{"id":4992,"date":"2008-08-19T13:27:43","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T18:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/100.24.212.105\/?p=4992"},"modified":"2010-11-19T13:46:33","modified_gmt":"2010-11-19T19:46:33","slug":"burley-locked-into-mr-dirtcar-358-modified-title-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dirtcar.com\/dirtcar-ne\/358-modifieds\/burley-locked-into-mr-dirtcar-358-modified-title-chase\/","title":{"rendered":"Burley Locked Into Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Title Chase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Todd Burley - Alex Bruce Photo<\/p><\/div>\n
Weedsport, NY<\/strong> \u2014 August 19, 2008 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing NorthEast PR Director \n*Alex Bruce Photo<\/strong><\/p>\n
Todd Burley is the two-time defending Small-Block points champion at Ransomville Speedway and captured the overall Hoosier Tire Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman title in 1992. Next up for the Spencerport, New York racer may be the coveted Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship, a crowning achievement in a career that has already spanned more than two decades of success on the DIRTcar Racing NorthEast circuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to win the Ransomville title again and a top-3 in the Mr. DIRT race would even be okay,\u201d said Burley, 37, who currently ranks second in both point hunts as the regular season counts down at DIRTcar tracks throughout the region. \u201cExperience is everything and we\u2019ve been around long enough to have a shot now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a big learning curve when it comes to running on the road. You have to figure out a lot of new places and gain some track knowledge, then find out who you can race with. Starting out I always tried to run along with the full-time racers, they needed to cut a pay check every time out so they didn\u2019t wreck. Having good enough equipment to get the job done is also important if you want to make it through the whole season and have a chance at the end,\u201d remarked Burley, who has every facet of the game covered now in his 2008 short-track campaign strategy.<\/p>\n
Also a DIRTcar Big-Block Modified regular this season at Canandaigua Speedway on Saturdays, Burley finished fifth in overall Mr. DIRT 358-Modified Championship points in both 2000 and ’01, placing 16th last year after recording a pair of top-fives in just three tour starts. The \u2018Tornado\u2019 garnered his first DIRTcar 358 track title at Utica-Rome in 2001 and has parked in victory lane on 52 occasions, including four times —all at Ransomville— in 2008 Small-Block competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys like Pete (Bicknell) and Danny (O\u2019Brien) have been on the road before and can win any time, and if Dale (Planck) was following this whole series he would be the man to beat,\u201d figured Burley, who trails Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block runner-up Planck by just five markers in the 358-Modified Series point standings after two events. With four wins each on the homefront, Burley and Bicknell are separated by a single point at Ransomville after Todd\u2019s mount suffered a broken spindle last Friday.<\/p>\n
Planck copped the tour opener at Merrittville (Ont.) Speedway and followed up with third-place in the Ransomville \u2018Summer Nationals\u2019 while Burley settled for fourth on Canadian soil and returned stateside to claim the $6,800 top prize on the ridge. Both will be chasing a $4,000 winner\u2019s share when the Mr. DIRTcar 358 Championship Series arrives at Mohawk Int\u2019l Raceway for the Akwesasne 100 sponsored by the Mohawk Bingo Palace and Casino on Thursday, August 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect Dale to be strong again at (Mohawk) where he\u2019s won a couple times and the track regulars are always contenders on hometurf. I remember the place being fast and dark, and I know the track is a lot different than what we race on closer to home. The surface is almost too fast, its always heavy. You run out of tear-offs after lap 20 and it doesn\u2019t start drying out until 40 laps are in. It\u2019s a 100 laps so being up front at the end will be just as important as getting there,\u201d Burley noted.<\/p>\n
Sporting his familiar blue & white Bashore Trucking no. 5 New York Pizzeria\/Bicknell ride in the initial tour events and throughout the season, Burley plans to transplant his JanCen 358 cubic-inch powerplant to the orange no. 89B BRP entry that is recognized weekly at Canandaigua in the Big-Block ranks. After Labor Day, he expects the no. 5 car to carry him the rest of the way through the Eastern States Weekend finale at Orange County Fair Speedway in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to take the number five car to Mohawk but I want to save it for Ransomville,\u201d said Burley, who ranks third all-time at Ransomville with 27 DIRTcar 358-Modified feature wins. \u201cI still need some bonus points towards the Mr. DIRT title and only have a couple weeks left to get it done. I had the lead there all season and wouldn\u2019t you know it, I break and Pete wins and now I\u2019m behind \u2026 what are the odds?\u201d<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t lay out any odds too early against Burley, who has also won at Mohawk —known as Frogtown Int\u2019l Speedway— when he scored a Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship trail victory in 1994. His first two 358-Modified tour wins were both taken on foreign soil when he won a pair of century grinds in 2000 at Autodrome Edelweiss so he\u2019s comfortable shaking up new ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I have as good a shot at winning as most of the top teams,\u201d added Burley, now a father of two children, Allison (3 yrs.) and Spencer (15 mos.) with fiancee Valerie, and co-owner of Fine Line Fabrication with his shop located in Byron, New York. The Spencerport native entered the DIRTcar Sportsman class at Canandaigua Speedway in 1991 following a successful go-cart career that was highlight by the 1989 World Karting Association (WKA) Grand National Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably a little more laid back now with the kids and I cut back the schedule but it\u2019s the weather that\u2019s hurt everybody around here the most. Running the Big-Block at Canandaigua keeps me in shape as there\u2019s no pacing yourself in a 35-lapper against guys like Steve (Paine), Gary (Tomkins) and Matt (Sheppard). They\u2019re more aggressive and that makes you work even harder for a good finish,\u201d added Burley, who registered his first career Big-Block feature win at Canandaigua earlier this summer — ironically when Paine, Tomkins and Sheppard were out of town in Advance Series action at Autodrome Drummond in the province of Quebec.<\/p>\n
All the DIRTcar 358 stars will be signing in to join Burley at Mohawk on Thursday, including series points leader Planck and top-five runners Bicknell (4th) and Chad Brachmann (5th). Also expected in the MIR mix are tour travelers Carey Terrance and Danny O\u2019Brien along with leading rookie candidates Tommy Flannigan and Larry Wight. The list of local favorites is headlined by top track point earners John Lazore, rookie Mitchell Jock, Jeff Marshall and Delbert LeGrow.<\/p>\n
Action gets underway on Thursday with pit gates opening at 4 o\u2019clock, grandstand seating beginning at 5:30 p.m., time trials going off the line at 6:30 and qualifying heats getting the first green at 7 p.m. sharp!<\/p>\n