Conversation: Ward Burton

RICHMOND, Va. -- NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Ward Burton has maintained one comforting constant in a 2003 season that has been painfully inconsistent: Wildlife conservation.

AUDIO CLIPS Listen to the conversation 1.56 MB / 13:03 Listen

For Burton, the driver of the No. 22 Dodge, that hasn't meant jet-setting and all-night parties, but rather property acquisition and educational programs that are at the root of Burton's ardent conservation effort.

Burton took a break while preparing for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway to talk with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman about such topics as his future with Bill Davis Racing, his wildlife foundation and his son's racing career.

Q: Since all the junk broke out about what's going to happen in 2004, your team has put together four races in which you've completed all but three laps and scored four top-20 finishes. Was it a case of taking a load off your mind to get things out in the open?

Ward Burton: You know, a lot of times if you're not able to address things, or don't feel like things are being addressed -- it's almost like a passive-aggressive situation. I still feel like there's a lot of things out there we should talk about or that we should be addressing.

Maybe just for my peace of mind, it's good for me to know where we're at or where we're heading or where everybody sees where we're at or where we need to go to improve ourselves.

When we don't talk about it and we're not running up to par, it's frustrating. That frustration comes out when you get hot and it's Sunday and you're not performing the way you want to. We have buckled down and we have had some good runs.

Last week (at Darlington) was real unfortunate when we got three laps down in the first 25 laps, but we didn't get any more laps down and had a top-12 car or better. We've got the makings right here if we all want to work and pull together. If not, we'll see what other opportunities are viable for us.

Q: Do you think people underestimated what a great combination you and your former crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, were?

WARD BURTON  •  Driver Page  •  2003 Stats  •  Bill Davis Racing  •  W. Burton looking to leave Bill Davis Racing  •  BDR offers to terminate W. Burton's contrac

Ward Burton: Hell, yeah. Definitely. Tommy Baldwin made a big difference for Bill Davis Racing. There's no question in my mind that he had a lot to do with what happened in 1998 and 1999, 2000.

He had a lot to do with Caterpillar signing a four- or five-year deal, whatever it is. Tommy leaving was just one of the few things that happened that I definitely didn't have any control over.

Q: Are you comfortable with the way things are going, looking ahead to 2004, and is it still possible you'll stay here at BDR?

Ward Burton: We should have talked about it (possibly leaving) or if that was something they were thinking about they should have come to me in June -- not August. I'll take responsibility for that, too.

We both probably should have talked about it a lot earlier. When you're sitting here and it's September and Thanksgiving is right around the corner and race season's over, it's not a lot of time (to settle things).

But, yes, it's a good possibility I could stay here. They know I am going to drive my guts out every single lap I can for them, whether it's here or somewhere else. I'll do everything that I'm supposed to do for the sponsors and to help them with whatever other relationships they have.

There's going to have to be some form of communication to make that work and I have expressed my desire to have that. I'm waiting for them to get back with me.

Q: A couple years ago at Daytona when you resigned your BDR contract, you said you did not want a real long deal, such as five years. Now, what would you say the ideal contractual situation would be for you?

Ward Burton: I've been with Bill for almost my whole Winston Cup career. I was really loyal to A.G. Dillard, staying there, and him vice versa for us to go from Busch to Winston Cup.

So I've been with Bill since 1995. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I would like to stay there until I finish racing. I had every intention of doing that here, and who knows? It still may happen.

I think that I could be an asset for someone. I think I've got my own set of weaknesses, that I can pretty much lay on the table that would be pretty obvious to someone, as we all have and have to deal with.

I think I can be more positive than negative for any race team and their sponsors. I know I can still drive and win races, there's no question in my mind about that. Last year we proved it with two wins -- we just need to be more consistent.

Q: What's your take this season on some of the skirmishing that's taken place on the racetrack and the altercations in the pit area afterward? Is it a lack of respect or the pressure that everyone is under?

	Credit: Autostock

Ward Burton: I don't think it's lack of respect. You have to try to put your feet in the shoes that the competitors are in and in some cases, the other participants. We give it our all, and there's nothing else that exists on a Saturday night or a Sunday.

We've all sacrificed a lot, our families are sacrificing more than we are. And when you feel like you've been done wrong, from a young age you're taught to seek justice -- or that there should be a form of justice. We lose our tempers.

I think for the most part NASCAR and their participants do a better job than almost any sport out there, whether it be from boxing to baseball to basketball to hockey to football. All of the sports have a lot of controversy when it comes to people losing their temper, and they should.

I mean, that's the nature of competition. Tempers are going to fly and everybody's on the edge. It's no different in this sport. I don't have any problem at all with what's happened.

There are things that I've done, too. I've shown my butt before and probably will again. For the most part, we do a good job.

