by Doug Demmons, News columnist , Birmingham News

It's close to Leeds, but not in Leeds. Nonetheless it is often referred to in print as that track in Leeds.

But while it's technically in Birmingham, Barber hasn't really been a part of the city. Not until now.

Barber is finally being embraced by people who have looked upon it as something of an oddity ever since George Barber spent a sizable chunk of his own wealth forging it out of the swampy woods.

It has taken so long because Birmingham is NASCAR country, framed by Talladega on one side and Hueytown, home of the Alabama Gang, on the other. But George Barber didn't build an oval for stock cars. He didn't build a dirt track.

He built a road course - for motorcycles and those funny-looking foreign sports cars driven by guys who aren't from around here. It was so different from what many race fans were used to that it might as well have landed from Mars.

Winners there don't go to Victory Lane and spill Gatorade and Coke. They stand on a podium and spray each other with champagne.

It's like something you'd see on a cable channel from Europe. Certainly not something you'd see in the land where Chevy and Ford are worshipped but Honda and Hyundai put people to work.

In the 61/2 years since it opened, Barber has gained a reputation internationally as one of the finest road courses in the world. It's been praised by nearly everyone who sees it - most recently NASCAR team owner Jack Roush - but much of Birmingham still couldn't tell you what goes on out there. Until Monday.

Because Indy cars are coming to Birmingham. Not Leeds. Birmingham.

Indy cars, as in the Indianapolis 500, as in Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt and Danica Patrick.

As in honest-to-God professional sports, not the defunct leagues that came to Birmingham but became answers to trivia questions. As in something people can identify with and take pride in.

Birmingham is now an Indy city, a stop on the circuit halfway between the season opener in Brazil and the historic Indy 500. Nobody had to build a dome to get it. Nobody's taxes are being raised.

Nobody had to listen to years of acrimonious political debate about who is going to pay for it. Nobody had to lift a finger.

Except for the folks at Zoom Motorsports, who promote races at Barber and had the audacity to think Birmingham could become an open-wheel city.

Sometimes it takes audacious thinking to move forward. Birmingham has never had a surplus of that. But in George Barber it has enough vision to put the city on the map.

Will Indy make Birmingham jilt Dale Earnhardt Jr. in favor of Helio Castroneves?

Well, no. But Helio doesn't miss his pit stall.And he does drive the No. 3 car, even though the only people he intimidates are dance judges.

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Check out Demmons' racing blog at blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow. Write him at ddemmons@bhamnews.com

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