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Harley Burns on the Move

Britt Tool teams and never finished it. It sat for twenty years so when COVID hit I said let’s
finish it. We did it for a little bit of publicity, but it costs so much less than a truck and trailer. It
was really the most feasible option. We realized it was handy, and now the second one is mine.
As it sits, we have $2,500 invested in it. You can buy an open trailer for that, but you can’t buy a
truck too. It just made the most sense.” If there is a downside Burns says with a laugh, “if you
don’t make the feature, you can’t roll out without being noticed.”
In 2023 Burns is being noticed for far more than his transporter. He has won at both
Lincoln Park and Bloomington and is consistently running up front. It has been a process. “I feel
like I have taken a step up,” he says, “but what I think I have finally learned is how to put a
whole night together. Last year it seems like I finished second in every heat race I ran. Then I
would start up front and put twenty good laps together but then I would have five terrible ones.
This year I have learned how to qualify in the top four every night and run first, second or third
in the heat and then in the feature pass some cars and finish in the top five.”
There have been many role models for him to follow in this journey. Yet, a driver he tries
to emulate has been a favorite since he was a kid in the stands. “Brady Short was my favorite
driver growing up,” he says, “at first it was because he had flames on his car. But as I got older, I
realized how great a driver he was and is. He is always there. It didn’t matter if he was racing
with the MSCS, USAC or a local show you had to beat Brady Short to win. He was going to be
there every night.”
Success in racing depends on many things, and the importance of good equipment cannot
be minimized. However, Burns understands that this is only one part of the equation. He realizes
the mental game is also significant. “I am aggressive, but I’m not a flashy driver,” he says, “This
winter I wanted to learn how to get the most out of myself and not make mistakes. There is
nothing different from the night you win and the night you run eighth. You do the same things
every night. The difference is the zone you are in.”
As he continues his development process, he knows there are certain things he needs to
work on. It is all a matter of adjustments, and now that he has upgraded his equipment, he finds it
requires him to approach his craft differently. For most of the early phase of his sprint car career
he has raced with a steel block motor. He quickly found that when he moved to an aluminum
block it changed the attitude of his racecar. “I used to be confident to run the curb with my steel
motor,” he says, “you didn’t have the same entry speed. I have almost had to relearn to run the
curb with the aluminum motors. I know how to do it, but I have struggled now that I have more
power and a lighter car. I used to struggle in the middle of the track and on the bottom, but I feel
like I am one of the best on the bottom now.”
There is one other key factor that plays in the decisions he makes on the racetrack. When
it is your racecar, you are going to be the one to pick up the tab after mayhem has ensued. That
isn’t fun. Still, he says he needs to learn to be on “kill mode” more frequently. “Hank Byrum
(noted sprint car owner) gave me some good advice,” Harley says, “he told me I was going to
have to drive like my wallet wasn’t under the throttle pedal. I’m still working on that.”?
If anything Burns is pragmatic. He isn’t interested in hitting the pause button to pursue an
elusive dream of becoming a full-time racer. “I would have to put my professional life on hold,”
he says, “and that would be putting me behind. I’m not knocking anyone who does that. That’s
awesome. But I am very business oriented, and I want nice things and I don’t want to have to
work 80 hours a week to get them.”
Nonetheless, he wouldn’t mind if some of the racing load came off his back. “I would
love to be good enough to be able to drive for someone else,” he says, “I would like to have a
good car, one where you know things aren’t going to fall off and you have a chance to win.”
Then he pauses, “But then half of my fun is working on the car, and the other half is having all
my friends go with me. My end goal in racing is to be competitive. I want to race until I feel like
that is where I am, and I have proved it.”

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