Ed Burton was a lot of things-conservationist, owner and founder of a commercial construction company, Virginia state champion skeet shooter, rod and gun writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, avid duck hunter and fisherman.
While Ed, who died in 1987, was a man of many dimensions, his legacy is firmly wrapped around two simple parts of his life-his role as grandfather and his general passion for the outdoors.
Before Ward Burton ever turned a lap as a Winston Cup race driver, he was one of Ed's four grandsons. Before he ever became popular as a driver for Bill Davis Racing, he was known to his family and friends around Halifax, Virginia, as Ward Burton, avid outdoorsman.
That's where Ward Burton's story actually begins, where everything that defines the man came together to make Ward Burton who and what he is today. It happened when those two parts-Ed Burton's grandson and a passion for the outdoors-met and shaped the young Ward.
The racing, Ward will tell you, has high priority in his life. The rest of it-hunting, protecting the landscape and providing wildlife habitats through the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation-is enhanced by his life as a race car driver. And to the general public he is above all else the driver of the No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge on the Winston Cup circuit.
To truly understand Ward Burton, you have to go back to a duck blind in the early '70s and sit with Ed and Ward. The story tells you a lot about Ward Burton-more, perhaps, than any part of his public life could ever begin to tell.
It begins with a simple question: "Any stories about you and your grandfather hunting when you were growing up?" Ward's face lights up, eyes sparkle, as he immediately dives into the story in his distinctive Southern drawl. You're suddenly duck hunting with Ed Burton. The enthusiasm in Ward's voice and the energy with which he tells the story help you feel the anticipation and excitement he must have felt in that duck blind 29 years previous, when he was 11 years old and on a hunt with his grandfather.
"The first time I went in a duck swamp with him, I had been skeet shooting with him for quite awhile by that time," Ward says. "He was Virginia state skeet shooting champion and had won a couple matches in Florida when all the state champions came in for a tournament. He was a damn good shot, a really good shot. I mean that's when he was in his late sixties or seventies.
"Anyway, we were sitting on this downed beaver log in a duck swamp. He was sitting there smoking his pipe, and we're sitting on the log side by side. He said, 'OK, when the wood ducks come in here I don't want you shooting until you see their landing gear come out.' I said, 'Yessir.' It wasn't three, four minutes later, here come two male woodies."
Ward mimics the sound of the fluttering wings and uses his hands and arms to show how the ducks came soaring in. "I mean, they came right down through there. Put their landing gear out. I'm sitting on the left of him, so I got the one on the left. He's sitting on the right and got the one on the right. He said, 'That's a way to go, boy.'
"I'll never forget that."
Early LessonsWard tells the story from the cab of his Dodge pickup, parked overlooking a small field sown with clover and surrounded by a stand of hardwoods. The field sits near the edge of the showpiece and anchor property for the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, which is dedicated to purchasing land for preservation and development of habitat areas for wildlife.
This particular piece of land, in an area known as "The Cove," sits in a bend of the Staunton River and will eventually encompass over 5,000 acres near Halifax, just north of South Boston.
"The land holds the key to having experiences like I had growing up," Ward says.