5/16/2014
ASCS Northwest Region
Getting Up To Speed With…Seth Bergman
Getting Up To Speed With…Seth Bergman
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Joseph Mann)
For race fans that remember the last few years of the Northern Sprint Tour there was a young kid from Snohomish, Washington turning heads. His name was Seth Bergman and he has went on to achieve some great feats including being a full-time series regular with the American Sprint Car Series-National Tour for several seasons. Currently Seth is scored as eighth in National points including three top ten finishes in seven starts but he is less than one hundred markers from the top spot in the points table. Bergman is a third generation driver following in the footsteps of his grandfather Harold and father Steve while his late sister Ashley was also a race car driver too.
Seth would win the second ever ASCS-Northwest Region feature in series history and also has to his credit the 2010 Grays Harbor Raceway 360 Sprint championship in Elma, Washington as well as the Rookie of the Year award with the Northern Sprint Tour in 2006. Seth also would win the 2012 edition of the Rock N’ Roll 50 at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas and in 2010 won the inaugural Western States Finals at Cottage Grove Speedway.
Bergman will be on hand for the Triple Track Challenge which are the first four races of the 2014 season for the ASCS-Northwest Region. Already this year he has one win with the ASCS-Sooner Region and ASCS-Gulf South Region. We got a chance to talk to him about why he races the #23, what some of his goals are, and if he remembers his first Northern Sprint Tour victory at Cottage Grove in 2006. Now let’s get up to speed with Seth Bergman.
Driver: Seth Bergman
Hometown: Snohomish, Washington
Occupation: Sprint Car Driver
Age: 26
Years Racing: 19
Classification: 360 Sprints
Team: Bergman-Marshala Motorsports
Chassis: Eagle Motorsports
Sponsors: Corridor Electric, Oilfield Equipment & Manufacturing, Young Tool Company, Speedmart Inc., A.S.I. Racing Engines, Print Place
BD: The last couple of years you have really broken out on the ASCS-National Tour scene. How good does it feel to be a team that can win any night with the National Tour?
SB: It’s something that me as an individual and as a race car driver has been pushing and striving for and to finally have things come together to where you can compete every night and show up and know you can win is a good feeling. It’s a lot of hard work, emotions, and late nights but years and years of working to get to that point makes it gratifying when it all comes together. But until you park it in victory lane it can feel like a constant grind to get to that point but it takes a lot of effort to get to that level.
BD: How did you get your start in racing?
SB: I’m what you would call a third generation driver because my grandpa raced and my dad was a racer. It was in the family and I grew up going to the races so naturally I wanted to race and when I was old enough I started racing Motorcycles when I was six or seven years old and went from there. I went from Motorcycles to Go-Karts and then from Go-Karts to Mini Sprints and then to Sprint Cars.
BD: I’ll never forget your first Northern Sprint Tour win at Cottage Grove. Do you still remember that one?
SB: I do actually. I had won in Sportsman Sprints before at Skagit but that was my first 360 Sprint Car win and I’ll never forget it. I’m glad that I can look back and say that I won a Northern Sprint Tour race and to have it be my first one. I kind of think of the Northern Sprint Tour as the good old days even though it wasn’t that long ago.
BD: What is the best part of being on the road?
SB: I think the best thing about it for me is just being able to spend that much more time in the race car, it’s like doing your hobby every day. I enjoy it because I’m a competitive person and I like doing what I’m doing and that’s why I race. You also get to be a better race car driver and work on your craft and when you make it to where it’s a profession I just feel that I’m lucky to be able to do that because there are a lot of guys that work towards that goal.
The traveling and the road trips are fun but they can wear you out. You spend hours and hours driving down the road and the being away from family part can get old. But I think what keeps me wanting to do it is like what we talked about earlier, the competiveness and the fact that you show up at the racetrack and you can win anywhere.
BD: What is the story with you running the #23?
SB: Well my dad’s number when he raced was #2 so I was always #2 growing up and my sister’s number was always #3. After my sister passed away I decided to fly her number and I put the two of them together and have been #23 ever since.
BD: What are some of your goals that you have set for yourself?
SB: I’m a goal oriented person and at the beginning of every year is when I set mine. Going into this year I set a goal to win the National championship and I’d like to at least get to double digits in the win column. To me I’d be ok with that and up to this point we’ve won a couple already and I think we’ll get to that ten win mark. This year I think realistically we’ll be a National championship contender.
BD: Being that you toured the country and ran against a lot of different regional competition in your opinion how does the Northwest region stack up against the rest of the country?
SB: The Northwest is just as competitive as any of the other regions we go to in the country. There is definitely some talented drivers and teams out here. It’s definitely not an easy region to come and win in and we’re working hard so we can have a good showing for these races in May.
Southern Oregon Speedway will be the first of four consecutive nights of racing for the Triple Track Challenge on Thursday May 22nd to open up the 2014 season up for the ASCS-Northwest Region. The series will venture north after the race at SOS on Friday May 23rd to Lebanon’s Willamette Speedway before concluding with a two-day affair at Cottage Grove Speedway on Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th. For the latest information for the ASCS-Northwest Region log on to www.ascsnorthwest.com.
Submitted By: Ben Deatherage