Claire B. Lang interviews Ward Burton

Claire B. Lang on her "Dialed In" show on XM Satellite NASCAR Radio had a compelling chat with Ward Burton, who after parting ways with NetZero has decided also not to race the 47 Acxiom Chevrolet in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend. He says he's taking some time to figure out his next step.

Claire B. Lang

Claire: Ward, I want to tell you, kind of confusing about all that has transpired the last two days. The direction I thought things were going, that I had figured in my head from what I thought and heard in the garage, it ended up sort of changing this week, and so you are out of the Cup ride, and you also made a decision to be out of the truck that you were going to drive, the Acxiom Chevy. So, talk about, if you would, kind of your thoughts about the decision on the Cup ride.

Ward: Well, obviously I was somewhat shocked at the decision of releasing me from not only my contract for duty, but verbal commitments that we had made to each other for the '04 season, but it seems that's the way they conduct business there. They've got a pretty good track record of doing that to individuals so I guess I shouldn't have been shocked. Obviously it wasn't a decision, it was a notice to me, so I am a little bit angry about it, embarrassed as well. So, you know, it's the old saying and it's true -- you give 100 percent of what you can control, and the things you can't control you live with them, you go with the flow and learn from them.

Claire: You know Ward, you are an old-school driver in the sense that a handshake is good for you. You're very much about loyalty. Times have changed a little bit in the big-marketing, corporate, big-money world. How did they tell you about this, and you thought you were staying, just so I know, until the end of the season. Is that right?

Ward: Yes ma'am. Received a phone call, was working at my wildlife foundation finishing up a project. Happened to be walking by the truck around 10:30 and received a phone call was how I was notified.

Claire: Did you get a strange idea when your crew chief was replaced with Bootie Barker all of a sudden? And Bootie's a good crew chief, but it seemed to me at the time they were looking ahead beyond you when they changed the crew chief because you liked your crew chief.

AUDIO An emotional Ward Burton talks with Claire B. Lang about being released from the NetZero Chevy.

Ward: Well, I liked the first crew chief I had too, in Tony Furr. Tony had done a good job. We weren't all the way where we needed to be, but we were averaging probably about a 17th-place finish, if you take out the blown motors. I don't know, it's been a lot of change. There's been other people that were just released, and I guess I'm in a sense lucky that I can still have reserves to feed my family, but a lot of these people do depend on these jobs not only to feed their families, but to pay their bills and they have the same concerns all of us have when we have responsibilities and family.

I'm not sitting in here trying to create a bag of dirty laundry for someone else. I will say, and the last thing I feel I need to say about the way they conduct business at Haas Racing is we grew up a Southern sport with Southern traditions, and I just don't think they have the morals that is capable of carrying on that kind of tradition, and they prove it in their actions.

Claire: You're saying that in the old tradition that when someone told you that the ride was going to last through the rest of the year, you assumed their word was good?

Ward: Well, if I tell you something Claire, I'm going to do my very best to make it happen. If I can't make it happen, it's going to be an unusual situation. You don't have to have contracts. If you look at what Richard Childress is doing, looking at what Penske is doing with the No. 77, Richard Childress is doing with the No. 31, it's pretty good knowledge that they're going to part ways but they're finishing out their contract together, and that's the honorable way to do it. And a frank way of saying it was I was not treated that way.

Claire: And you have no understanding why except they wanted to move on?

Ward: Well, they felt like it was a pretty good chance we were not going to be together next year, so they wanted to start trying out and trying to put the pieces together ,which is fine, but without going into any more details about it, you know about as much as I do about it. It's just one of those things I can't control right now.

Claire: What about the No. 47 Acxiom Chevy Celebrity All-Star Silverado. You thanked them for asking you to be a part of it, but you said due to the recent turn of events you've asked them to find a replacement driver for Darlington. Can you tell us about that?

Ward Burton

Ward: Well, first of all, I appreciate everything Chevrolet has done. Tony Furr and I went to bat in a big way in asking and pleading with Chevrolet to support this team. Shortly after that, they asked if I would drive this truck and the main reason I was willing to do it was the support they gave this Haas team. In saying that, I will also say that going to Darlington and not being in the Cup race on Sunday in the car that I had driven all year mentally was somewhat hard for me to get up to, to go and just drive the truck. I also say when it comes to my family, particularly my great little buddy that's 12 years old, Jeb, my middle child, he's having somewhat of a tough time with what has transpired, and he may ask me the same questions ten times, it may be twenty times. I just feel like that for my family and for my peace of mind to get my thoughts together that I should go spend time with him and go to where I understand the best, and that's the outdoors this weekend.

