By Spence Smithback
CONCORD, NC (November 26, 2024) – Every champion’s story is filled with their own unique twists and turns on their way to the top of the mountain. That said, they generally don’t include a team change two races into the season. That trend did not apply to Seth Bergman in 2024.
When Wayne Johnson was injured in a crash prior to the American Sprint Car Series National Tour opener at Super Bee Speedway, he stepped out of the driver’s seat and tapped Bergman as the new driver for TwoC Racing. The pairing got off to an ideal start, winning on their first night together in Louisiana and finishing runner-up at Red Dirt Raceway.
But just as soon as the partnership started, it was over. Bergman and Johnson mutually agreed to part ways a few days prior to the third stop of the year at Rush County Speedway. Hank Davis came in to wheel the No. 2C for the remainder of the season, while Bergman went back to his tried-and-true No. 23 car.
“It was a lot, going to TwoC and having that deal fall apart,” Bergman said. “Coming back to my own deal was stressful, we had already gotten off to a great start with Wayne and TwoC. I had prepared really nice race cars, I knew my race cars were ready to do the job, it was just about going and doing it.”
There were plenty of question marks surrounding Bergman’s operation as to whether he could retain the speed he showed on the first two nights of the season. But after Bergman led all 30 laps at Rush County to take the checkers in dominant fashion, that doubt was erased by the time the tour left LaCrosse.
“Going to the track the first night, being as good as we were, we went Quick Time overall first night back,” Bergman said. “Had a very successful night, won the Feature. It was just a good starting block for us to get started with our own team three races into the year.”
However, if winning a couple of races early in the season was all it took to win a championship, the Sprint Car history books would look very different. It takes nine months of consistent performances, something Bergman had struggled to produce at times earlier in his career.
When ASCS Speedweek rolled around in mid-June, it began to look like 2024 could be different. In the five-day, four-race stretch, Bergman won twice and never finished worse than second, which was enough to pick up his first Speedweek championship and prove that he had a team capable of contending for the win night after night.
“All offseason, I was building my stuff to potentially go race for points, so our program was pretty good and intact,” Bergman said. “I didn’t have any full-time help figured out until right before we went to Rush County, so that all came together. We started really good with Wayne and TwoC, and then we just carried that on with our own stuff. We had one hell of a start to the year, and that was so crucial to getting our footing early on in the championship battle.”
Bergman continued to establish himself as a championship favorite in the weeks that followed, racking up three more top fives in the next four races. The only thing missing in the equation was a bit of external support, as Bergman was primarily building his own setups and spending his own money to keep the No. 23 car at the front of the pack.
Then came a call from Sprint Car veteran Kevin Swindell, who partnered up with Bergman prior to the 360 Knoxville Nationals to provide technical and financial support for the rest of the campaign.
“We’ve obviously known of each other for a while, but never worked together,” Bergman said of his relationship with Swindell. “We kind of hooked up around Knoxville, I was going to do a Victory Fuel scheme for them at Knoxville. Because of that deal, Kevin and I started talking and one thing led to another and he started helping me out from Knoxville through the end of the year.
“Having him come on board was a huge help. It was a weight off my shoulders, knowing that I was going to have someone as smart as him with his knowledge in my corner being able to help us try to win the championship.”
Throughout the summer months, Bergman needed all the help he could get to hold off a red-hot Sam Hafertepe Jr., who went on a stretch of six wins in seven starts to chip away at Bergman’s advantage. A flurry of podiums kept Bergman’s lead intact until the opening night of the Montana swing at Big Sky Speedway, when he returned to Victory Lane for the first time in two months and reclaimed his position as the man to beat on the National Tour.
“We kept it close and then I was able to answer back with the win and some good runs,” Bergman said. “I think it was important for us to get some of that momentum back, and I think it also showed Sam that I’m not going away.”
That victory was part of an incredible run of consistency that made it nearly impossible for anyone else to gain ground – in a stretch of 12 full-points races between August and October, Bergman only finished off the podium twice. After capping that streak off with win number six at RPM Speedway on the penultimate weekend of the season, Bergman entered the final four races with a 156-point lead in the standings.
All he needed was a few more solid showings, and a win and a third in the pair of Features at Tulsa Speedway were exactly what the doctor ordered. Another P3 on Friday night at Creek County Speedway turned out to be the knockout blow to the competition, as Bergman clinched his first National Tour championship with a race to spare.
Locking up the title would have been a momentous occasion regardless of where it happened, but the location of the finale made it all the more special. Snohomish, WA will always be home for Bergman, but he has spent the last six years residing in Owasso, OK, a few miles down the road from where he hoisted the ASCS Emmett Hahn Championship Trophy.
“When I saw that the season was going to end in Tulsa, I was really happy about that,” Bergman said. “It literally is right in my backyard. We were able to have family come in and all of our friends and partners, we had a lot of people there all weekend. With it being so close to home, all of us went to the banquet and had a really nice night. Honestly, it was a perfect cap to what was a very successful season.”
While 2024 was undoubtedly the best year of Bergman’s Sprint Car career, he knows exactly what it’s like to be on the opposite end of the performance spectrum. When he took on the full National Tour for the first time in 2009, he finished 16th in the final standings. He then got close to his first title six years ago, finishing second behind Hafertepe in 2018.
Years later, all those hard times were merely lessons learned that guided him toward the pinnacle of 360 Sprint Car racing this season.
“Check all of the boxes: maturity, what I’ve learned over the years as a race car driver, our team has slowly progressed every year,” Bergman said on what made the difference in his ability to finish the job this season. “Building partnerships over the years, getting Oklahoma Chiller and John Claybourn on this year, Rider Racing Engines. It’s not one thing in particular, it’s everything.
“It’s about my maturity over the years, learning everything I’ve learned, building a team that’s capable of doing its job. It’s about getting the right people in place to do the work like we have this year and going into next year.”
Bergman will kick off his bid for back-to-back ASCS National Tour championships at Volusia Speedway Park in the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2025. For tickets, click here.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap of the 2025 ASCS National Tour season live on DIRTVision – where you can also rewatch every event of the 2024 season in the DIRTVision vault.