Twin Passions: Part One...
An Exclusive Interview With Ward Burton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 23, 2006
By Sharon Sherwood
Image Courtesy Ward Burton
At 11 years of age, a time when most boys are immersed in the lighthearted fun and frivolity of pre-adolescence, Ward Burton was spending his weekends at a rustic cabin in a remote section of the south central Virginia woods.
With the acceptance and approval of his parents, the young Burton roamed the forest along the Staunton River, communing with nature and learning about the land. The l,123-acre tract of land, now known as the Cove, was to later become the cornerstone of the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation.
The foundation, a true labor of love for the 2002 Daytona 500 winner, was inspired by his affinity for nature along with a deep sense of dedication to two special men: C.R. Sanders, a friend of the Burton family and previous owner of the Cove, and C.H Watts, another friend who owned property nearby.
Both men helped instill in Burton a love of the natural world that was to become a lifelong passion. In their final days both Sanders and Watts conveyed to Burton their desire to have him safeguard the land they cherished.
I recently spoke with Ward Burton by telephone from his home in Halifax County Virginia. For this two-part interview Burton graciously took time from his non-stop schedule to speak with me about wildlife conservation, stock car racing, and making a difference.
Question... What inspired you to create the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation?
Answer... I was brought up in a rural culture and influenced particularly by my grandfather, my dad and another individual, C.R. Sanders. I learned at an early age that I discovered a lot about myself through exploring the outdoors. I got a lot of the passion that I have now through outdoors activities, mainly fishing and hunting.
When I was a youngster I used the outdoors mainly for fun things to do. But as I got older I realized that the things that I enjoyed, the natural resources that I was able to use and the wildlife, need a lot of voices out there fighting for them. And through my racing success in particular I thought that I could make a difference. It’s a life long commitment. I didn’t do it for any media recognition. I really believe in it as strongly as if it was one of my children, literally.
Question... What is the foundation’s mission?
Answer... We need conservation out there. That is, teaching about proper stewardship -- how to use hunting not only as a management tool but as a way to create passion for the outdoors. Teaching how important but how fragile our natural resources are. Like a child we can nurture it and care for it or neglect it and abuse it. Kids are experiencing ‘nature deficit disorder’. They’re just not connected to the outdoors.
Question... Why do you think that children today are so disassociated from nature?
Answer... I don’t think that all children are. But I think much more than it was during the time I was growing up, because of the culture. The culture of living off the land is still there but we are much more busy and taken away from the home in order to make a living.
My role as a parent is more protective. I think we need to keep an eye on our children more. There are a lot of great organizations – 501c (Federal conservation organizations), 4-H. There are a lot of great programs out there, but no question that fishing and hunting numbers are going down. Civilization is changing and it’s changing quickly.
Question... What advice can you give to parents to help reverse this trend?
Answer... It’s a small thing yet it’s an easy thing. Even inner cities have resources within their state and locality. Take a kid fishing, take them to the state park, get them involved in 4-H, boy scouts, girl scouts, all kinds of outdoor activities. There are a lot of mediums to use it, and we all know that it’s out there. There is no one-stop source.
Question... It takes some effort, and perhaps gets put on the back burner?
Answer... It does, and the real answer the way to do it is through the school system. That’s a major, major initiative. The greatest thing in the world would be to teach natural resources indirectly through STM (Science, Technology and Mathematics.) Have programs within the schools that take kids outdoors and let them learn hands-on.
We’ve been having a lot of meetings on the federal side. Some folks right up at the top are very aware of what we’re talking about. We’re discussing some programs now about how to reach children and reach more landowners with all those federal, state and local programs which are available to them, to help them with the stewardship of the land. But there are no appropriations for the most part, for media or for education. And so it’s a hard thing.
Question... What kinds of activities are hosted through the foundation?
Answer... We work with a lot of different organizations. I just became the spokesperson for the National 4-H Shooting Sports. So we’re going to be creating some excitement around that program, which is a good one -- it’s got 300,000 some kids involved.
