Atomic Speedway
Satisfying Iron-Man title for Burdette, Curtis
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Colten Burdette won his first touring title. (Tyler Carr)
ALMA, Ohio (Oct. 25) — If anyone entered this year primed to dethrone Valvoline American Iron-Man Late Model Series champion Rusty Schlenk, it was Colten Burdette.
When car owner Steve Curtis of Athens, Ohio, and the Parkersburg, W.Va., driver committed to running the Chris Tilley-owned tour, the pair went all-in on their championship pursuit. As a lieutenant for the Parkersburg Fire Department, the 32-year-old Burdette could for the first time set his weekend schedule with opportunities to race more.
Curtis, meanwhile, equipped his team with three engines — a sturdy stable of powerplants for a regional team — one of those a brand-new, wide-bore engine. And to top it off, a robust race-day crew of more than a half-dozen helping hands surrounded Burdette most of the year.
It’s no wonder Burdette devoted more time, energy and hope than ever toward a racing season. And no wonder he outgunned Schlenk for the Iron-Man Series title, an accolade Burdette puts “at the top of everything” he’s ever accomplished.
“I’ve always just raced for fun, and always wanted to show up at bigger races and do the best we can do. And show people we belong,” Burdette said following Saturday’s 21st-place finish which a lap-10 mishap knocked him out of contention. “Whenever I got off work on weekends this year, we wanted to chase something. We assessed everything we could.
“I like Tilley. We’ve run his races before. I like how they keep up with tire tech and stuff. Tire tech is a big thing right now. I decided I needed exposure, and this is the best way to get it. We’re nowhere near able to run Lucas (Oil Late Model Dirt Series) or the World of Outlaws, or one of the major tours. But, you know, this deal, it’s only on weekends. You don’t have to travel all over the United States. This is the best way to get exposure.”
Burdette ended up with three victories, 13 podiums, 17 top-fives and 19 top-10s in 26 tour features. Those are title-worthy numbers, especially his seven runner-up finishes.
Before the lap-10 incident, where Josh Rice inadvertently sent Burdette spinning down the backstretch after running into a slowing Freddie Carpenter with nowhere to go, the West Virginian badly wanted to cap off his title season Saturday on the podium. Until that melee, Burdette ran solidly in the top-five behind eventual race winner Mike Marlar, Devin Moran, Jason Jameson and Josh Rice.
Burdette, who entered the weekend six points behind Schlenk, took the series lead by 14 points after Friday’s action (Burdette finished fourth and Schlenk finished 11th). When Schlenk elected to depart Atomic to compete Saturday at Montpelier (Ind.) Motor Speedway, it clinched the title for Burdette, but that luxury wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He was eager to prove himself in front of a large FloRacing audience. An opportunity to finish behind Marlar and Moran slipped through his grasp.
“We always have a really good car here, no matter what. Last night we did a little bit of testing and was a little too free all night,” Burdette said. “Tonight, we were going to build off it, do everything we can to win it. We started sixth and went harder on tires than everybody, just kinda similar to where we were last night and build off of it — tighten up a bit. Honestly felt great in the feature.
“I couldn’t keep up with the top-three, top-four, but they were softer on tires. I felt really balanced … and I really think we had a podium car tonight. That would’ve been awesome, to park it on the frontstretch, not only for the title but for that. It definitely dampens it, I don’t know.
“We’re definitely still excited. We’ve been working on this all year long. Last night, whenever we knew we had it in the bag that we couldn’t lose it, that’s when we mentally celebrated winning the championship.”
There were times this year that Burdette thought his title hopes had been dashed, like Aug. 8 at Millstream Speedway in Findlay, Ohio, when he broke a rear end in hot laps and borrowed Cameron Tusing's No. 0 entry to start-and-park in the feature won by Schlenk. Mechanical issues also struck the team Aug. 30 at Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy, Mich., and Burdette used Todd Brennan’s backup car to start-and-park in the feature.
Burdette and the Curtis-owned No. 53c team are a single-car operation, so they were one catastrophic parts failure or major wreck away from a serious setback. After that rear-end failure, the Curtis team drove to the Rocket Chassis headquarters in Shinnston, W.Va., through the night to pick up a new rear end so that Burdette could be ready for Aug. 9’s series event at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.
He bounced back the next day with a runner-up finish to Schlenk, one of four Iron-Man races this year that Burdette and the McClure, Ohio, driver finished first and second.
“Rusty is a great competitor,” Burdette said. “He’s made us better, we make each other better.”
