Harrison Burton is proud of his father, longtime NASCAR driver turned NASCAR TV analyst, Jeff Burton. It’s not a cliché, it’s a fact that Harrison learned virtually everything he knows about racing from his father.
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On last week’s edition of SpeedFreaks, Harrison spoke highly about his father and what it was like growing up with him.
“My dad was the best dad I could ever ask for,” Harrison said. “I grew up, my dad was my hero. Now, what that meant was when he got mad at me, or when he told me I wasn’t doing good enough in the race car, or told me I needed to do this or that, it was personal for me, it just felt different.
“That was really hard, right? He’s kind of a hard ass and so he’d get in my face, I’m six or seven years old, and he’s like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ It created this level of intensity in my driving. It’s definitely been a great thing for me. I handle adversity way better because of how hard he was on me in the race car.
“The hardest thing that we’ve ever had to deal with relationship-wise was … him trying to teach me and doing it his way, which was pretty harsh. So I really learned a lot from him in that way.”
But outside the race car, no matter what level of racing Harrison was in growing up, the relationship he had with his father was solid.
“Me and him are honestly best friends,” Harrison said of Jeff. “I call my dad and talk to him all the time. We just shoot the crap and go play golf or whatever.
“I’m trying not to paint him in a bad light, because that’s not what I’m saying. My point is it was challenging growing up idolizing him and wanting him to be proud of me. He was always real, always like, ‘Hey, this isn’t good enough.’ And that was always kind of a tough thing.”
After three seasons in NASCAR Cup driving for the Wood Brothers (one win, two top-5 and six top-10 showings in 109 starts), Harrison is back in the Xfinity Series (where he previously had four wins driving for Joe Gibbs Racing) this season, driving for Wintron Racing, with one top-5 and six top-10 finishes in the first 12 races.
When asked if he ever said anything out of spite or anger to his father, like “Dad, I hate you” while growing up, Harrison was quick to deny anything like that.
“No, I wish I could tell you yes, but I don’t remember it being like that,” he said. “Being a teenage boy is always challenging because you’re just trying to be the man of the house, and you’re just not at that point.
“When your dad’s a race car driver, he’s kind of got a leg up on you in the cool factor when you’re just like a middle schooler playing lacrosse. I never really got that bad, but he just held his kids to a really high standard, my sister (Paige) and I both, it wasn’t just me.”
A Burton Family Rivalry of a Different Sort
While there wasn’t any sibling rivalry with his sister, Harrison did admit there was indeed a family rivalry with another Burton, namely, his cousin Jeb, son of Jeff’s older brother, 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton.
“Oh boy, oh my gosh, yes,” Harrison laughed. “Me and Jeb, I’m not a crap talker that much, I’m a pretty nonchalant, hang out, just be buddies with you until we get in the race car kind of guy.
“But I talk some serious smack to Jeb before we get in the race car every week. Like at Bristol, he qualified two spots behind me, and he looks up and says, ‘I’ll see you in a lap.’ He turned around and I told him, ‘Oh, nice bald spot there, guy.’ He snapped around so fast, he wanted to fight, and then he had to get in his race car.”
“I love the guy to death, he’s family obviously, but we’re super competitive, which is good, it fuels both of us. When (Jeb) is behind me, I drive harder than I’ve ever driven in my life, and him vice versa. We always go right to the point, of we’re still respectful with each other on the racetrack. We take care of each other, but it’s right up to it, and it’s been fun.
“Jeb grew up in Virginia and I grew up in North Carolina, so we didn’t really spend a ton of time together, but the more time I spend around him, we’ve gotten closer and closer and now we’re just like kind of brothers picking on each other on the racetrack, which is super fun.”