We’ve been working with NASA to do some video conferencing with 500 seventh graders in the Virginia school system. Those same kids will come to our conservation model and do hands on projects.
We recruit quite a few kids every year and teach them about shooting, and take them out hunting, one a month. Obviously, safety comes first
On the local side we’ve been really focused on getting our land paid for and acquiring the land for the model. We felt like first we needed a good site and we’ve got a really good site…the Cove, which is actually the place that I was partially brought up on through C.R. Sanders, who owned it.
Question... Does the Cove consist entirely of woodland?
Answer... It’s a wide diversity of habitat: wooded river bottoms, man made lakes, forestry management, WRP, which is like duck impoundment, wetlands. We’re improving and constructing roads to make some spots more accessible. I work on that very hard. I feel like that’s my responsibility because of the gentleman (C.R. Sanders) that left the land to my care. His desire was to have the land protected in some way. We bought up a lot of land around it.
One of the pieces of land came from a 100 year-old gentleman, C.H. Watts. He owned part of the plantation that Sanders owned so it was very important for me to get that piece. We had gotten to be pretty tight and he convinced his family to let me have first shots on it.
He told me on his deathbed to take care of it. He saw all the work I’d been doing and knew my heart was in the right place. He had done a good job of managing that farm before we got hold of it, too.
So I’ve had two people, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Watts…who before they passed away inspired me to do what was right by the land. So it runs a little deeper than just a piece of land.
Question... Do you have you own personal favorite spot at the Cove – a place you like to go to just think and unwind?
Answer... Well, way up the road on what used to be a state road, there’s a gate. It’s about a two-mile abandoned state road that gets to a little area I call “the blockhouse”, where we have a little house and all the farming equipment. The minute I go through that gate I’m unwinding. But there’s not really a favorite place…there are many acres and I make sure I see every one of them sometime during the course of…a month, anyway. I might not be racing at the moment but I’ve got so much going on.
Question... Your last Winston/Nextel cup race was in November 2004 driving the NetZero car for Haas CNC Racing. It has been suggested that your release from Haas was not handled honorably.
Answer... You know, there’s a changing of the guard in our civilization. There are a lot of good honest people out there and there are a lot of people out there that their word doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think that everybody down at Haas racing are bad people by any means, but there are some people that will do what they gotta do and it doesn’t matter who they stomp on.
But that daggone thing is in the past. You know, NetZero called me and said if you come -- we’re staying. So, you know…things change. The sport has changed and there’s a lot of money involved, and a lot of decisions being made. But there’s still a lot of great people in there too. With every experience you try to make a positive out of it. You try to live and learn. Sometime you might get the bad end of the stick but that’s life.
Question... In your view, how has the sport changed?
Answer... Well, the car. It’s the vehicles that make the difference today. It does not leave a lot of room for the driver to make up a lot. Experience doesn’t make as much difference as it used to.
But I’ve been real lucky. If I don’t get in the car again I’ve been real lucky and I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people. Racing has definitely allowed me to do a lot of stuff that I’m working on now.
I do feel like…not that I’m some hero, but that I’m kind of a waste of talent sometimes if I’m sitting at home on Sunday. But at the same time I feel like that I was, in some cases, blindly loyal and should have looked out for my career more. I just would always get emotions involved with some decisions and how it was going to affect other people.
Question... Instead of looking out for number one, so to speak?
Answer... Yeah, and at the end of the day I think that’s kind of what you need to do for the most part. You can still do it without necessarily hurting people. But I don’t know…I’ve got a good conscience at night.
Question... Well, you’re leaving the door open, correct? You haven’t hung up your helmet.
Answer... No. I’d have to get a new one, but nope. . .I haven’t hung my helmet up.
Tomorrow on Insider Racing News: Part Two of Sharon Sherwood’s exclusive interview with Ward Burton in which the driver speaks of winning the Daytona 500, what he is most proud of, and why you should never deter a child from his dreams.
