Rod Burbage; the 2011 West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association Champion

Coiurtesy of WCOPMA

Anderson, CA – Rod Burbage’s quest to his third West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association championship this season was his toughest yet. During his previous 2008 & 2009 championship-winning seasons the competition was not nearly as fierce as it was in the last two years. In 2010 Bret Williamson showed up and completely dominated the year by going to 5 final rounds (out of 6 races on the schedule) and winning three of them.  Burbage finished second place in 2010 behind Williamson and wanted to get back on top in 2011.

Over the 2010-2011 winter offseason, Rod took drastic steps to lighten his car from the 2,800+ pound brick it was to stay at the top of the pack with rumors going around of everyone stepping up their game with new cars, new combos and the new teams expected to join the group in the upcoming 2011 season. He worked with Richard Earle of Advanced Fiberglass Concepts (who designed and built the body for his 1958 Corvette) to build a new lightweight and more aerodynamic front end. Once the new front end arrived it was off to Bunker Race Cars to have it mounted and to have some more work done to remove unnecessary weight.

Burbage and his Spec Rite Converters team tested in the early part of the year in preparation of the upcoming 2011 WCOPMA season with promising results. They were running better than ever and just as consistent with new career best numbers and finally dipping into the sub-six second zone for the first time with a 5.97 at 243 on May 15th at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California.

When the 2011 WCOPMA season opener came around he was ready to do battle with the best of the best on the west coast. The first race was in Boise, Idaho at Firebird Raceway’s Famous Fox Hunt event. In the first qualifier Burbage claimed the top spot with a 6.12, only .03-seconds away from the track record of 6.09 set by Bret Williamson in 2010. That run stood as the top spot through the rest of the qualifying sessions and the season was off to a good start with a first race pole position. In eliminations though he was faced with some tough luck and couldn’t make the call to the lanes after a first round win. His opponent-to-be in the second round ended up going to the finals and getting the event win. Rod left this event 3rd place in the points standings, 37 points out of first.

The following 4th of July weekend the group traveled to Medford, Oregon to race at Champion Raceway’s Nite of Fire event. Rod would qualify in the number two spot at this event behind Bret Williamson and the two of them would battle through eliminations to have a #1 and #2 qualifier final round matchup. Burbage was on the winning end of the final round and claimed his first WCOPMA event win of the 2011 season. With the event win he moved up into the top spot in the points chase with a 22 point lead.

The next event was predicted to be a big one. It was the Infineon Raceway NHRA division 7 event in Sonoma, California. Great air was expected as well as a killer track and lots of heavy hitting teams. After the first qualifying session Burbage was in the number two spot behind west coast heavy hitter Mike Maggio and his MagCo Drilling 70.5 Camaro tuned by Kurt Kuhns.  Maggio would hold on to the top qualifying spot through four sessions with a killer 5.87 but Rod wasn’t too far behind with a new career best of 5.93. Unfortunately in the first round of eliminations Burbage broke and lost to Sean Renteria who was placed into the field as an alternate. He left this event still in first place but by only 28 points.

The next event on the schedule was at Firebird Raceway again in Boise, Idaho at the historic Nightfire Nationals event. During the first qualifying session Burbage ran a 6.20, good enough for the number two spot. In the second qualifying session he stepped up and ran a 6.11 which bumped him into the number one spot. In the third and final session he reset the track record with a 6.07 and stayed number one but that didn’t last long as Bret Williamson was the car right behind him and he re-reset the track record with a blistering 5.98 which bumped Burbage into the number two qualifying spot where he would stay. During eliminations Rod bested the likes of Billy Harper and Mike Maggio and would square off against number one qualifier Bret Williamson in the final round. Williamson was looking to defend his 2012 Nightfire Nationals title and get revenge for the Medford final round where Burbage beat him earlier in the year. It wasn’t meant to be as Rod collected his second event win of the 2011 season and won his first NHRA Wally of his long racing career. He extended his points lead by 64 points.

The group then traveled to Denver, Colorado to run at the Super Chevy event at Bandimere Speedway. After three qualifying sessions Burbage landed in the number three spot, his worst qualifying position all year, behind Williamson and Marc Meadors. Rod got the first round win over a red lighting Robert Costa but would eventually lose to Meadors in the second round. Meadors went on to win the event and move into second place in the points standings bumping Williamson to third. Burbage still held on to the top spot in the point’s standings but with only a 29 point lead.

The final event was at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California and the point’s battle was the closest in the association history. Burbage was number one in points with a 29 point lead (2 rounds) over Meadors and a 62 point lead (4 rounds) over Williamson. Rod looked to have the number one qualifying spot locked down after two sessions but in the final qualifying session Meadors would bump Burbage to number two and take the top spot away from him. Meadors would end up losing in the first round with a 6.02 to Sean Renteria’s 6.04 holeshot win and Burbage advanced out of the first round with a 5.98 win. Renteria and Burbage would square off in the final round and Burbage would get the event win on a holeshot, his 6.02 beat Renteria’s 6.01 in the last race of the 2011 West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod Association season.

Burbage won the 2011 Championship by 88 points over second place Marc Meadors. Bret Williamson, Jay Diedrich and Dan Nickelson rounded out the top five. Final point’s standings for the 2011 WCOPMA season can be found here: www.westcoastoutlawpromods.com/2011_Points_Standings.html.

 Congratulations to Rod Burbage, his wife Melynda and their crew guys Mike, Ray and Phil on their third WCOPMA championship. Rod thanks his dedicated crew for all their time and effort put into the car on and off the track, Bunker Race Cars for the awesome car and chassis setup and Lonnie Houde for the tuning consulting.

Look out next year as Rod and the Spec Rite Racing crew have some big plans for the 2011-2012 season in preparation of the 2012 WCOPMA season which they project will be bigger and better than ever!