Claire: You're a good driver Ward Burton, we had people calling this week who said, well, maybe they thought you were going to Bang racing, and they said, well, you know, Ward's a good driver, he could go to several places. Are you wanting to go back and drive, are there a lot of opportunities for next year open that would be of the caliber? I don't think you're going to go back to something that isn't good, that you can't perform, that would be like beating your head against the wall or something.

Ward: Well, I definitely don't want to do that, because it's no fun not having a fighting chance. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, ya know, everything that I stand for, and everything that I believe is either in the black side or in the white side, but I don't live in hardly any gray area. Everything I stand for is either black or white. So, even talking about this right now is somewhat hard for me because it's somewhat a gray area, and I don't have the answers for it. We do know it's November, and, you know, Daytona will start in what, eight, 10, 12 weeks.

Claire: Yea.

Ward: So it's not going to leave a lot of options for me. I know I still want to race, and no, I don't want to give up what I have enjoyed and been so lucky to be involved with in NASCAR racing. At the same time, I need time to regroup and think what I want to do, and there's a lot of things that I'm certainly very interested in, (things) I think I can be a benefit to. So it's something that is trying for me right now, but it's another chapter and I'll get through it.

Claire: Well I want to talk about one thing right now that I think is worth mentioning: There are so many people in life, whether they're first in points or 20th in points, who don't have anything else besides their racing. A lot of them do have Victory Junction Gang camp or whatever, but you have the foundation, your wildlife foundation, which is obviously something that gets your heart beating. So you're a step ahead of everybody no matter how big the trophies are, because a lot of people in life don't have something like that where they have found their niche where they can give back. You're pretty dedicated to that right now, racing or not racing.

Ward: Well I didn't find it, it's been me ever since I was a little boy when I was catching crawfish behind the creek, or find out where the chipmunk lives, or learning how a turkey was protecting her nest, and all those things that I'm trying to give back now as well as a lot of other people; it's who I am. I probably could have been better off in my career if I had moved to Charlotte. But I cannot -- I could not ignore -- and I cannot face the fact that I would not be able to make a difference on a weekly basis. I mean just today we were drawing the children's name and the teacher's name that's going to light the Virginia tree, the first time the capital tree of lightning the Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. and I was the spokesperson for (that). Also today, I was at the Appomattox 4-H Center where we've got a $10 million campaign to build a conservational education facility. You know, that's who I am, and I got to do the best I can while I'm healthy enough and still on this earth to do it and, it's just something I feel very strongly about.

Claire: You are a very serious, and focused and true guy. If you said, I'll call you back at 5:15 and I said, well you're probably having a million calls, you said you'd call be back at 5:15, and 5:15, we're on the phone. Are you getting phone calls from people that are like, come here, go there, there are some slots, there's some stuff at Richard Childress? If you look across the board there are some slots; do you know what you want to do?

Ward: I would love to be able to get in a competitive (team) and be around people that, not that I'm an angel, believe in the things I believe in. Whether that will happen or not this year, or down the road, Claire, I'm not sure. Yes, the phone has rang some, I'm just not sure right now. I'm undecided on what I want to do. I want to race. I've got so many relationships that have been built over the years that I'm very proud of, created a lot of friendships. The sport of NASCAR, is second to none. The leadership in NASCAR has -- the Mike Heltons, the Jim Hunters of the world -- are second to none and they're great people. At the same time, I just don't know right now. I hate even talking about things that are in a gray area, but it is a gray area because I don't have the answers to them.

Claire: One thing that really strikes me, Ward, is that there isn't a lot of time for making wrong decisions on rides, be it a young race car driver or a guy who gets slipped up in a decision that you made, you go to the wrong team. To make a wrong decision is really pretty tough; you have to make all the right decisions, don't you? Isn't that kind of one of the hard parts of our sport?

