Racing
Burhans
Style

DAN BURHANS

and the

INTERNATIONAL ICE RACING ASSOCIATION

Madison Lake, MN – February 12-13, 2011

1985: Dan’s association with the IIRA begins. In car 22, he and co-driver Tim Scheib finish 31st out of 47 entrants at the Lake Phalen Winter Carnival endurance race. They also placed 25th out of 38 entrants in a sprint race.

1989: Dan has switched car numbers to 21 and co-driver to Cliff Eben when they finish 8th in class SA at the Lake Phalen Winter Carnival endurance race.

1990: Daughter Tammy joins Dan as co-driver. Here’s the team profile reproduced from the St. Paul Winter Carnival race program. The checkered flag eludes them several times though as DNS and DNF become part of their vocabulary.



1992: Dan & Tammy are running consistently in the top half of the field and finish the season ranked as numbers 6 and 7 out of 30 class SA drivers.

1993: Dan & Tammy finish the season 3rd and 4th out of 39 drivers in class FS. As a team they are 2nd in class.

1994: 6th and 7th out of 26 drivers for the season in class FS with the 21 car.

1997: Dan ends the season with the highest driver point total of 16 drivers in FS. With help from sons Dan and Tony, Dan brings the 21 car home to a first in class finish at the memorable, grueling Six Hours of Winona Endurance Race. He is honored with the “Most Improved Driver” trophy at the IIRA Awards Banquet.

1999: Now campaigning the big black SAAB 900, #12 car, Dan finishes the season at the top – first OVERALL in the endurance series. Here is the team profile as it appeared in the 1999 St. Paul Winter Carnival Race program:

“Car no. 12 SAAB 900. Ice racing is a family affair with the number 12 SAAB. Father Dan Burhans took up ice racing in 1985 as an antidote to the wintertime couch potato syndrome, and daughter Tammy joined the team in 1989. The father/daughter pair ran for 6 years with consistent success, finishing as high as 2nd in class in year end points in 1993. Matrimony put an end to Tammy’s ice racing career and Dan sat out a couple of seasons, but as the younger kids began to drive the urge to compete resurfaced. Running with sons Danny and Tony in 1997 the team finished first in class in the six hour endurance at Winona, MN and Dan finished the season first in class and most improved driver, while Danny was rookie of the year. They are leading their class coming into Lake Phalen.”

2000 & 2001: With their car now proudly displaying the #1, Dan and sons dominate the endurance series with back to back to back overall season championships.

2002: Dan and Tony finish 2nd and 3rd for the season is ST class.

2003: Dan regains the endurance series season championship and reclaims number 1 for his car.

2004: In spite of the Saab 900 spending some time upside down on Centerville Lake, Dan and sons – with daughter Wendy dusting off the competition in Solo Sprint – come home with the endurance series season championship again.

2006: Dan ends the season as the #1 driver of 18 in GTO class and 2nd overall in the endurance series with the #12 car now being a Swedish yellow SAAB 9-3.