2-time champion Langer sitting out Barbee Jeep Race
WORTH TWP — When it comes to the annual Barbee Jeep Race at the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival, Greg Langer is 2-for-2.
He won’t get a chance to make it 3-for-3.
Langer, 34, a Pine-Richland graduate now living in Denver, Colo., is not entered in this year’s Barbee Jeep Race, scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, June 14, at the Cooper’s Lake Campground. While Langer is perfectly healthy, his secret weapon is not.
The Barbee race consists of drivers riding down a slalom-style course in plastic Jeeps about 4 feet long. Langer stands 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds.
“Even with my size, it’s a tight fit,” he admitted. “The race lasts maybe 15 seconds, but it’s pretty grueling.”
Langer moved to Denver nearly three years ago, but has been coming to the Jeep festival here for years. He watched a Barbee race at Cooper’s Lake and was intrigued by the event.
“I’m always up for new things, and my friends told me I had to try that,” he said. “I agreed.”
The race begins with somebody pushing the Jeep to get it started. Langer had just the man in mind for that job — Cory Nolton is a longtime friend.
The pair were teammates on the Robert Morris University football team. Langer was the kicker. Nolton was a defensive end and stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 240.
“I asked Cory if he was up for this, and he was on board right away,” Langer said.
With Nolton pushing the Jeep off, Langer rode his way to the Barbee event championship in 2023 and 2024. The field consists of as many as 52 Jeeps, and they go down the course three at a time.
Win one race, then another … Keep going until you lose.
Langer never lost.
“Cory was my secret weapon,” he said, laughing.
But Nolton tore a pectoral muscle while lifting weights in March and is unable to join Langer at this year’s race.
“I told him to find somebody else, that it was OK,” Nolton said. “But Greg wasn’t having it. He said we’re a team. We’ll come back and go for it next year.
“It’s in our fabric to do stuff like that. We’ve always been active people, and we enjoy challenges.”
Part of the Barbee race is a costume theme. Langer painted his Jeep so it looked like a police car and dressed as a “super trooper” the first year. He and Nolton were dressed as “Dumb and Dumber” characters in last year’s race.
Langer said the key to winning is keeping the Jeep straight.
“Not so easy to do,” he said. “Those things bounce ’round quite a bit.”
But while many Jeeps around him wiped out on the course, he never did.
“Greg is great with that steering wheel. He can keep that thing steady and straight,” Nolton said. “I’m the one who’s accident-prone. We’d ride mountain bikes together and I’d be the guy who would wipe out.
“It’s been mentioned that maybe next year, we should switch places. I’d cram into the Jeep, and he would push off … Then again, we want to win.”
While Langer will not be competing in the event, he will be coming back to town for it.
“I’m not going to miss the Jeep festival,” he insisted. “I’ll be there to cheer on and support all of the other riders. Somebody else can win it this year.
“But next year, we’re coming back for that title.”
