FREDERICKTOWN – After a decade of drag racing, it’s about time for Fredericktown’s Caleb Burns to retire ... from junior drag racing, that is.
He will step up to the big cars next year, but he wants one more big year in juniors.
Last year was very successful for Burns, who traveled to 15 states and in June won the Western Conference championship in the outlaw division in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He did well in the Eastern Conference Championship in July in Charlotte, North Carolina, too. There, he got to the semifinals in his bracket car and his quick car. Additionally, he won the Midwest Outlaw Championship in the 13- to 17-age bracket and placed second in the Quick 330 class at National Trails.
Burns, who is the grandson of longtime Pacemakers racer Dave Merin, started racing at age 7. Once he started, he was hooked.
“One year, when I was with Pacemakers, I won a championship,” Burns recalled. “Then my parents and I started traveling more after that. I started racing at Norwalk, Granville and Xenia. After that, we started traveling to more places out of state.”
The traveling Burns motorhome and trailer carries three junior dragsters for each racing class (outlaw, bracket and quick car). All have a sleek design and plenty of horsepower, but safety is built into each of the 16-foot, alcohol-powered cars.
“They’re tube chassis steel — hardened, chromoly steel,” Burns said. “The driver is strapped into a five-point harness. I wear a helmet, gloves and a full fire-retardant race suit. There’s also arm restraints and a neck brace.”
Top speeds of 80-90 mph seem even faster in these low-slung speedsters.
“I’m definitely feeling the g-force in them,” Burns said. “Proportionally, they are about the same force power-to-weight ratio as some of the big cars.”
Burns’ parents, Nathan and Jodi Burns, have made the business of racing part of their son’s life education. They gave their son the job of going out in the community to gather sponsorship from area businesses. He has learned to make a good impression and a solid presentation.
“One race in Norwalk pulls in about a half a million people,” Caleb Burns explained. “I make exhibition passes, getting my sponsor’s names out there instantly. When we race, we give a tech card. Then, they have overhead announcements of sponsors and businesses that represent us.”
A senior at Fredericktown High School with a 4.0 GPA, Burns has taken his classes online and played on the varsity basketball team. He will probably study engineering in college. For now, however, he and his parents want to savor one last season in the junior dragster circuit.
“He’s a great young man all around,” Nathan Burns said. “He does what he’s supposed to do in life. He’s good in school, good on the track and just a good person to be around.”
This summer, Burns expects to race in at least a dozen states before graduating to his grandfather’s racer next season: a 1956 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery full panel wagon.
“Next year, I will start off small and race locally to get some seat time,” he said. “After that, I might venture out into some of the bigger races and eventually start going to different states, like we are doing with juniors right now.”