An Exclusive Interview With Ward Burton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 23, 2006
By Sharon Sherwood
Image Courtesy Ward Burton
At 11 years of age, a time when most boys are immersed in the lighthearted fun and frivolity of pre-adolescence, Ward Burton was spending his weekends at a rustic cabin in a remote section of the south central Virginia woods.
With the acceptance and approval of his parents, the young Burton roamed the forest along the Staunton River, communing with nature and learning about the land. The l,123-acre tract of land, now known as the Cove, was to later become the cornerstone of the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation.
The foundation, a true labor of love for the 2002 Daytona 500 winner, was inspired by his affinity for nature along with a deep sense of dedication to two special men: C.R. Sanders, a friend of the Burton family and previous owner of the Cove, and C.H Watts, another friend who owned property nearby.
Both men helped instill in Burton a love of the natural world that was to become a lifelong passion. In their final days both Sanders and Watts conveyed to Burton their desire to have him safeguard the land they cherished.
I recently spoke with Ward Burton by telephone from his home in Halifax County Virginia. For this two-part interview Burton graciously took time from his non-stop schedule to speak with me about wildlife conservation, stock car racing, and making a difference.
Question... What inspired you to create the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation?
Answer... I was brought up in a rural culture and influenced particularly by my grandfather, my dad and another individual, C.R. Sanders. I learned at an early age that I discovered a lot about myself through exploring the outdoors. I got a lot of the passion that I have now through outdoors activities, mainly fishing and hunting.
When I was a youngster I used the outdoors mainly for fun things to do. But as I got older I realized that the things that I enjoyed, the natural resources that I was able to use and the wildlife, need a lot of voices out there fighting for them. And through my racing success in particular I thought that I could make a difference. It’s a life long commitment. I didn’t do it for any media recognition. I really believe in it as strongly as if it was one of my children, literally.
Question... What is the foundation’s mission?
Answer... We need conservation out there. That is, teaching about proper stewardship -- how to use hunting not only as a management tool but as a way to create passion for the outdoors. Teaching how important but how fragile our natural resources are. Like a child we can nurture it and care for it or neglect it and abuse it. Kids are experiencing ‘nature deficit disorder’. They’re just not connected to the outdoors.
Question... Why do you think that children today are so disassociated from nature?
Answer... I don’t think that all children are. But I think much more than it was during the time I was growing up, because of the culture. The culture of living off the land is still there but we are much more busy and taken away from the home in order to make a living.
My role as a parent is more protective. I think we need to keep an eye on our children more. There are a lot of great organizations – 501c (Federal conservation organizations), 4-H. There are a lot of great programs out there, but no question that fishing and hunting numbers are going down. Civilization is changing and it’s changing quickly.
Question... What advice can you give to parents to help reverse this trend?
Answer... It’s a small thing yet it’s an easy thing. Even inner cities have resources within their state and locality. Take a kid fishing, take them to the state park, get them involved in 4-H, boy scouts, girl scouts, all kinds of outdoor activities. There are a lot of mediums to use it, and we all know that it’s out there. There is no one-stop source.
Question... It takes some effort, and perhaps gets put on the back burner?
Answer... It does, and the real answer the way to do it is through the school system. That’s a major, major initiative. The greatest thing in the world would be to teach natural resources indirectly through STM (Science, Technology and Mathematics.) Have programs within the schools that take kids outdoors and let them learn hands-on.
We’ve been having a lot of meetings on the federal side. Some folks right up at the top are very aware of what we’re talking about. We’re discussing some programs now about how to reach children and reach more landowners with all those federal, state and local programs which are available to them, to help them with the stewardship of the land. But there are no appropriations for the most part, for media or for education. And so it’s a hard thing.
Question... What kinds of activities are hosted through the foundation?
Answer... We work with a lot of different organizations. I just became the spokesperson for the National 4-H Shooting Sports. So we’re going to be creating some excitement around that program, which is a good one -- it’s got 300,000 some kids involved.
