Ward Burton began racing gokarts at the age of 8. He later drove Street Stocks and Late Models on Virginia short tracks, mainly his home track of South Boston Speedway. He was voted most popular driver there in 1989. In 1990 he joined the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division, posting three top-10 finishes. In 1994 he competed for rookie of the year, finishing behind his brother Jeff. Prior to his coming to Winston Cup, Burton was a mainstay for four years in the NASCAR Busch series, where he won four races and four poles. He was the leading money winner in the series in his last year(1993) and lead the second most laps that season. Burton's three-year record shows some bright moments and great potential. He won the October 1995 AC-Delco 400 at Nortrh Carolina Motor Speedway. That Rockingham race was just his 53rd career start and only the seventh with the Bill Davis team. During his rookie year of 1994, Burton finished second and led as late as the 194 th of 200 laps of the Miller 500 at Pocono (PA) Raceway in July. Among all rookie drivers to date in the 1990"s, only Jeff Gordon has matched Burton's second place finish. Burton is the only driver in the 37-year history of the Charlotte Motor Speedway to win poles in three NASCAR divisions, Sportman, Busch, and Winston Cup. Burton was one of only three drivers to score top 10 finishes in the major events at Daytona Speedweeks. He, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin finished in the top 10 in the Busch Clash, Twin 125's and Daytona 500. So far Burton's positive approch has achieved an eighth place standing in NASCAR Winston Cup Series points. At 35 the Winston Cup driver from South Boston, Va., felt there were some things he could do to improve himself. So in the off-season, Burton fine-tunes with a vengeance. "I work reallyduring the off-season to increase my physical and mental capabilities." Ward says "I learned that I can't become a champion if I don't act, think, and communicate like a champion".