Early years Barron was born in
San Diego, California. In 1996, the opportunity for him to move up to US National Formula Ford 2000 came with the DSTP Team. This proved to be a steep learning curve from kart to open wheel race car, for the young racer. However, a podium, a fastest lap and six top-ten finishes won him to chance to race in Toyota Atlantic the following season. Barron in his rookie season in the
KOOL Toyota Atlantic series, surprised everyone, including his team, Lynx Racing by dominating and winning the 1997 championship, taking five victories along the way. With four pole positions, six fastest laps and nine top three finishes, he would also win the “Rookie of the Year” award. Part of Barron's prize for winning the Championship was a test with the
Arciero-Wells Racing CART team. During his test, he was quickly matching the speed of their regular driver,
Max Papis. Arciero-Wells were so impressed with him, they offered a testing contract. Following the retirement of
Juan Manuel Fangio II, the
All American Racers Team and their boss,
Dan Gurney, wanted a young American driver who could develop with the team, and Barron got the call. In just 24 races, twelve races in both the
Formula Ford 2000 and Toyota Atlantic, Barron made the jump from racing karts to CART.
Indycars Barron's time with Gurney and his AAR team was a troubled by an uncompetitive combination of the chassis (they used both Eagle and
Reynard chassis),
Toyota engines and
Goodyear tyres. Midway through his second season (1999) with AAR, he was let go. Later that season, he was signed by
Marlboro Team Penske to race in two 500 mile events. Once again he found himself in an uncompetitive combination, this time it was a
Penske PC27B-99 with
Mercedes engines and Goodyears. It was not until the second half of 2000 season that Barron reappeared in CART, running with
Dale Coyne Racing. The following season, he raced just the final two races for
Arciero-Blair Racing. During these races, Alex led both, before retiring with problems the
Ford Cosworth engines both times. In 2002, Barron switched to the IRL, signing for Blair Racing, where he finish fourth in
Indianapolis 500, co-winning the Rookie of the Year. Later that season, he would earn the first of his two IndyCar Series wins, the
2002 Firestone Indy 200 at
Nashville Speedway. Sadly, Blair Racing would fold at the end of the season, leaving Barron without a full-time drive for 2003. In 2003, Barron drove for three teams. After replacing the injured
Gil de Ferran for a one-off appearance for Marlboro Team Penske, he raced for
Mo Nunn Racing, filling in for the injured
Felipe Giaffone. It was with Mo Nunn that Barron scored his second IRL victory, in the
2003 Firestone Indy 400 at
Michigan International Speedway. For the final three races of that season,
Eddie Cheever hired Barron to drive for his
Red Bull Cheever Racing outfit, instead of
Buddy Rice. In his first race for Cheever, he gave the team their best finish of the season, seventh place at the
Chicagoland Speedway. In 2004 and 2005, Barron drove for
Eddie Cheever's
Red Bull Cheever Racing.
Red Bull sponsorship of the team ended for 2006, leaving Alex unable to remain with the team - he instead took a step backward, returning to the
Champ Car Atlantic Championship for 2006 with
Polestar Racing Group where he finished fourteenth in points. Early that year, he raced twice for alongside
Michael McDowell for Playboy/Uniden Racing, with a best finish of sixth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the pair aided by
Memo Gidley. Greg Beck signed him to run races part-time in the
IndyCar Series for the
2007 season for
CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports. He competed in three races, including the Indy 500. Barron would return to Daytona for the 2008 Rolex 24, with Southard Motorsport, only to retire from the race. He would not race internationally again. Barron now runs a kart business. ==Racing record==