Claudio Burtin
Claudio Burtin (born 17 September 1962 in Rosario, Argentina) is an American entrepreneur, chemist, and race car driver. He is the founder of LINE-X truck bed liners and is credited with the original formulations trademarking LINE-X. Claudio was born in Argentina and moved to the USA in the summer of 1963. He attended Our Lady of the Valley Catholic elementary school located in the Los Angeles school district in southern California. He began working for his father at Chemetics Systems Inc. in Compton, CA at the age of fifteen while attending Servite High School in Anaheim. He apprenticed polyurethane chemistry from his father Carlos Burtin, a licensed chemist.
Claudio Burtin | |
---|---|
Nationality | Argentinian American |
Born | September 17, 1962 |
Trans-Am Series career | |
Debut season | 1993 |
Current team | Burtin Racing |
Best finish | 3rd in 2016 |
Carlos Burtin, father of Claudio, emigrated to the United States. Claudio and his brother J.B. joined his father to found the Burtin Corporation in 1982 in Santa Ana, California.[1] The company developed and refined various chemicals such as polyurethane. Claudio became the companies president of LINE-X, one of the companies divisions, in 1994. Burtin progressed as the divisions Chief technical officer until 2005. The entrepreneur developed various chemical coatings and registering three patents.[2] After the sale of LINE-X to Graham Partners, Burtin founded Burtin Polymer Laboratories.[3]
One of Claudio's early achievements was working as a selected specialist to design and write the insulation specification requirements for the Trident 3 series of Nuclear Missiles. He then later revolutionized the polyurethane industry with the development of LINE-X protective coatings and PAXCON. Since applying these polyurethane technologies to the automotive industry, there are now more than seven million trucks worldwide benefiting from the installation of LINE-X, which prevents rust formation and protects vehicles from all types of weather conditions for the life of the vehicle. The first LINE-X truck was sprayed by Claudio himself in 1986.
PAXCON is one of the few "blast mitigation" products tested and approved by the U.S. Military for use on military installations. PAXCON was used by the U.S. Government to cover 60% of the damage to the Pentagon following the 9/11 attacks.
In addition to developing products, Claudio Burtin also launched FOAMETIX, a light density polyurethane foam that is designed for insulation use. Burtin has developed and trademarked an array of other polyurethane products and applications available on the market in both residential and commercial uses today. All formulas are researched, developed and manufactured in the United States.
Motorsports
Claudio Burtin is a team owner and driver of Burtin Racing with deep roots motorsports that started at a young age. Founded by Claudio, Burtin Racing is based in Alpharetta, Georgia and is one of the top road racing contenders in North America. Claudio has competed in a number of different road race formulas, most notably including a Porsche 997 GT3 in North American endurance racing events and the Trans Am Championship Series.
As team principal and racing driver, Claudio Burtin has been involved in sports car competition since 1982. In 1998, Burtin was the SCCA South East GT Champion. Burtin has also driven for the Woodhouse Racing Viper team in the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT. Burtin's most recent win was in the 2020 Hoosier SCCA Super Tour GT1 Class in Sebring, FL where he was driving one of his Burtin Racing Camaros.
He made his debut in the Trans-Am Series at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Ford Mustang, entered by Mirage Motorsports, suffered gearbox problems and failed to finish. He ran another two races in the season. Burtin's best result was an eighteenth place at Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.[4] For 1994 Burtin only ran the Trans-Am race supporting the Grand Prix of Miami. Burtin continued to make sporadic Trans-Am appearances throughout the decade. In 2000 Burtin took a career-best fourth place in the streets of Long Beach despite starting from the last row of the field. He repeated this feat the following year. For the 2002 Trans-Am season Burtin switched from a Ford Mustang to a Panoz Esperante. The racing driver returned to the Ford the following season.
Burtin Racing was sponsored by LINE-X Protective Coatings until 2005. With the demise of Trans-Am Burtin joined the growing SCCA World Challenge for 2006. Racing a Chevrolet Corvette C6 his best result were two eleventh-place finishes.[5] From 2006 Burtin Racing has been sponsored by FOAMETIX throughout its racing brand. FOAMETIX has supported various forms of racing including Esperante, Porsche and Chevrolet cars. In 2008 Tommy Archer won three races in the FOAMETIX/Woodhouse Dodge Viper. In conjunction with Goldcrest Motorsports, Burtin Racing has competed in seven consecutive Daytona 24-Hour events.
In 2008 Burtin started his season in the 24 Hours of Daytona with The Racer's Group. The team failed to finish the prestigious race in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, with Alex Job Racing Burtin finished nineteenth overall. His final appearance at Daytona came in 2013 when the team finished eighteenth. Each of the 24 Hours of Daytona races Burtin teamed up with Martin Ragginger. Ragginger supported the driver with engineering, data analysis and driver coaching.[6]
In 2013, FOAMETIX was the title sponsor for the Pirelli World Challenge Houston Grand Prix. The FOAMETIX Grand Prix was the final race weekend for the series. The round was won by Johnny O’Connell driving a Cadillac CTS-V.R in GT class and Lawson Aschenbach driving a Chevrolet Camaro in GTS class. The FOAMETIX Porsche Cayman sponsored drivers Jack Baldwin and Buz McCall finished 4th and 16th in their respective GTS class. Baldwin took second place in the class driver points championship.
In 2015, the Burtin Racing/Bullet Liner team competed in the SCCA TA Trans Am Championship Series with a newly developed Chevrolet Corvette CR.7. Burtin has recently partnered with GoShare, an on-demand local delivery service when you need a friend with a truck, for the remainder of the 2016 season.
At the end of the 2015 season, Burtin Racing acquired a 25k square foot facility. This state of the art headquarters is home to a multifaceted team comprised with decades of motorsport expertise. The Burtin Racing shop capabilities provide full racing maintenance, preparations, and repairs including full chassis fabrication. The race shop is equipped to service engine development with Superflow and performance analysis and a Mustang magnetic all-wheel dynamometer. At halfway through the 2016 season, Claudio Burtin and the GoShare Corvette C7.R have earned a third place podium finish at Sebring International Raceway and a top-five at Watkins Glen International.
In March 2017 it was announced that Adam Carolla would race in the No. 33 GoShare Corvette.[7] For 2018, Lawrence Loshak and Tomy Drissi are the designated Team Drivers in the Trans Am presented by Pirelli series.
Motorsports Results
SCCA National Championship Runoffs
Year | Track | Car | Engine | Class | Finish | Start | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | Mid-Ohio | Ford Mustang | Ford | GT1 | DSQ | 7 | Disqualified |
American Open-Wheel Racing Results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)
Driver History with Burtin Racing
- Jack Baldwin
- Martin Ragginger
- Mario Farnbacher
- Robert Renauer
- Nick Tandy
- Bryan Sellers
- Sebastian Asch
- Scott Tucker
- Mac McGehee
- Mitch Pagerey
- Hoosier SCCA Super Tour Race 2 Results
References
- "Claudio Burtin, CEO". Burtin Polymer Laboratories. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "Claudio Burtin". IFI CLAIMS Patent Services. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "ABOUT LINE-X". LINE-X. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "1993 Trans-Am Box Scores" (PDF). SCCA. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "World Challenge 2006" (PDF). SCCA. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "All Results of Claudio Burtin". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- "Burtin Racing Announces Adam Carolla". Trans Am. Retrieved 28 March 2017.