AUSTIN, TX :: Merely one year after making his Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model (PLM) debut at Five Flags Speedway, 14-year-old Harrison Burton returns to the racetrack for another go around — andthis time, he’s on double duty.
Despite not having competed in the headlining Super Late Model event last year, Burton knows what to expect out of his first-ever Snowball Derby attempt — at least where competition is concerned.
“I’m expecting the Derby to be what the Snowball Derby is all about,” Burton said. “It’s a hugerace and everyone who’s good is going to be there — there are just going to be a whole lot ofgood cars there, and it’s going to be really steep competition.”
Those expectations — for the most part — stay in the realm of the competition level, however.Stepping up his Late Model schedule during the 2014 season and branching into Super LateModel (SLM) competition as well, Burton has had the chance to race with potentially some of his toughest competitors in addition to the new Late Model discipline.
As a result, Burton’s competition expectations remain firm. But for himself, he prefers rather tohave a set of highly aimed “goals” instead.
“It’s kind of hard to set expectations, but I feel like our goal is to be in contention for theseraces,” Burton said. “Obviously, winning the race is a huge, huge challenge, especially for theSnowball, but I feel like our goal is to be in contention — to put ourselves in the position to havean opportunity to win.”
Burton has been in that prime position several times this year among much of his fellowcompetition for his upcoming Derby attempt, especially when it counts. After recording third-place finishes in both the World Crown 300 and Rattler 250, Burton heads into the Derby withan air of confidence.
“We definitely have more experience, and experience leads to confidence,” Burton said. “We’vestepped up our competition level running in the Southern Super Series — running with DanielHemric, Bubba Pollard, Augie Grill, all those guys down there — there’s a lot of goodcompetition down there, and it’s definitely helped us a lot.”
Building off of competition experience from his most recent racing season won’t be the only thing that aids Burton in his first Derby attempt, however: the driver’s experience participating inlast year’s Snowflake 100 has provided some useful insight for the young driver as well.
“I think it helped us a lot by giving us a lot of experience with how much the track changes overnight and how important qualifying is there, for sure,” Burton said. “I think there are over 70cars registered, so qualifying is going to be very important to try to make that race.”
Burton will face the challenge of not only qualifying to secure one of those 34 non-provisionalspots available to competitors for the Derby, but also that of having more than one race to focus on. However, due to his racing background, Burton said that he thinks the double-duty challengewill actually help his chances at Five Flags Speedway.
“The old cars that I used to race, you would run probably eight races per day,” Burton said.“Every single kind of car was different, so I think my background from quarter midgets will helpme be able to change cars and get back into the right mindset of each car. It’ll really help me tobe able to adapt to getting out of a Super Late Model practice and go qualify in a Pro.”
Helping in that adaptation process will be father Jeff Burton, who the younger Burton says is transitioning into “a different kind of mindset of racing — more of a fan than a participant.” Andwhile the elder prefers to step back and let his son be the sole Burton competing in the Derby weekend, that fact isn’t entirely agreed upon between the two.
“It’s up to him, but I think it’d be really fun for me to race him [in the Derby],” Burton said. “Butthere’s so much going on that week that it’s a really tough thing to do to even run the Pro andthe Super, let alone two Pros or two Supers. It’s be a really tough workload for the guys at theshop, for sure.”
A fairly recent addition to that shop is Burton’s crew chief Freddie Query, who began workingwith the driver late in the 2013 season. Query, an accomplished Late Model driver turnedmentor, leaves Burton confident for his first Derby attempt due to Query’s experience in the raceitself and at its host track.
“Well, Freddie’s obviously a really experienced guy,” Burton said. “He’s doing a lot to help us setup wise, and he’s providing all those years of experience to help us with that. He’s doing areally good job in my opinion with how he provides his experience from Pro Cup racing and kindof applies that to modern Super Late Models.”
That experience will be valuable, as Burton said that “Five Flags Speedway is a challengingtrack by nature” — despite being a fast track, he noted that its roughness presents significantdifficulty. But despite the challenge, Burton remains confident in the combined experience of his team.
“I feel like we have gained a lot of experience by running [at Five Flags Speedway] in the past,” Burton said. “We’re slowing progressing and getting better every week, and I’m really excited for this race because I feel like we’re progressing to a point where we can be a contender in this race.”
With the goal of being a contender set in stone, Burton hopes plans to put himself in the positionto potentially hoist the Tom Dawson Memorial Trophy at the end of the day. But no matter whichcar ends up in the victor’s circle, Burton admits that it will be the rightful outcome.
“Whoever’s the winner deserves rightfully so, for sure,” Burton said. “I think that in the past it’s always been like that.”
