HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
A look at some of the people who shaped the sport
Nebraskan's career a great 'what if?' story
By RICK MINTER Cox News Service

BURDICK

There have been several drivers through the years who have mastered Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of this week's Kobalt Tools 500. The late Dale Earnhardt leads all drivers with nine AMS victories.

Bobby Labonte tops the current crop with six victories, but none of the track's past winners has a higher winning percentage than the 1961 Atlanta 500 champion. He was a newcomer to the track, a 24- year-old Nebraskan named Bob Burdick, who drove his father's Pontiac to a convincing win over Rex White.

But despite his success in his first Atlanta run, Burdick never came back, so his onefor one record is unmatched.

Burdick, now retired and living in Millard, Neb., is one of the big "what if ?" stories in NASCAR history.

He came to NASCAR young, handsome, talented and with a fast car that he and his father, Roy Burdick, prepared. In Burdick's first NASCAR start, he won the pole at Trenton, N.J. He finished second to Jim Reed in his first try at treacherous Darlington Raceway.

Including his victory at Atlanta, Burdick recorded two poles, three top-five and nine top-10 finishes in just 15 career starts. starts.

White said Burdick had what it took to be a superstar.

"If he'd stuck with it, he could have cut the mustard," White said.

But Burdick said NASCAR racing was just too tough at the time for an independent team based in faraway Nebraska.

"You just couldn't make a living doing it," he said. "It cost a lot to build the cars and get them across the country. At that time, I could make more money driving cars closer to home." In his entire NASCAR career, he earned $29,900.

But during the years, he has come to realize that his talents could have carried him a long way in NASCAR.

"I sure wish I'd stayed with it," he said. "I could have won a lot of races."

The one he did win, at Atlanta, sure didn't start that way.

His Pontiac was all but undriveable in the practices leading up to the 500. "We didn't know what was wrong with it," he said.

So he, his father and the crew - made up of some friends from home who had no previous racing experience - made wholesale changes to the car's suspension.

Their guesses were dead-on accurate.

"We never put any laps on it before the race, but once the race started, it just took off," Burdick said. Even losing positions on pit road because of his crew's inexperience didn't slow him for long. He took the lead when Marvin Panch broke an axle and he led the final 43 laps.

Burdick said he felt he could have won again, at Charlotte. "We were just getting started, and I got sick in the car," he said. "That's the only time that ever happened to me."

But just as his NASCAR career appeared to be on the fast track, it was over. He raced on for several years on the short tracks around Nebraska, then began making a living in the construction business.

Still, he has kept up with the sport, attends races on occasion and helped found the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame. And, he often gets asked about his brief, but stellar, career down South.

"I was a babe in the woods," he said. "But I had an awful lot of fun."

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