Todd Burns' consistent streak continued by picking up his tenth top-five finish out of the 11 AAA Late Model races this season in his Villa Roma/George Foreman Sausage Products Chevrolet. Unfortunately, lady luck was not on his side in the NASCAR Winston West King Taco 200.
Starting off with the 50-lap AAA Late Model main event, Burns started front row outside. He took the lead from pole-sitter Scott Youngren on the first lap and held it until lap nine when he was passed for the lead. Burns' challenged the leader on the restarts, but was unable to make it stick and took the checkered in the second position for his tenth top-five of the season. "We're pretty happy with this finish considering the circumstances. We only got in one practice session today. We'll gladly take second. The car's in one piece and we'll take her home and do our homework for this Saturday's race," said Burns.
All was not so well for the Burns Motorsports team in the Winston West King Taco 200. Burns qualified in the 16th position, placing him in the eighth row outside. At the green, Burns' Golden West Trailer Sales Pontiac started to march forward and was up to the 13th position. Burns pitted and took on right side tires, made a chassis adjustment, took on fuel, and was back out. The car liked the changes and was running pretty consistent. Near the halfway point after a restart, Burns found himself in the high line with two cars under him going into turn three. As they came out of turn four, Burns' Pontiac was forced into the turn four wall. His car made heavy contact and ended up airborne and eventually came down hard on the front straight. Burns' night was over due to substantial damage. A very disappointed Burns, "It's unfortunate circumstances here tonight. A lot of people were behind getting this car out here. The list is long but I have to start off by thanking Ray Claridge of Golden West Trailer Sales, Padco Carpet Cushion, Ron's Rear Ends, Maropulos Racing Engines, Ted Davidson Equipment Sales, HCS Cutler Construction Supplies, Accubanc Mortgage, Lee and Dee of Lee's Performance Products, Ringers, Nick Conti and Kenny Brown, and I'm sorry if I missed some, but a big thanks to all who helped make this happen. Last but not least my team. They are the most dedicated group of guys. Thanks to everyone."
The Burns Motorsports team will return to action at Irwindale Speedway this Saturday night, August 2nd. As reported in an earlier press release, Hall of Fame sportswriter Shav Glick wrote an article on Todd that was in last Friday's LA Times newspaper. -