We’ve been working with NASA to do some video conferencing with 500 seventh graders in the Virginia school system. Those same kids will come to our conservation model and do hands on projects.
We recruit quite a few kids every year and teach them about shooting, and take them out hunting, one a month. Obviously, safety comes first
On the local side we’ve been really focused on getting our land paid for and acquiring the land for the model. We felt like first we needed a good site and we’ve got a really good site…the Cove, which is actually the place that I was partially brought up on through C.R. Sanders, who owned it.
Question... Does the Cove consist entirely of woodland?
Answer... It’s a wide diversity of habitat: wooded river bottoms, man made lakes, forestry management, WRP, which is like duck impoundment, wetlands. We’re improving and constructing roads to make some spots more accessible. I work on that very hard. I feel like that’s my responsibility because of the gentleman (C.R. Sanders) that left the land to my care. His desire was to have the land protected in some way. We bought up a lot of land around it.
One of the pieces of land came from a 100 year-old gentleman, C.H. Watts. He owned part of the plantation that Sanders owned so it was very important for me to get that piece. We had gotten to be pretty tight and he convinced his family to let me have first shots on it.
He told me on his deathbed to take care of it. He saw all the work I’d been doing and knew my heart was in the right place. He had done a good job of managing that farm before we got hold of it, too.
So I’ve had two people, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Watts…who before they passed away inspired me to do what was right by the land. So it runs a little deeper than just a piece of land.
Question... Do you have you own personal favorite spot at the Cove – a place you like to go to just think and unwind?
Answer... Well, way up the road on what used to be a state road, there’s a gate. It’s about a two-mile abandoned state road that gets to a little area I call “the blockhouse”, where we have a little house and all the farming equipment. The minute I go through that gate I’m unwinding. But there’s not really a favorite place…there are many acres and I make sure I see every one of them sometime during the course of…a month, anyway. I might not be racing at the moment but I’ve got so much going on.
Question... Your last Winston/Nextel cup race was in November 2004 driving the NetZero car for Haas CNC Racing. It has been suggested that your release from Haas was not handled honorably.
Answer... You know, there’s a changing of the guard in our civilization. There are a lot of good honest people out there and there are a lot of people out there that their word doesn’t mean anything. I don’t think that everybody down at Haas racing are bad people by any means, but there are some people that will do what they gotta do and it doesn’t matter who they stomp on.
But that daggone thing is in the past. You know, NetZero called me and said if you come -- we’re staying. So, you know…things change. The sport has changed and there’s a lot of money involved, and a lot of decisions being made. But there’s still a lot of great people in there too. With every experience you try to make a positive out of it. You try to live and learn. Sometime you might get the bad end of the stick but that’s life.
Question... In your view, how has the sport changed?
Answer... Well, the car. It’s the vehicles that make the difference today. It does not leave a lot of room for the driver to make up a lot. Experience doesn’t make as much difference as it used to.
But I’ve been real lucky. If I don’t get in the car again I’ve been real lucky and I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people. Racing has definitely allowed me to do a lot of stuff that I’m working on now.
I do feel like…not that I’m some hero, but that I’m kind of a waste of talent sometimes if I’m sitting at home on Sunday. But at the same time I feel like that I was, in some cases, blindly loyal and should have looked out for my career more. I just would always get emotions involved with some decisions and how it was going to affect other people.
Question... Instead of looking out for number one, so to speak?
Answer... Yeah, and at the end of the day I think that’s kind of what you need to do for the most part. You can still do it without necessarily hurting people. But I don’t know…I’ve got a good conscience at night.
Question... Well, you’re leaving the door open, correct? You haven’t hung up your helmet.
Answer... No. I’d have to get a new one, but nope. . .I haven’t hung my helmet up.
Tomorrow on Insider Racing News: Part Two of Sharon Sherwood’s exclusive interview with Ward Burton in which the driver speaks of winning the Daytona 500, what he is most proud of, and why you should never deter a child from his dreams.
