he’s James Stewart. He’s so talented. Just to go down to Florida and test and just to watch him ride every day at his house is awesome. The dude is just so talented. The things he can do on a motorcycle are great. We actually got along really good. He’s quiet to some people that don’t know him or the media but once you get to know him and kind of get to know his personality he’s really cool. He’s actually a super funny guy. He was really cool to work with too.