Barkhimer's introduction to motorsport came in 1937 when he acquired a dismantled midget car in Emeryville, California after helping its original owner reclaim it from a thief. He arranged for a local racer named Jimmy Aiten to reassemble and drive it, though an engine failure ended that first project early. He persisted, and by the mid-1940s he was a competitive midget car driver in his own right. In 1945 he won the Bay City Racing Association (BCRA) championship, claiming six event victories that season. He followed that with ten wins in 1946. A serious injury in 1947 — after he had already taken four wins that year — ended his driving career.
Unable to continue racing due to his injuries, Barkhimer transitioned to management in 1948, becoming Business Manager for the BCRA. In 1949 he took control of San Jose Speedway, where he recognized that midget car racing was losing its audience. He dropped the midget class in favor of a hardtop late-model stock car division, a move that revived fan attendance. That same year, Barkhimer partnered with Jerry Piper to form the California Stock Car Racing Association (CSCRA), which eventually sanctioned and promoted 21 or 22 racetracks up and down the West Coast.
The turning point in his national influence came in 1954 when he met Bill France Jr. and then NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. The personal relationship that developed led France Sr. to bring ten of Barkhimer's West Coast tracks under NASCAR sanction, including Stockton 99 and facilities in Oakland, Fresno, San Jose, and Hughes Stadium in Sacramento. The arrangement significantly expanded NASCAR's footprint on the Pacific Coast at a time when the series was still establishing its national identity.
Barkhimer eventually rose to the position of Senior Vice President within NASCAR. Across his career he also promoted boxing, car shows, roller derbies, and wrestling, demonstrating a broader instinct for live entertainment promotion. He estimated that he promoted roughly 3,000 races over the course of his career before retiring after the death of his first wife in 1976. The West Coast operation he and his partner had built was ultimately sold to Ken Clapp.
In 2002, Barkhimer was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural class, recognition of his foundational role in bringing organized stock car racing to California. After retirement he traveled extensively and wrote accounts of the early years of West Coast racing, preserving a record of the sport's grassroots origins in a region often overshadowed in mainstream NASCAR historiography.
Barkhimer married Mary Cecil Slattery of Alameda in 1936. After her death he married Jean Hightower in 1980; she died in 2005. He was survived by a son, Bill, and three daughters, Shirley, Bonnie, and Judy. He died on June 17, 2006, at the age of 90.