Ward: Well, it's tough, and you know, any time that you're in a competitive, put-numbers-on-the-board sport, there are going to be things that can happen that are unexpected. I do think that people should still handle themselves in a gentlemanly, honest -- not a deceitful -- manner. But you know, I think particularly the young guys that are getting in the sport, they're getting offers that are once-in-a-lifetime offers. And in a lot of cases, they're great offers. At the same time, I think in a lot of cases they should be getting some outside council of what's fair and what's not. So, no, you don't always look after No. 1, but you know what's right and what's wrong.

And I see a lot of people that could be taken advantage of and at the same time a lot of opportunities for, whether it's a crew member or a future car owner or a driver. But there's a lot of things that, you know, there's a song that I wish I could tell you, there's a lot of things that I think someone -- from what I've been through, the good and the bad -- could give some sound advice. And even when it comes to long-term planning of knowing who's to trust and form allies that you look ahead financially so that you protect yourself down the road -- so just a lot of things that, you know, anytime that you're in business that you need to look after.

Claire: Ward, can't you hold them to a contract? You said you have a handshake, a contract you could hold them to, or does that not hold up in our sport much anymore?

Ward: It doesn't seem to hold up in the sport, I think, if you look at what Richard Childress is doing, and what Penske is doing with their two drivers, you know, they're doing the honorable thing of what the contract says, but also, what's right.

Claire: It's good for the driver too.

Ward: Well, you gotta look after all parties. I mean, yeah, if they're going to change the 31, I don't mean to keep harping on this -- but it's been something that's been in the media, we've all seen it -- if they're going to change it, they could go ahead and change it and replace him now. But that's not what they agreed to do. And so, it wouldn't be the right thing to do, whether you have a contract or not. And I think people like Childress honor and respect those type of morals.

Claire: Because they're in it, and I can't speak for Richard, but Richard told me, he was on this channel with me, that he respects (Robby Gordon), that he never knows that down the road he could work with him, the never burn-the-bridges type of thing. They're in it for the long term, that Richard Childress is in it for the long term by doing it that way. He never knows when it'll come back around, and he may need a Robby Gordon, he'll never know.

Ward: No, you never know, and it's a small world, and I'm not trying to burn bridges now, but obviously I'm a little bit angry. I'm a little bit humiliated the way I was treated and it's hard not to say it somewhat, but at the same time I'm not going to sit here and say much more because I've probably said enough, but I would like to say a little bit more but it's not going to do me or anybody else any good.

Claire: Well, let me tell you this: No need to be humiliated, because there were callers on this channel yesterday, I know there's a Web site, I'm going to find the name of it, it's Ward Burton something, for Ward, I'll find it, (22fastfoward.com, a fan site) I heard about it today where they're just e-mailing like crazy, they're dropping their NetZero, they're mad, some of the fans are. I know there's no need to be humiliated because people know how this stuff comes down the pike, things sometimes just go this way, but a lot of people still think you are, if you want to, a great driver and have a great opportunity if indeed that is what you decide to do. Anything else you want people to know about how you're doing?

You're going to go off into the woods and gosh, you know, to me, my perspective, I can't think of anything better than to have a free weekend when you're as exhausted as the end of the season brings you to go be with your boy. You're building, you know, somebody told me one time, I said what do you do for a living, and the man said, I'm a construction worker, I'm building a boy, he was the father of a boy, and I thought that was so cool. So in a way, you'll have that kinda peaceful time to think about it this weekend. But is there anything else you want to tell people about where you're at?

Ward: Well, I guess two things. You know, I don't know if I was ever a great driver. But I do know I'm better than what I've been doing. I do know I've been a good driver. I think I've been a fair driver and done the right things on and off the track. I also want to say, you know ... the amount of support that fans and family members have shown over the years, it's been really humbling. And, whatever happens, it's been a hell of a ride and I don't have any regrets.

Claire: I'm going to leave it at that, I don't know who could have said it better. We had a lot of calls here yesterday that said they love Ward Burton. Ward, you are a good driver, and if you do come back, the one reason you want to do that, is to show you're better than the last program you were at, I feel very humbled that you would call on the air and talk to me, and share your heart with me, which means you're sharing your heart with the fans, and they love that -- and I want to say thank you. And Ward, if I can do anything, you let me know, OK?

Ward: Alright I will, Claire, and you always do a great job.

Claire: Alright, Ward, thanks a million, and you take care, OK?

Ward: OK.

Courtesy of XM Satellite Radio