![]() ![]() ![]() Roy decided to run Pontiacs in 1961, and for the Daytona 500, Bob again had a good run going until mechanical gremlins cropped up. Bob only made a few other starts during the season, because of his obligations to the military. Fireball Roberts and Bob hooked up in the draft and ran away from the field, until Bob’s engine blew. With his track record, Bob was Darlington’s Rookie of the Year and was inducted into the Pure Oil Record Club, which is one of the most prized awards a driver can receive.įor 1960, Roy had a brand new 1960 Ford for Bob to race in the Daytona 500. C., Bob, still a rookie in NASCAR’s top division, sat on the pole with a new track record, and finished second. J., sat on the pole! In the 1959 Southern 500 at Darlington, S. Bob was able to use his Army leave to go racing occasionally and in his first ever NASCAR Grand National race, at Trenton, N. In the interim, Roy put Johnny Beauchamp in his Ford Thunderbird for a run at the new Daytona International Speedway, and nearly came away the winner of the first Daytona 500. Bob and his Ford won every race on the IMCA tour at one time or another setting a bunch of track records.Īt the end of the 1959 season, Bob was drafted by the Army, and racing was put on the back burner for a while. Robinson paid Bob $200 to show up plus $800 to win, and said if it wasn’t for the money, he would have felt sorry for all those locals going up against a full factory Ford effort.ĭuring the time that Bob ran the IMCA circuit he worked very closely with Holman & Moody, Ford’s top factory team in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Quinn/Burdick started every race on the tight 1/4 mile in last and usually had the lead within three or four laps. Bob prepared his race car by beating on the body with a hammer and painting the wheels half black and half white, so it would fit in with the local competitors better. Of course there was IMCA to deal with as they frowned on their drivers running the local bullrings, so Bob assumed the identity of one Don Quinn. Marion Robinson of Knoxville Nationals fame, was the promoter, and Bob had one of his old IMCA Fords to race there. It was at this same time that Bob also raced weekly at Pioneer Speedway in Des Moines. Bob was just edged for the IMCA Championship by arch rival, Johnny Beauchamp. Oklahoma City Des Moines, Iowa Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Minot, N. Oskaloosa, Iowa Hutchinson and Topeka, Kan. In 1957, Bob won 22 races with IMCA, winning at all the major state fairs. Bob won four times each of the first two years on the circuit. He concentrated on this area and pretty soon the wins started coming. ![]() His dad built stout engines but Bob learned, if the car handled, how that horsepower could be used. Bob improved as a driver and started to understand that a good handling car was the key to success. Up to that time Bob had raced motorcycles for three years and with no other racing experience, finished third in the 200 lap race! In 1955, Bob and his dad built a 1955 Ford to compete in IMCA. This was a full time racing schedule for professional drivers with tremendous competition and this is what Bob decided he wanted to do. In 1954, an International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) new model stock car race came to Omaha, and Roy entered a 1953 Dodge for Bud to drive. Also, after going to motorcycle races to watch his uncle, Bud Burdick, in competition he knew what he wanted to do - be a racer!īob’s dad, Roy, owned stocks cars since 1949 with Bud doing the driving. He began to develop his love of racing when only four years old, as he sat between his parents riding on a Harley-Davidson. Robert “Bob” Burdick was born on Octoin Omaha Neb. ![]()
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