With 15 years of racing under his belt, Todd Burks is a force to be reckoned with. Several years of working and driving for Edmond Richardson, and his current association with Tom Rossman has helped give him the knowledge and equipment to get the job done.
Burks teamed with Rossman near the end of the 2001 season, with the team wanting to dominate in IHRA's Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes. Rossman provides tow rigs and equipment, as well as the team's '97 Cutlass for Top Sportsman duties, and a Mullis hardtail for Q/R work. Burks provides the elusive talent to make it all pay off. Burks credits much of his success on having great equipment as well as a talented and dedicated crew.
Most races you will find Burks running two cars, greatly enhancing his chances to finish in the money. When bracket racing, Burks runs the team's 8.20 Mullis hardtail as well as his own new 7.60 RaceTech 4-link. Burks is especially fond of his new (11-01-02) RaceTech, having won Best Engineered on its very first outing at Indy's Super Tens meet, then going on to take Florida by storm winning two 5-Granders, one at Bradenton and the other at St. Petersburg's Sunshine Dragway.
This year has also seen Burks taking top honors at two national events. His first was in June, with the Canadians hosting his win in Top Sportsman using the '97 Cutlass, and the other in Maryland showing no favoritism by taking it with the Mullis in Top Dragster. He then backed this up by runner upping with both cars at Dragway 42 in their final division race in August, losing to impressive performances by Bob Mandell in Top Sportsman and longtime friend Gary Williams in Quick Rod. The following weekend saw Burks at Muncie where a rainout of Saturday's 3 & 5 Granders being rolled into a Sunday 8-Grander, which he took the check home for. Burks returned for the same race again, and this time it was not rained out. So, with a little more effort required this time, he still took home all the money winning both the 3-Grander and 5-Grander. Two weeks later saw paychecks for both Rossman and Burks, as Tom won the Tenn-Tuck 10-Grander at Bowling Green on Saturday, and Burks taking home a 2-Grand check for the duck race a half hour later. A great day for the Rossman/Burks team indeed!
"It was a fun year and we are looking forward to next year with few changes," says Burks. "I would like to thank Tom Rossman and Linda Millek most of all. I would also like to thank Brian Pfifer and Evan Knoll from Torco Fuel and Morepower Engines for the bullets! I would also like to thank Edmond, who has always been a lot of help to me."
SportsmanRacing.com
 Mopar Performance Parts Nationals
GRAND BEND, Ont. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of final, round 6 eliminations in NOS Top Sportsman at the Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series, Third annual Mopar Performance Parts Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol:
W/L - Driver - Class - Dial - RT - ET - Ov/Un
(W) Todd Burks 7.68 0.513 7.657 -0.023
(L) Jackie Slone 7.22 0.531 7.194 -0.026
Burks with the light and Slone broke out trying to chase him down. Burks with the win !!!
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