FOT
I'm not on the FOT list so I do not know if this news has made it to the
community. I saw on on Facebook last night that Ed Barnard passed away
unexpectedly Monday night. I knew he had a complicated medical situation but
I don't know what happened. He leaves behind a blended family including
Willie and Josh who we've met many times at the track and a bunch of folks
who relied on him for everything from tech advice to restoring cars. He will
be missed at the track and in the Triumph community.
I first met Ed via the South Central VTR Regionals. I was still in the start
up phase of the Hill Country Triumph Club, and combining roles as club
president and doing the dot matrix printed RAGTOP monthly. I didn't know Ed
at the time as but all the clubs shared newsletters and Ed handled the
duties for the Red River Triumph Club. We had occasionally communicated
about the various events going on around the state. I think he worked for
Jeff Sloan's British Auto Specialists at the time and was still racing his
Spitfire. Anyway, in the RRTC newsletter, Ed had said some disparaging
things about TR7's and being a defender of all things Triumph I called him
to task for it. We were still a very small club at the time. Austin was in
the early stages of massive growth and our younger demographics meant that
we had a number of members with TR7's and 8's. We met and talked it out at
the regional held in Houston and became friends. He was mostly kidding about
the TR7's. I'm sure they grew on him over time as they have for pretty much
everyone else.
I really didn't get to know Ed until I started racing with CVAR. He was
always at TWS helping in a variety of ways. He helped racers, helped the
club and having an affinity for Triumphs he migrated to the Triumph pits
daily. I always found it humorous, and I hope I don't offend anyone here,
that some guys loved the work that Ed did on their race cars and some,
rightfully or not, blamed him for the stuff that went wrong. The same guys,
in a different year, might trade places and opinions about Ed's workmanship.
The truth is he was a great resource. It's racing, stuff breaks. It isn't
easy and you know what, if we are honest we know that we screw stuff up all
the time in racing. Move on and smile, that's what Ed did.
As the years went by I drove many a lap around TWS knowing that Ed was on a
corner cheering on the Triumphs. We are not pro racers. Nobody is keeping
stats. We race mostly for our own satisfaction and maybe to earn a little
respect inside our clan. If you haven't ever raced you don't know the how it
feels to get a race car with competitors all around you. Even after you've
done it a hundred times the doubts and nerves still creep in. You get a
little sick to your stomach; probably from influxes of anticipation driven
adrenaline. The whistle blows, we start the cars and during the pace lap it
all gets replaced with focus. We are supposed to check out the flag stations
on that lap but I don't ever recall seeing Ed, but on the cool down lap
there he would be, clapping his hands in approval.
That's how I will remember Ed.
Bob Kramer
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