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LAS VEGAS (October 23, 2006) -- Back in early August, Phil Burkart and his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team headed to the northern woods of Minnesota for the NHRA's annual visit to Brainerd. He barely qualified there, landing 16th for race day, and then was summarily dismissed from Sunday's proceedings in the first round. At that time, Burkart was sitting 11th in points, but in real danger of falling even further. He had won all of two rounds in his last 10 races, and was looking for a quick turn-around to salvage his season.
Since that disappointing Sunday up Brainerd way, Burkart has done just that. His record of 6-5 in the last six races includes a pair of second-round finishes and a huge race victory in Reading. From 11th place, falling like an anchor, he moved as high as 9th and now sits in 10th, though the 8th spot is just a whisper away. In picking up those round wins, he has been the one doing much of the dismissing, and the likes of Ron Capps, John Force, Robert Hight, Jim Head, and Gary Scelzi (twice) make up the hit list. Now, it's on to Las Vegas and Burkart is aiming to finish strong.
"We did mess up in Richmond, at the last race, but other than that we've been a very competitive group for the last couple of months," Burkart said. "It's one thing to be 6-5 at the last six races, but the truth is even better than the raw numbers. That's a 6-5 mark against some of the toughest teams in the world. It happened that way because we're still not qualifying as well as we'd like, and we have a tendency to face really fast cars in round one, but since mid-August we've been beating a lot of those cars.
"Now, our goal is to finish 8th in the points. We're in 10th right now, but we're only six little points behind Cruz Pedregon, and Whit Bazemore is just 26 points ahead of us. With Whit being on the sidelines right now, we have to assume that both Cruz and I will go right past him, so the goal is to win more rounds than Cruz does to maximize our season. We want to finish 8th, and for me that would be a career best."
The year 2006 and the term "career best" have not often been closely associated when referring to Team CSK, so Burkart's potential move up to the No. 8 spot would be a big pick-me-up for a frustrated group of racers. Only once in his 9-year career has Burkart been on the stage at the awards ceremony, when he took his place in the POWERade top ten by finishing 10th in 2004. Knowing he faces an opportunity to clearly accomplish something good at the end of a challenging season is not lost on the popular blue team driver.
"To say this year has been challenging is putting it way too lightly," Burkart said. "I've heard all the terms, including 'frustrating' and 'agonizing' and all they really mean is that we've had a bad year. Both of the CSK cars have run well, sometimes very well, but we don't have the results to show for that. We busted out a little in Reading, and it really felt good to do that, but the points thing might be even more important.
"If we can finish 8th, or even 9th for that matter, that's a solid piece of evidence that all was not lost on the 2006 tour. In one little way, we improved and we did something better than we've done before, as a group. I just don't want to mess around with the 9th thing at all, I want to finish 8th. I know Cruz and his guys are just as determined to not let that happen, but we'll play it out and see where we land. I know we're headed to Vegas, so I'll throw the pun out there and say 'Don't bet against us'."
Plenty of people have bet against Burkart and his blue CSK squad this year, and lately they've been losing a lot of those bets. They'd be far wiser to avoid such wagers for the rest of this season, and they might think of placing a small marker next to Burkart's name this weekend, when select Las Vegas casinos run a betting line for the NHRA event. With the opening line ranking Burkart at 12-1, a nice little payday could accompany another hot Sunday.
BURKART'S LATE-SEASON SURGE COULD USE A VEGAS PAYOFF
LAS VEGAS (October 23, 2006) -- Back in early August, Phil Burkart and his Checker, Schuck's, Kragen team headed to the northern woods of Minnesota for the NHRA's annual visit to Brainerd. He barely qualified there, landing 16th for race day, and then was summarily dismissed from Sunday's proceedings in the first round. At that time, Burkart was sitting 11th in points, but in real danger of falling even further. He had won all of two rounds in his last 10 races, and was looking for a quick turn-around to salvage his season.
Since that disappointing Sunday up Brainerd way, Burkart has done just that. His record of 6-5 in the last six races includes a pair of second-round finishes and a huge race victory in Reading. From 11th place, falling like an anchor, he moved as high as 9th and now sits in 10th, though the 8th spot is just a whisper away. In picking up those round wins, he has been the one doing much of the dismissing, and the likes of Ron Capps, John Force, Robert Hight, Jim Head, and Gary Scelzi (twice) make up the hit list. Now, it's on to Las Vegas and Burkart is aiming to finish strong.
"We did mess up in Richmond, at the last race, but other than that we've been a very competitive group for the last couple of months," Burkart said. "It's one thing to be 6-5 at the last six races, but the truth is even better than the raw numbers. That's a 6-5 mark against some of the toughest teams in the world. It happened that way because we're still not qualifying as well as we'd like, and we have a tendency to face really fast cars in round one, but since mid-August we've been beating a lot of those cars.
"Now, our goal is to finish 8th in the points. We're in 10th right now, but we're only six little points behind Cruz Pedregon, and Whit Bazemore is just 26 points ahead of us. With Whit being on the sidelines right now, we have to assume that both Cruz and I will go right past him, so the goal is to win more rounds than Cruz does to maximize our season. We want to finish 8th, and for me that would be a career best."
The year 2006 and the term "career best" have not often been closely associated when referring to Team CSK, so Burkart's potential move up to the No. 8 spot would be a big pick-me-up for a frustrated group of racers. Only once in his 9-year career has Burkart been on the stage at the awards ceremony, when he took his place in the POWERade top ten by finishing 10th in 2004. Knowing he faces an opportunity to clearly accomplish something good at the end of a challenging season is not lost on the popular blue team driver.
"To say this year has been challenging is putting it way too lightly," Burkart said. "I've heard all the terms, including 'frustrating' and 'agonizing' and all they really mean is that we've had a bad year. Both of the CSK cars have run well, sometimes very well, but we don't have the results to show for that. We busted out a little in Reading, and it really felt good to do that, but the points thing might be even more important.
"If we can finish 8th, or even 9th for that matter, that's a solid piece of evidence that all was not lost on the 2006 tour. In one little way, we improved and we did something better than we've done before, as a group. I just don't want to mess around with the 9th thing at all, I want to finish 8th. I know Cruz and his guys are just as determined to not let that happen, but we'll play it out and see where we land. I know we're headed to Vegas, so I'll throw the pun out there and say 'Don't bet against us'."
Plenty of people have bet against Burkart and his blue CSK squad this year, and lately they've been losing a lot of those bets. They'd be far wiser to avoid such wagers for the rest of this season, and they might think of placing a small marker next to Burkart's name this weekend, when select Las Vegas casinos run a betting line for the NHRA event. With the opening line ranking Burkart at 12-1, a nice little payday could accompany another hot Sunday.
