Riding shotgun with Ward Burton

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- It was an overcast Thursday morning before the Pocono race weekend and I was staring down the barrel of a shotgun waiting for a bird to fly.

"Pull!"

POP!

Thunder reverberated in the crisp air.

"You need to lean into it," said Ward Burton in a fatherly tone, as he loaded my gun for round two. "Let the gun become part of your body."

You would think growing up in Virginia I would have inherited some cultural ability to handle a firearm, but clearly my region of Virginia (northern) and Burton's (southern) didn't meet.

ALSO  Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation site

I readied the gun against my right shoulder, leveled it with my left arm, and as that Fourth of July gunpowder smell filled my nose, I yelled out, "Pull!"

POP!

Nothing but air, but I'm getting closer.

EMAIL Email Elliott

"You were just under that one," Burton said, encouragingly.

"Pull!" I yelled. POP!

"You were just over it," Burton said. "Keep it up!"

As it turns out, the fourth time is a charm. I broke the clay pigeon.

"There you go," Burton said in his recognizable South Boston accent. "All it takes is practice."

VIDEO CLIPS Burton gives lessons to NASCAR.COM's Elliott Gordon Play video Burton discusses his Wildlife Foundation Play video Petty recaps his shooting performance Play video

From what I can tell by looking at the company Burton is keeping this morning, it takes a lot of practice, even if I did amaze myself and hit three of the next four birds.

The company I am referring to are over 100 "trappers" as the shooters are called, as well as some former Pittsburgh Steelers and current Nextel Cup drivers Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, Kyle Petty and Greg Biffle.

We've all traveled to the middle of Pennsylvania to the Shooting Academy at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa. It's an effort to support the inaugural Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation Sporting Clays Shoot charity event.

For background, the mission behind Burton's Wildlife Foundation is to promote awareness of the need for wildlife conservation, habitat enhancement and proper stewardship of natural resources through preservation and education. The foundation currently owns approximately 1,000 acres, with goals of owning around 2,500.

	Casey Mears readies his shotgun.

While I certainly believed I would be spending the majority of the day "working" at chronicling this event, Burton was out to make sure I would walk away from this experience with an appreciation of the sport, and of course that meant more shooting.

But before I could scale another platform, the thunder in the forest was dampened by the thunder in the sky as the rains came. Did that bother Burton? Nope.

"I am game for shooting in the rain if the rest of you all are," Burton smiled as we huddled inside a gazebo on the course.

As we waited for the downpour to subside, Burton broke into stories about turkey hunting with his uncle and how he is teaching his two-year-old son Ashton the difference between "good" snakes and "bad" snakes. It is pretty clear at this point that while most people know Burton as a driver, he is truly a man's man, a son's father away from the track.

When the storm passed and the event was back on track, the caravan continued along the 20-plus shooting stations. At the final station, I was summoned once again by Burton to the platform, this time to take my chances against a bird being fired out from right to left, followed by a "rabbit" (which is a clay pigeon being shot low to the ground so that it skips against the rocks).

	Kyle Petty (left) receives instructions as to where the bird will fly.

"Let's just try the bird for now," Burton told the Shooting Academy instructor as I was handed my shotgun.

Obviously Burton was still cautiously optimistic about my shooting skills, especially given the fact that I am right-handed and apparently left-eye dominant. This doesn't make for a good combination when trying to line up a shotgun in the formal, and appropriate, posture.

"Pull." Pop! There goes a branch ...

"Pull." Pop! There goes a stump ...

"Pull." Pop! "Pull." Pop! Two more air balls. Apparently this wasn't as easy as I thought it was about two hours ago.

And with that, Burton's fatherly hand reached out, removed the gun from my hands and gave it back to the instructor.

	Greg Biffle

At this point I couldn't figure out which hurt more, my pride or my left forearm after holding that gun up for so long. That is, until I spoke with Biffle.

"So, how did you do?" I asked Biffle.

"I only missed three or four," he chuckled.

After seeing the astonished look at my face, he finished that sentence with "at every station."

At least now I know whom I need as my partner for the second annual event.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. This event raised over $50,000 for Burton's foundation.