Exceeding expectations at tracks outside his region and comfort zone, like the Michigan swing May 24 at Butler Motor Speedway and May 25 at Crystal Motor Speedway where he finished seventh and second, respectively, is what also kept Burdette in the title race all season.
“We knew that all the tracks around here we’re really good at,” Burdette said. “It’s no secret these are our home tracks that we always perform well at. We knew if we were going to compete for this championship, we had to go to Michigan. We had to go to northern Ohio and we had to run with him at those tracks.”
Burdette's last-lap pass for a June 27 victory at Limaland Motorsports Park in Allentown, Ohio, provided his first series triumph when he least expected it. He followed that up with a runner-up finish to Schlenk on June 28 at Montpelier, a confidence-boosting fourth-place run July 3 at Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Ky., behind Jason Jameson, Marlar and Daulton Wilson and a third-place outing July 5 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., behind Shannon Babb and Mark Whitener in a race co-sanctioned with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.
“We just excelled at tracks we were expecting to struggle at. And that was the turning point,” Burdette said. “Yeah, definitely the turning point was when we were up north, when we didn’t even know which gear to stick in the car and being on the podium especially.”
The Curtis team and Burdette have clicked since Day One. It all started when Curtis invited Burdette out for a test session in Fall 2023. Then they won their debut together in October 2023 at Ohio Valley Speedway in Washington, W.Va.
“He liked the car, and we started talking. And he said, ‘I’d be interested in driving for you.’ We just shook hands and took off from there,” said the 66-year-old Curtis, whose team consists of Scott Queen, Roger Mayle, Johnny Butcher, Joe Butcher and Jeff Burdette.
“Colten’s a smart driver. He knows how to use his head. They all get along. Him and Scott, they talk all the time. We’re all like, and I hate saying this, but we are really like a big family. It works. He couldn’t drive his own car very much because it costs a lot of money. I said, ‘Hey, I’ll give you everything and you just wheel it.’ And he’s done a great job. We’ve never had a better season and a group of guys working together.”
Before Burdette, Coolville, Ohio’s Andy Bond drove for Curtis from 2021-23. Mike McPherson, Steve Bigley and Anthony Kinkade have also raced for Curtis, who launched his Late Model team in 2013. Curtis, 66, has attended races since his teenage years. His business, Curtis Auto Repair and Towing of Athens, Ohio, that he started as a 19-year-old in 1977 has sponsored numerous drivers and events over the years.
He wasn’t looking to become a car owner, not until an unnamed driver challenged him to step out.
“The truth is, I used to sponsor two different people. And one day, one of the guys told me, ‘The only reason why you sponsor me is because you can’t afford to buy your own car.’ So the next week, I went out and bought a brand-new car,” said Curtis, who even tried his hand in a Dirt Late Model practice session twice in 2019 at Skyline and West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, W.Va.
Let’s just say the driver’s seat isn’t for him.
“I tried driving it three or four times. Oh my goodness, I don’t know how them guys do it. Have you ever tried it before? Oh man, it scared me to death,” Curtis said. “I thought, ‘There ain’t nothing to this.’ I hit the throttle and that thing did circles.”
Curtis hopes to have a partnership with Burdette for the long haul. Burdette does, too, but the West Virginia driver whose stock’s on the rise with the Iron-Man title says “I’ve talked with some other people about some other rides” on one-off occasions.
Burdette drove Bruce Kane’s No. 15k at Eldora Speedway’s Dirt Track World Championship on Oct. 17-18 and might be in line for additional races with the Glen Burnie, Md., car owner.
“I’m not saying we’re leaving. We were in the (15k) at Eldora and we might do another race or two this year, nothing set in stone,” Burdette said. “But this deal is a family-owned deal. We’re all like family. We get along and have a great time. The only way I would leave something like this would be for something more nationally.
“Not going to say a national series, but something more, I guess, stepping up a little bit, as long as we’re doing what we’re doing. But we’re perfectly happy. We’re having a lot of fun with it. … Maybe we’ll race this full time and still do stuff like that (with Kane) at select events, be a little more prepared for it than we was (at Eldora).”
Curtis won’t deny that it’d be an honor to take Burdette on the road more and venture out on more of a national basis, but the car owner says “I don’t really have enough” in terms of financial backing to make that happen. As of Saturday, consider Burdette and Curtis tentatively planning to defend the Iron-Man title.
“I do like we’re doing here, but Colten may wanna move up,” Curtis said. “We’ll be supporting him no matter what.”
