Roger Burgess remembers a weekend, last year, when he joined a group of friends attended the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. While his associates were mesmerized with the thunderous sounds of the nitromethane-burning entries, the Atlanta, Ga.-based businessman was infatuated by the antics of the Pro Modified division.

So infatuated was Burgess, founder of ProCareRX, he went out and purchased himself a Pro Modified car to call his own and a few more for good measure.

“I actually wanted just one and I ended up buying a few of them,” Burgess said as he laughed. “I specifically watched Pro Modified run that weekend. They just looked like they were having a lot of fun.”

Roger Burgess remembers a weekend, last year, when he joined a group of friends attended the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. While his associates were mesmerized with the thunderous sounds of the nitromethane-burning entries, the Atlanta, Ga.-based businessman was infatuated by the antics of the Pro Modified division.

So infatuated was Burgess, founder of ProCareRX, he went out and purchased himself a Pro Modified car to call his own and a few more for good measure.

“I actually wanted just one and I ended up buying a few of them,” Burgess said as he laughed. “I specifically watched Pro Modified run that weekend. They just looked like they were having a lot of fun.”
 
Burgess admitted the inspiration came from watching racers like Josh Hernandez, Raymond Commisso and Jay Payne. Watching is one thing, but what would inspire the C.E.O. of a huge corporation to escape from the confines of his three-piece suit world into that of a greasy and grimy firesuit?

“The circle of life, as they call it, is probably what inspired me to run Pro Modified,” Burgess admitted. “When I was younger I raced doorslammers while growing up in Orlando. I was a drag racer back then and then I got busy with life and family.

“No matter what you do in life, you have to have some kind of balance. Recreation is an important part of that balance. To me, this is the best because it is recreation with competition.”

Golf is fun but you can’t hire a team to go out and help you swing a club. At least I can hire a team to help me go out and drive the car. - Roger Burgess

Most of us find competition even in recreational sports, however Burgess says even though he loves a good game of golf, the rush is nowhere near as much as piloting his 2,500-horsepower 1963 Corvette.

“Golf is fun too, but only up to a certain point and when you play like I do, you can’t hire a team to go out and help you swing a club,” Burgess admitted. “At least I can hire a team to help me go out and drive the car.”

Burgess didn’t need a reminder of how good his team was but was given one three weekends ago in Houston, Texas. Interim driver Joe Baker drove Burgess’s car to the winner’s circle while he was away tending to business obligations. The win comes as no huge surprise to Burgess.

“I’ve known since we put together this team that we have a car capable of winning every round,” Burgess said. “We have one of the best teams and that’s everyone from the crew chiefs down to the lowest guy. I think because of that, we have more than a good chance to win every time we go out.”     

The good chance of winning comes in handy as the 10-race NHRA Jegs ProMod tour rolls into Atlanta for the NHRA Southern Nationals this weekend. With the hometown advantage creates the traditional tendency for Burgess to be pulled in multiple directions.

“I have mixed feelings about racing in front of the home crowd,” Burgess said. “It’s going to be a really busy weekend because we are entertaining a lot of clients and a lot of prospective clients and a lot of employees and hopefully sponsors for our nitro team. We are also racing and putting on an event for charity honoring the Dream House. It will be a very busy weekend, so I won’t have too much time to think about racing at home. I’ll basically take a deep breath and go out there and drive.”

“One thing I learned a long time ago in an event like this is you try your best to keep everything balanced. You learn to turn it on and off as you need to. First and foremost, we have a lot of entertaining to do this weekend and that’s our objective until we get inside the car.”

Looking through his relatively short racing career, Burgess has no major regrets regarding his racing decisions since that day in Gainesville. He does have one minor one, though.

“The only regret is that I don’t have more time to spend racing the car,” Burgess said. “This is only my second race of the year and it feels like forever since I’ve been in that car. I’d like to do it more and I will be able to attend the rest of the races this year.”