Q: How much anticipation is there going back to Homestead, where the racetrack has been rebuilt, banked higher and is the first banked track with SAFER barriers?

Ward Burton: That will be the third time that track has changed. The first time I ran it with a Busch car and I liked it -- it was like a tiny Indy. This time it's just gotten pretty sensitive because it's so flat.

Hopefully, for NASCAR and the race fans it will enable us to put on the show that they want and maybe the race will be followed a little bit more. Maybe we'll be able to pass a little more than we've been able to in the past.

We're looking forward to it, but it's just another weekend. The exciting thing about it is we'll go down there and try to win the race, but it's the last damn one (of the season) and then we can go out and kick around the woods for a couple months.

Q: How is everything going with the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation? Do you have any special events coming up?

Ward Burton: It's going very well. We've grown a lot in the last year. We hired a new director and we've secured a lot of new partners. We've done three banquets for ourselves as well as for other groups, like Return to Nature, which is our outreach program.

We've done fundraisers from Minnesota to Florida. We are still working hard to get our land acquisition done, so we're raising funds for that. As soon as that's done we're going to start raising funds for a small educational facility, which will be really a place where we can show conservation successes, as well as failures.

There, we'll have a place that's our model, where we can take children and teachers and landowners and introduce them to the outdoors and hopefully create passion in the youngsters, so they carry the torch for us, down the road.

We're creating reading curriculum courses for teachers so they can teach about the natural resources in the classroom. For landowners, we've got a lot of groups that we're teaming up with that can add a bunch of different types of assistance.

These guys that are private landowners or their families are private landowners in this country -- they love their land more than anything and they've worked their whole life for their land. They are good stewards, but at the same time every one of them has different goals for their land.

I feel like it's a responsibility to be able to show that here are some different ideas or some different ways that you can protect your land instead of just selling it to the highest bidder. We're excited about being able to make a difference.

Q: Is the land acquisition program centered mostly in Virginia?

Ward Burton: This first model is going to be in Virginia. We feel like we need to do that because we feel like right now we can make the biggest difference in Virginia.

But, just like the Wood Duck Challenge that we did in Minnesota. That was a program where the Big Brothers and Big Sisters went and got foster children and with the Future Farmers of America, those kids are going to put out wood duck boxes on those family-owned lands.

The Minnesota Wildlife Foundation was part of it, too. So we were able to bring in four different groups; with the children, Big Brothers and Sisters, Future Farmers of America, the Minnesota Wildlife Foundation and our organization and to team up and reach the children.

That's what it's all about and we've got to work hard because there's so many distractions that the kids have today that we didn't have when we were growing up. There are a lot of kids that don't have the outdoor role culture that I did.

When I was younger I took it for granted, but I don't anymore. That's what we have to work so hard on, so that they (children) carry the torch for us and take care of our natural resources down the road.

Q: What's your son, Jeb, been racing and where?

Ward Burton: We haven't raced any this summer. Jeb is real good. He's amazing, whether he's on a jet ski or go-karts down at Nag's Head -- he is good. But I have had to make Jeb buckle down a little bit and live up to some of his responsibilities like schoolwork.

I guess I am being kind of tough on him, but I want him to earn it. I can't give it to him on a silver platter -- nobody gave it to me that way. I do believe we'll be racing this coming spring and next summer, though, because he's starting to buckle down.

He's a good boy. He's just too much like I am. He's rebellious as hell and growing up. I don't know what he'll be racing. We're going to try to find a sponsor for him.

We don't live in Charlotte (N.C.) so we obviously can't go to Charlotte every week (to race in the Tuesday night Summer Shootout Legends Car series at Lowe's Motor Speedway) -- or I won't go to Charlotte every week. Probably we'll run some go-karts but we'll see what he wants to do and what fits in the schedule best for everybody.

Q: Can you believe your daughter, Sarah, is about to graduate from high school?

Ward Burton: No, I can't. She's a good girl (but) I can't believe the things that those girls (today) wear. As a dad, before she goes outside some of these times, I'm like, 'where are you going?'

I can remember when I was dating in my early 20s -- girls didn't dress that way. But she's real smart, got a great personality and she's a very caring girl. She's got good looks and I'm sure whatever she wants to do she's going to be successful at.

Q: I understand you got some new property, a beach house. Are you going to get to spend any time there?

Ward Burton: I've been down there twice, only (laughing). The first time was when we closed on it and the next time was in August when we went down there for a couple days. Actually, the family was there for about a week.

But we rent it out. That was the only week it was open the whole summer. It's a rental cottage and we're getting some good responses back from the people that have used it. They really liked it.

It's in Nags Head, right on the beach. It's something my wife always wanted. I don't know how much use she'll get out of it, but obviously more than me. Hopefully, it'll work out good for everybody.