User blog:Ajaxcupseries/Why the Most Overrated Driver in the ASCA is.....Chris Barrymore

By: Jake Dwyer - Written preseason 2020
The last name Barrymore holds a lot of weight in the ASCA. That’s mainly due to the accomplishments of ASCA legend CJ Barrymore. 28 Ajax Cup wins, 52 career ASCA wins in general (the most all-time), 4 Ajax Cup championships, not to mention he did all this driving for his own race team that he BUILT from nothing to a championship contending team week in and week out, and still is today. Then, after being retired for 3 seasons, the guy goes to the @chikfila_cupseries and wins a race and championship over there too. I mean what can’t this guy do?

However, after CJ’s retirement from full time driving in the ASCA, ASCA fans were worried the Barrymore legacy could quite possibly.....well die out. In this new era of the ASCA where the sport is as popular as it’s ever been, newer fans haven’t seen ASCA legends like CJ Barrymore, Ronnie Woods, Caleb Henderson, Tico Bowden, etc, etc. race other than Seasons 0 and 1. Which is a shame that they now have to see the silver spooned sons of these guys race instead that are propped up to be as good as their daddies, but we’ll get to that in a second.

CJ had two sons while he was racing however, his kids being Chris and Cameron Barrymore. While Cameron hasn’t really gotten a fair shot in the ASCA (because he didn’t want to have everything handed to him and I applaud him for that), most ASCA fans are well aware of who Chris Barrymore is. The marketing department at the ASCA sure has done a spectacular job of shoving the 22 year old down our throats, and getting his name out there as one of the “future stars of the sport”. When in reality, he’s just another one of these silver spoons that’s had everything handed to him because of the ASCA trying to promote last names and a “youth movement” instead of driving talent.

To start off, Chris Barrymore never had to “earn” an ASCA ride. From the day he was born, it was guaranteed that no matter what he did, he would be an Ajax Cup Series driver one day. Chris came into the now defunct Sprint Developmental Series at just 17 years of age back in Season 1, doing absolutely nothing to earn that ride other than having the last name Barrymore. The hype was astronomical for the kid, as he went out and won a 25 lap rain shortened first race of that season. I saw headlines that just said “Oh Chris Barrymore is already leading the Barrymore legacy into a new generation” and I just scoffed. One rain shortened win in a third tier series = future legend. Just hysterical stuff. Mind you that only ONE of the people he was even racing against even raced in the ASCA after that season, that being Greg Healey who has been stuck building Snoots Enterprises from the ground up. My point is, Chris Barrymore beat a bunch of nobodies in the SDS, and did absolutely nothing to prove he was ready for the Craftsman Series ride he was promptly handed towards the end of Season 1.

So Season 2 rolls around, and Chris Barrymore wins his first Craftsman Series race in his 3rd career start. Everyone again acts like he’s the second coming of the most high and that he’s “so good”, ignoring the fact that the Ford Development Program is a championship level organization supplying their drivers their best equipment on the track. Put Chris Barrymore in Tico Bowden Motorsports equipment and you think he dominates and wins in his 3rd career start? Absolutely not. His car was just spectacular that day, all Barrymore had to do was not wreck it.

I think the most damning part about all of this is before he even made his 2nd career Craftsman start, he was announced to be the part time driver of the #21 for CJ Barrymore Racing at the start of Season 2. You mean to tell me a guy with one career Craftsman Series start, that’s only 18 years old, EARNED his ride in Cup??? Give me a break.

Barrymore proceeded to obviously get promoted to Cup in Season 3 at age 19, because his daddy wanted to hand him literally everything in his career way earlier than he was supposed to get it, and what has he done in Cup so far? Who cares about his 7 Craftsman Series wins honestly, it’s quite clear he had the best car by far in all those races. Yeah, not too hard to win when your car is literally 10x faster than the field. But look at his stats in Cup where his equipment is somewhat equal to his competitors. One lucky win (in all actuality it was rigged considering the ASCA never gives out speeding penalties yet felt the need to hand one to Caleb Henderson Jr that day), 9 top 5’s, and 23 top 10’s in 3 seasons. But.....but this guy is supposed to be the next ASCA legend, the second coming of his father CJ Barrymore?

This ain’t it chief.

In conclusion, stop hyping up Chris Barrymore like he’s going to be this “legend” or the second coming of his daddy. The stats show he won’t be, and probably won’t even come close to his fathers legacy. The only races he can win legitimately are Craftsman races where he clearly gets the best car in the field. You name me one time he’s won a race with a car that wasn’t 15x better than the competition....oh wait you can’t. When all the hype dies down in 5 seasons or so and Barrymore still doesn’t have a championship, a top 5 points finish, or even more than 5 career Cup wins....all I can say is “I told you so”.