After several down years,...
After several down years, Burton has reason to smile again.
SCR: Let's turn that around. What do you like least about this sport?
BURTON: I never complain about the number of races that we run, because I would just as soon run more. The thing I like least about it is I wish we could run the number of races that we run but over a longer period of time. If we just had two more weekends off just to catch our breath. People don't understand: Drivers, crew members especially, don't see their kids. They miss an incredible amount of stuff. I'm able to take my children with me. But during the week, I don't see my children as much because I'm traveling all the time. Just a little more time to get reconnected with your family and reconnected with your friends. I have done this at the expense of my relationships with my friends, my relationship with my family. That's been the cost. The cost is that the friends I had growing up I now don't know very well. I rarely see my parents. I rarely see my brothers. This requires so much time that I don't have. Outside of my immediate family, I have no personal life. That's the thing I like least about it.
SCR: You started in this sport in 1993 driving one Cup race for an owner by the name of Filbert Martocci. Who was that?
BURTON: I drove for Fil for two years in the Busch Series. The first year I drove for him we were just going to run a few races. Then we started racing and he said, hell, let's just run the whole year. Actually, Gil Martin was the crew chief. The second year, we ran the full series and ran one Winston Cup race. Then I had an opportunity to go drive at the Cup level and took it. But the first Cup car I drove was under his ownership.
SCR: You got your start in go-karts, then moved to South Boston and raced. What was the next step after karts?
BURTON: After go-karts, we ran two or three races in a Pure Stock division and then went to Late Models. It was what should have been called a Street Stock division but it was called Pure Stock. It was an inline six-cylinder Camaro. I ran that three races then the next year went to Late Models, at South Boston and Orange County.
SCR: Then you became a track champion?
BURTON: The best I ever did was tie for a track championship one year. The other guy had won one more race or whatever so he was the champion.
SCR: What did you learn about the sport during that time that helps you now?
BURTON: My father had the wisdom to let me run off and do it. Not that I knew what I was doing, because I didn't. But I wanted to do it my way, which is a Burton trait. And he had the wisdom to let me do that. But he also had the wisdom to step in and say, look, you need some help. I learned a lot about racing by doing it myself. Those years really helped me be more informed about even this level because a race car is a race car. It's not as different as you would think, even from a Late Model to a Cup car. From a technological standpoint, it's not that different. I was intimately involved in building the cars, preparing the cars, setting the cars up. I enjoyed that part of it and still do. I learned a lot from doing that.
SCR: Any plans to start your son out in the sport?
BURTON: We're Quarter Midget racing some now. He's 6. My daughter has no interest in it, but my son is fanatical about it. Loves it.
SCR: So you're behind him if he wants to pursue it as a career some day?
BURTON: I would support him in it and I would support him if he wants to be a gymnast. You know what I mean? I'm not going to force him into doing something. It's what he wants to do.
SCR: Do you ever get out to any local tracks?
BURTON: No, I don't, to be honest. There's the time when I'm not doing this that I feel like I need to be with my family. I'm running 18 Busch races this year, the Cup schedule, all the testing that's involved, and all that, all the sponsor commitments. If I did some more racing it would be at the expense of my relationship with my family, even more than it already is, and that's just not worth it right now.