COMP Cams® Q&A with Barker Racing Engines

A look into the relationship between an accomplished engine builder and the valve train company he trusts

From NASCAR, to dirt track, to drag racing, performance engines built by Tony Barker have won their share of races in many different venues, and he attributes much of his success to the valve train experts at COMP Cams®.

CC: How/When did your relationship with us get started?

TB: Around 1979, COMP Cams® put a satellite store in Jackson, MS. One of their employees and I hooked up and started racing All-Pro type Late Models around 1980-1981. While trying several different COMP Cams® grinds we won a track championship and learned quite a bit about different camshafts. In 1988, I moved to North Carolina and worked for a championship NASCAR team that ran COMP Cams® custom grinds, where I became Head Engine Builder. There, I gained both work relationships and friendships with members of COMP Cams®’ staff.

CC: When did you start your own business?

TB: August of 1995, and one of the first things I did when I opened the doors to my business in Mississippi was to set up a new account with my COMP Cams® salesman to help with my custom camshaft selections.


CC: What does COMP Cams® offer you to improve your success?


TB: Thanks to COMP Cams®, we’re running camshaft lifts and rpms that were only used in drag racing and were once thought to be both unattainable and unreliable in circle track engines a few years ago. This has opened up performance options that have vastly increased both power and torque and caused countless wins for my circle track customers, including Bub McCool’s ten wins in Dirt Late Model special events this year alone. We also had a $1,000-to-win Street Stock race in the area. For this particular event, a customer asked me to build an engine for him and to customize the engine’s power and torque output for this particular track. COMP Cams® ground me a camshaft design that won the race. Things like these are possible because of the intensive research and spintron testing by COMP Cams® engineers to keep me informed on the latest developments in valve train technology.


CC: In what other arenas has COMP Cams® helped you?


TB: That's easy. For instance, I had a project to do for Phil Cooper’s Pump Gas Drag SBC that would fit his needs, I called COMP Cams® and got the cam combination that led to 5 out of 6 Super Chevy True Street wins and finished 2nd in Hot Rod Pump Gas Drags in the Big Block Category. They’ve also helped me with the best combinations for racing venues with which I was not familiar, such as 300-foot drags, horseshoe drags, and 10 ½-inch outlaws. With each of these arenas, the COMP Cams® custom cam grind won the first time out. From vacuum cams, to cams that will accept a 600 shot of nitrous, the cam needs have always fulfilled by COMP Cams®.


CC: Can you tell the difference in the quality of our camshafts?


TB: Oh absolutely. When I would order cams from other companies, on a small base circle or a 50mm, the durations would grow or shrink respectively. Some cams are ground with .003”-.004” run-out on the heel. These types of mistakes are simply not tolerable in a race engine environment. COMP Cams® has a quality control system that prevents errors in lobe-to-lobe consistency and maintains the closest camshaft tolerances in the valve train industry. About ninety percent of my camshafts are custom grinds, and I rarely have to wait longer than 2 days for them to arrive. That kind of service can’t be beat.


CC: How would you say our other valve train products match up against those of other companies?


TB: It’s funny you should ask that. Since we have switched to the COMP Cams® 26000 series valve springs in all our endurance engines, we have had absolutely zero valve spring failures. The valve springs would come back to me after 1200 laps, and they hadn’t even dropped ten pounds of pressure! I was very impressed with these results, and I still am.

For more information, visit Tony Barker online or check out the COMP Cams® website!