By Staff
In 2001 he ran 16 of the 25 scheduled races, including all of the super speedways and most of the intermediate tracks. In his second full-season as an ARCA regular, Burroughs put together nine Top 10s, ranking him fourth best in that category among 60 drivers. He finished 2620 points, bringing him in at a respectable 15th place on the points list, while claiming three finishes in the top five.
Early in the year he had his chances at a big breakthrough, but couldn't quite pull it off.
He finished sixth at the Gateway ARCA 150 in Madison, Ill., and seventh at the Kentucky ARCA 150 at Sparta, Ky., before blowing an engine in his No. 53 Pontiac Grand Prix at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte and coming in a disappointing 21st. Earlier in the year at Nashville he was fourth when he ran over some debris and cut his fan belts off. He had to go behind the wall and make repairs, sending him tumbling to a 27th place finish.
Burroughs took a fifth-place finish at the Pepsi ARCA 200 at the the Pocono Speedway in Long Pond, Penn., then claimed his best ever finish on Aug. 11, when he finished fourth at the Waste Management 200 in Nashville.
He closed the season out strong with an eighth-place finish at Chicagoland, another eighth at the Talladega Super speedway and a ninth-place finish in the season-ender in Atlanta.
Burroughs is definitely hands on when it comes to his diesel business and to his racing.
He himself put together the design to turn his 14,000-square-foot hangar into a first-rate garage, which includes two work areas and enough room to store all five of his race cars, his hauler and both airplanes.
His work area is immaculate, while his showroom displays several of his prize possessions, including the first car he ran at Talladega. The area also has plenty of room for a home entertainment center, a display area for his Harley Davidson, a wet bar, foosball table, a display case with one of his original driving suits and enough racing photos to grace a museum.
The Mississippi native has pumped a generous portion of his own money into his racing program and admits that he had a pretty good jump start when he decided to begin racing with ARCA.
Although Burroughs is sold out toward his goal of becoming a fixture in ARCA racing, he also says he has a business to run. That's where his skills as an airplane pilot come in handy.
While flying airplanes, which Burroughs said became a necessity when his business began to grow, helps him spend more time at the office between races, it also helps him become a better driver.
Burroughs says he believes he is very close to being able to crack the top five on almost every ARCA weekend.
Burroughs does have several sponsorships, including a current contract with Cooper tires to advertise on his car hauler.
While the Burroughs race team does have one full-time employee, he said that most of his help is volunteer. He also hires the pit crews from Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck teams to help him on race day.
Right now Burroughs' goal is a clear one, make it into the winners' circle at an ARCA race.
The 2002 season kicks off at Daytona when the ARCA/REMAX Series resumes on Feb. 10.