Photo by Jim TateMichael Barker stands next to his 2015 Shelby, one of the high-performance cars he purchased from Ford Driving School in Charlotte, North Carolina.
MARSHALL — Around 10 a.m. Saturday, Michael Barker led a convoy of high-performance sports cars into the area reserved for them at the Shades of the Past car show. Barker in his 2015 Shelby was followed by a succession of white Mustangs as the cars arrived in the already crowded show area. He carefully parked his car at an angle, a sight that drew an inquisitive crowd of spectators to the group of cars bearing obvious car badges. “Ford Performance Racing School” each.
As it turns out, Barker is the mastermind behind a family effort that brought two Shelbys and seven Mustangs to the area, which were purchased purely by chance from a racing school track in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“There's still a Mach 1 aircraft underneath and we need to recover it,” he said.
Ford has an owner program that allows buyers of its performance cars to attend a two-day driving school, which is what drew Barker to the birthplace of NASCAR. He took his son along and discovered that the school was transitioning to the next generation of Mustangs at the track, which they're calling the Dark Horse Mustang.
“I got to drive it on the dragstrip and on the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.” Mr Barker said. “I got an email from them the day before Thanksgiving last year saying I was eligible to go there. After that, things just got out of hand.”
What started this vicious circle was his question about what the school would do with its replacement fleet of vehicles.
“They said they sold it.” Mr Barker said. “I was interested in a Shelby. It had been put up for sale a few days before. I was told there were only two left. They said I could have two, so I bought them on the spot.”
With a member of his family, Billy, as he chose to go with him, he was able to buy a few white Mustangs, and after a few trips to North Carolina, he found himself with nine driving school test cars in the area.
“They were all purchased by family members and one was purchased by a close friend.” “We're so grateful for the support,” said Barker, whose daughter, Makara, helped move some of the cars.
It was quite a sight to see the Racing School Ford cars lined up alongside a long line of Mustangs that took up one of the streets at the show, the Mustang being a featured car this year in celebration of its 60th anniversary.
“It's fun to have these cars in the area.” Mr Barker said.
